Accepted for/Published in: JMIR mHealth and uHealth
Date Submitted: Jan 12, 2018
Open Peer Review Period: Jan 13, 2018 - Aug 10, 2018
Date Accepted: Nov 13, 2018
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
The Use of Wearable Activity Trackers Among Older Adults: A Focus Group Study of Tracker Perceptions, Motivators, And Barriers in Different Stages of Behavior Change
ABSTRACT
Background:
Physical activity benefits older adults by protecting against morbidity and mortality. Wearable activity trackers (WATs) offer the opportunity to increase physical activity through continuous monitoring. We explore the nuances of WAT use and adoption among older adults using the transtheoretical model (TTM) of behavior change.
Objective:
We investigate older adults’ perceptions and uses of WATs in different stages of WAT adoption.
Methods:
Data for the research come from 10 focus groups. The first set of focus groups was with participants who had never used WATs. These focus groups included a WAT trial. Other focus groups (without the trial) were conducted with short-term, long-term, and former WAT users.
Results:
Older adults in different WAT use stages liked and wished for different WAT features, with long-term users being the most diverse and sophisticated users of WATs. Long-term users had developed a habit of WAT use while other participants needed to employ various encouragement strategies. Social support, with the focus on collaboration, was the primary motivator for long-term users, while short-term and former users focused on competition, and non-users engaged in vicarious WAT use experiences. Finally, long-term users were more likely to see benefits of WATs while other participants focused on obstacles related to WAT use.
Conclusions:
WATs may be an effective technology to encourage physical activity among older adults. Yet, WATs alone are not likely to be successful in changing behavior. Tailored approaches based on the TTM stage of change as well as motivations, facilitators, and specific WAT characteristics that are important for older adults will ensure successful long-term use. Clinical Trial: NA
Citation
Per the author's request the PDF is not available.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.