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A mobile technology-based tailored health promotion program for sedentary employees: development and usability study.
Yun-Ping Lin1,2, Kwo-Chen Lee3,4, Wei-Fen Ma3,4
1School of Nursing, China Medical University, 100, Sec. 1, Jingmao Rd, Taichung, 406040, Taiwan. yunping@mail.cmu.edu.tw.
BMC Public Health
|April 17, 2025
Summary
A new mobile health app, Simple Health, was developed to help sedentary employees improve diet, increase physical activity (PA), and reduce sedentary time. Usability testing showed the app is easy to use and beneficial, with suggestions for enhancements.
Area of Science:
- Digital Health
- Workplace Wellness
- Behavior Change Interventions
Background:
- Prolonged sedentary behavior in the workplace increases health risks and reduces productivity.
- Existing mobile health (mHealth) interventions often focus on single behaviors, lacking integration for diet, physical activity (PA), and sedentary time.
- Sedentary employees require comprehensive solutions to address multiple health behaviors.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop Simple Health, an evidence- and theory-based mHealth web app.
- To promote healthy eating, increase PA, and reduce sedentary time among sedentary employees.
- To evaluate the usability of the Simple Health app.
Main Methods:
- Developed Simple Health using social cognitive theory and the ecological model, incorporating behavior change techniques.
- Conducted a two-phase study involving app development and usability testing with eight sedentary employees.
- Utilized the mHealth app usability questionnaire (MAUQ) and open-ended feedback for evaluation.
Main Results:
- 87.5% of participants found Simple Health easy to use, with positive usability scores.
- Participants appreciated the simple logging and actionable personalized advice.
- Suggestions for improvement included enhanced goal-setting flexibility and refined navigation.
Conclusions:
- Simple Health shows potential as an integrated workplace mHealth intervention for diet, PA, and sedentary behavior.
- Generally positive usability feedback indicates a promising foundation for engagement.
- Future development should focus on user-suggested refinements and exploring broader implementation.
