Incorporating a Physical Activity mHealth Tool Into a Multidisciplinary Clinical Weight Management Service in...

Steps4Health, an mHealth tool for promoting physical activity and optimizing the 24-hour movement behaviors in long-term conditions, was implemented into a regional multidisciplinary clinical weight management service. This service evaluation reports uptake, usage, linkage with wearable devices, and impact on stepping behavior.

Service users were adults living with severe obesity (body mass index ≥40 kg/m2 or ≥35 kg/m2 with a comorbidity) referred to a regional weight management service from November 2023 to August 2024. Those without physical activity contraindications were offered Steps4Health during their initial consultation. Steps4Health provides personalized goal-setting and feedback on stepping and other 24-hour behaviors alongside educational material and enables linkage to wearable activity devices incorporating baseline physical activity levels. Data extraction allowed for at least 6 weeks of follow-up, assessing uptake, demographic characteristics, usage patterns, and longitudinal stepping data.

Of 559 service users, 307 (54.9%) were eligible for Steps4Health. A total of 290 (94.5% of those eligible) individuals completed registration and logged into Steps4Health, an average of 28 times (8.3 min/login) over a 6-week period. The most popular features of Steps4Health were educational resources providing information on physical activity and chronic conditions. At baseline users averaged 4079 (95% confidence interval [CI], 2628 to 4531) steps/day. One hundred and thirty-nine (24.9%) logged at least 2 days of stepping data. Over the first 6 weeks, an average clinically meaningful increase of 974 (581, 1366; P < .001) steps/day was observed.

Steps4Health, a bespoke digital tool promoting increased physical activity in inactive clinical populations, was used by half of all individuals within a regional weight management service with half again regularly self-monitoring daily physical activity with a clinically meaningful increase observed over the first 6 weeks. Steps4Health shows promise as part of a broader strategy to enhance physical activity engagement within clinical weight management services.