An App-Based Physical Activity Intervention in Community-Dwelling Chinese-, Tagalog-, and Vietnamese-Speaking...

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Digital Health
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• Physical inactivity poses health risks for Asian Americans, who have low adherence to activity guidelines.
• Mobile apps offer a promising intervention strategy, but few cater to non-English speaking Asian Americans.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the feasibility and acceptability of a 5-week mobile app intervention promoting physical activity.
• The intervention was culturally and linguistically adapted for Chinese-, Tagalog-, and Vietnamese-speaking Americans.

Main Methods:

• Recruited participants via community organizations.
• Utilized a culturally adapted mobile app and accelerometer for a 4-week intervention after a 7-day run-in period.
• Measured feasibility by run-in completion and app diary adherence; assessed acceptability via interviews.

Main Results:

• All 19 participants completed the run-in period.
• App diary adherence increased from 74% to 95% over the intervention.
• Average daily steps increased from 8,451 to 10,930, with participants reporting increased motivation and enjoyment.

Conclusions:

• The multicomponent intervention using a multilingual mobile app is highly feasible and acceptable for promoting physical activity in Asian Americans.
• Future research should focus on multilingual mobile apps to reduce physical inactivity disparities.