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Using Fitbit as an mHealth Intervention Tool to Promote Physical Activity: Potential Challenges and Solutions

Consumer-based physical activity (PA) trackers, also known as wearables, are increasingly being used in research studies as intervention or measurement tools. One of the most popular and widely used brands of PA trackers is Fitbit. Since the release of the first Fitbit in 2009, hundreds of experimen...

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Autores principales: Balbim, Guilherme M, Marques, Isabela G, Marquez, David X, Patel, Darshilmukesh, Sharp, Lisa K, Kitsiou, Spyros, Nyenhuis, Sharmilee M
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: JMIR Publications 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7961407/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33646135
http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/25289
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author Balbim, Guilherme M
Marques, Isabela G
Marquez, David X
Patel, Darshilmukesh
Sharp, Lisa K
Kitsiou, Spyros
Nyenhuis, Sharmilee M
author_facet Balbim, Guilherme M
Marques, Isabela G
Marquez, David X
Patel, Darshilmukesh
Sharp, Lisa K
Kitsiou, Spyros
Nyenhuis, Sharmilee M
author_sort Balbim, Guilherme M
collection PubMed
description Consumer-based physical activity (PA) trackers, also known as wearables, are increasingly being used in research studies as intervention or measurement tools. One of the most popular and widely used brands of PA trackers is Fitbit. Since the release of the first Fitbit in 2009, hundreds of experimental studies have used Fitbit devices to facilitate PA self-monitoring and behavior change via goal setting and feedback tools. Fitbit’s ability to capture large volumes of PA and physiological data in real time creates enormous opportunities for researchers. At the same time, however, it introduces a number of challenges (eg, technological, operational, logistical), most of which are not sufficiently described in study publications. Currently, there are no technical reports, guidelines, nor other types of publications discussing some of these challenges and offering guidance to researchers on how to best incorporate Fitbit devices in their study design and intervention to achieve their research goals. As a result, researchers are often left alone to discover and address some of these issues during the study through “trial and error.” This paper aims to address this gap. Drawing on our cumulative experience of conducting multiple studies with various Fitbit PA trackers over the years, we present and discuss various key challenges associated with the use of Fitbit PA trackers in research studies. Difficulties with the use of Fitbit PA trackers are encountered throughout the entire research process. Challenges and solutions are categorized in 4 main categories: study preparation, intervention delivery, data collection and analysis, and study closeout. Subsequently, we describe a number of empirically tested strategies used in 4 of our interventional studies involving participants from a broad range of demographic characteristics, racial/ethnic backgrounds, and literacy levels. Researchers should be prepared to address challenges and issues in a timely fashion to ensure that the Fitbit effectively assists participants and researchers in achieving research and outcome goals.
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spelling pubmed-79614072021-03-19 Using Fitbit as an mHealth Intervention Tool to Promote Physical Activity: Potential Challenges and Solutions Balbim, Guilherme M Marques, Isabela G Marquez, David X Patel, Darshilmukesh Sharp, Lisa K Kitsiou, Spyros Nyenhuis, Sharmilee M JMIR Mhealth Uhealth Viewpoint Consumer-based physical activity (PA) trackers, also known as wearables, are increasingly being used in research studies as intervention or measurement tools. One of the most popular and widely used brands of PA trackers is Fitbit. Since the release of the first Fitbit in 2009, hundreds of experimental studies have used Fitbit devices to facilitate PA self-monitoring and behavior change via goal setting and feedback tools. Fitbit’s ability to capture large volumes of PA and physiological data in real time creates enormous opportunities for researchers. At the same time, however, it introduces a number of challenges (eg, technological, operational, logistical), most of which are not sufficiently described in study publications. Currently, there are no technical reports, guidelines, nor other types of publications discussing some of these challenges and offering guidance to researchers on how to best incorporate Fitbit devices in their study design and intervention to achieve their research goals. As a result, researchers are often left alone to discover and address some of these issues during the study through “trial and error.” This paper aims to address this gap. Drawing on our cumulative experience of conducting multiple studies with various Fitbit PA trackers over the years, we present and discuss various key challenges associated with the use of Fitbit PA trackers in research studies. Difficulties with the use of Fitbit PA trackers are encountered throughout the entire research process. Challenges and solutions are categorized in 4 main categories: study preparation, intervention delivery, data collection and analysis, and study closeout. Subsequently, we describe a number of empirically tested strategies used in 4 of our interventional studies involving participants from a broad range of demographic characteristics, racial/ethnic backgrounds, and literacy levels. Researchers should be prepared to address challenges and issues in a timely fashion to ensure that the Fitbit effectively assists participants and researchers in achieving research and outcome goals. JMIR Publications 2021-03-01 /pmc/articles/PMC7961407/ /pubmed/33646135 http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/25289 Text en ©Guilherme M Balbim, Isabela G Marques, David X Marquez, Darshilmukesh Patel, Lisa K Sharp, Spyros Kitsiou, Sharmilee M Nyenhuis. Originally published in JMIR mHealth and uHealth (http://mhealth.jmir.org), 01.03.2021. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in JMIR mHealth and uHealth, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on http://mhealth.jmir.org/, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.
spellingShingle Viewpoint
Balbim, Guilherme M
Marques, Isabela G
Marquez, David X
Patel, Darshilmukesh
Sharp, Lisa K
Kitsiou, Spyros
Nyenhuis, Sharmilee M
Using Fitbit as an mHealth Intervention Tool to Promote Physical Activity: Potential Challenges and Solutions
title Using Fitbit as an mHealth Intervention Tool to Promote Physical Activity: Potential Challenges and Solutions
title_full Using Fitbit as an mHealth Intervention Tool to Promote Physical Activity: Potential Challenges and Solutions
title_fullStr Using Fitbit as an mHealth Intervention Tool to Promote Physical Activity: Potential Challenges and Solutions
title_full_unstemmed Using Fitbit as an mHealth Intervention Tool to Promote Physical Activity: Potential Challenges and Solutions
title_short Using Fitbit as an mHealth Intervention Tool to Promote Physical Activity: Potential Challenges and Solutions
title_sort using fitbit as an mhealth intervention tool to promote physical activity: potential challenges and solutions
topic Viewpoint
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7961407/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33646135
http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/25289
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