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Impact of a Smartphone Intervention on the Sedentary Behavior of Adults
Method: A total of 215 adults recruited from the Dallas metropolitan area participated in a quasi-experimental evaluation of a smart phone intervention designed to reduce and interrupt sedentary time using prompts during periods of inactivity. All study participants wore accelerometers for 7 days and received smart-phones, while only intervention participants received smartphone prompts aimed at modifying their sedentary time. Generalized linear mixed model regression analyses were conducted to evaluate the influence of the intervention (relative to the control group) on accelerometer-measured sedentary and active minutes over 7 days.
Results: Multivariate analyses revealed that participants who received the smartphone intervention had significantly fewer accelerometer-measured daily minutes of sedentary time (B=-22.1; p=0.04) and more daily active minutes (B=23.01; p=0.03) over the study period than participants who did not receive the intervention. Supplementary analyses indicated that intervention participants had significantly more accelerometer counts than control participants in the 15 minutes following smartphone prompts (B = 502.42, p = .023).
Conclusion: A mobile phone intervention was associated with significantly lower sedentary time and more activity. Smartphone prompts were also associated with acute increases in activity. Randomized controlled trials are warranted to establish the utility of using mobile phone technology to modify sedentary behavior.
Learning Areas:
Chronic disease management and preventionPublic health or related research
Learning Objectives:
Differentiate between sedentary behavior and physical activity and their independent effects on health outcomes.
Describe the components of the intervention using mobile phone technology to modify sedentary behavior.
Evaluate and assess the impact of the sedentary behavior intervention and identify pertinent technology utilized in the evaluation.
Keyword(s): Wellness, Physical Activity
Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a senior researcher of physical activity and nutrition at the American Cancer Society's Intramural Research Department.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.