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Effects of Consumer-Wearable Activity Tracker-Based Programs on Objectively Measured Daily Physical Activity and
Carolina Casado-Robles1, Jesús Viciana1, Santiago Guijarro-Romero1
1Department of Physical Education and Sport, University of Granada, Granada, Spain.
Sports Medicine - Open
|January 31, 2022
Summary
Consumer-wearable activity trackers effectively boost physical activity (PA) and daily steps in school-aged children, particularly females and the inactive. Programs incorporating goal-setting and wrist-worn devices show the most promise.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Exercise Science
- Behavioral Health Interventions
- Digital Health Technologies
Background:
- Increasing use of consumer-wearable activity trackers in studies targeting school-aged children's physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SB).
- Need to estimate the effects of these tracker-based programs on objectively measured PA and SB.
- Investigating the influence of participant and program characteristics on intervention effectiveness.
Approach:
- Systematic review and meta-analysis of pre-experimental, quasi-experimental, and true-experimental trials.
- Inclusion criteria: apparently healthy children (<18 years), interventions using consumer-wearable activity trackers, objectively measured PA/SB outcomes.
- Risk of bias assessed using Cochrane Risk-of-bias tool 2; meta-analysis of Cohen's d with random-effects model.
Key Points:
- Moderate favorable effect on daily total steps (d=0.612) and small favorable effect on moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) (d=0.220).
- Trivial favorable effect on total PA (d=0.151) and unfavorable effect on SB (d=0.172).
- Higher effectiveness observed in females and physically inactive children for steps and MVPA.
- Programs with educational counseling, goal-setting, and wrist-worn trackers demonstrated greater efficacy.
Conclusions:
- Consumer-wearable activity tracker programs show effectiveness in enhancing daily steps and MVPA in school-aged children.
- Strategies like goal-setting, educational counseling, and wrist-worn trackers are particularly effective.
- Evidence quality is low to moderate, necessitating further well-designed primary research.
