How to Encourage Continuous Use of Fitness Apps among Female Users?

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Behavioral Science
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• Women exhibit higher rates of insufficient physical activity and face unique barriers.
• Fitness apps are effective tools for promoting physical activity, with women comprising over 60% of users.
• Limited research explores the drivers of continued fitness app usage among women.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how perceived values influence satisfaction and continuance intention in female fitness app users.
• To identify key factors for designing effective fitness applications for women.

Main Methods:

• Quantitative study involving 395 female fitness app users in Guangzhou, China.
• Statistical analysis to determine the impact of hedonic, utilitarian, and health values on user satisfaction and continuance intention.
• Mediation analysis to assess the role of satisfaction in the user's journey.

Main Results:

• Hedonic, utilitarian, and health values positively influenced user satisfaction.
• Utilitarian and health values significantly impacted continuance intention, while hedonic value did not.
• User satisfaction mediated the relationship between utilitarian/health values and continuance intention.

Conclusions:

• Fitness app design should prioritize utilitarian and health values for sustained engagement among female users.
• Overemphasis on hedonic content may be less effective for long-term retention.
• Understanding user values is crucial for enhancing physical activity behavior change interventions.