Exploring the challenges in obtaining physical activity data from women using hip-worn accelerometers.

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Epidemiology
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• High-quality physical activity data are crucial for health initiatives.
• Accelerometry is a key method for objective physical activity measurement.
• Challenges exist in collecting accurate accelerometry data, particularly from diverse female populations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the efficacy and challenges of a hip-worn accelerometry protocol in New Zealand women.
• To determine accelerometer wear-compliance rates.
• To understand barriers and acceptability of wearing accelerometers among different ethnic groups.

Main Methods:

• A 7-day, 24-hour hip-worn accelerometry protocol was implemented in 406 healthy New Zealand women (Māori, Pacific, European) aged 16-45.
• Wear-compliance was defined as ≥10 hours/day for ≥4 days.
• A sub-sample (n=45) participated in post-hoc interviews to explore comfort, convenience, and burdens.

Main Results:

• Overall wear-compliance was 86%.
• European women provided more valid data (92.7%) compared to Pacific (73.0%) and Māori (82.1%) women.
• Key burdens included discomfort during sleep (66.7%) and social embarrassment due to device visibility (45.2%).

Conclusions:

• Participant burden, including sleep discomfort and social embarrassment, alongside ethnicity, significantly affects the quality and compliance of accelerometry data collection in women.
• Improving accelerometer design to reduce size and participant burden is recommended.
• Enhancing participant understanding of study aims and relevance can improve compliance and data quality.