Mobile health-based physical activity intervention for individuals with spinal cord injury in the community: A pilot study

Low levels of physical activity (PA) and high levels of sedentary behavior in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI) have been associated with secondary conditions such as pain, fatigue, weight gain, and deconditioning. One strategy for promoting regular PA is to provide people with an accurate estimate of everyday PA level. The objective of this research was to use a mobile health-based PA measurement system to track PA levels of individuals with SCI in the community and provide them with a behavior-sensitive, just-in-time-adaptive intervention (JITAI) to improve their PA levels. The first, second, and third phases of the study, each with a duration of one month, involved collecting baseline PA levels, providing near-real-time feedback on PA level (PA Feedback), and providing PA Feedback with JITAI, respectively. PA levels in terms of energy expenditure in kilocalories, and minutes of light- and moderate- or vigorous-intensity PA were assessed by an activity monitor during the study. Twenty participants with SCI took part in this research study with a mean (SD) age of 39.4 (12.8) years and 12.4 (12.5) years since injury. Sixteen participants completed the study. Sixteen were male, 16 had paraplegia, and 12 had complete injury. Within-participant comparisons indicated that only two participants had higher energy expenditure (>10%) or lower energy expenditure (<-10%) during PA Feedback with JITAI compared to the baseline. However, eleven participants (69.0%) had higher light- and/or moderate-intensity PA during PA Feedback with JITAI compared to the baseline. To our knowledge, this is the first study to test a PA JITAI for individuals with SCI that responds automatically to monitored PA levels. The results of this pilot study suggest that a sensor-enabled mobile JITAI has potential to improve PA levels of individuals with SCI. Future research should investigate the efficacy of JITAI through a clinical trial.