Evaluation of an Internet–Short Message Service–Based Intervention for Promoting Physical Activity in Hong Kong Chinese Adolescent School Children: A Pilot Study
Abstract
Evaluation of acceptability and preliminary efficacy of an Internet and short message service (SMS) intervention for promoting physical activity (PA) in Hong Kong Chinese school children. An 8-week quasi-experimental study non-randomly assigned 78 school children (mean age=12.8 years) to (a) an intervention group that received a stage-matched, Internet PA program two times a week and tailored SMS messages daily; or (b) a no-treatment control. Data were collected from September 2008 until June 2009. Acceptability measures included exposure rate and participant's satisfaction. Efficacy measures were changes in stage of motivational readiness (SMR) and self-reported PA level. Intervention participants demonstrated significant pre-post increments in SMR (Z=-2.558, p=0.011) and self-reported PA level [F(1, 76)=4.50, p=0.04]. There was a non-significant trend between groups in both SMR (p=0.24) and PA (p=0.13). Despite the similar ratings of satisfaction between Internet (M=3.12±0.74) and SMS (M=3.12±0.84), participants displayed distinct patterns of exposure with 66% exhibiting a weekly login rate of 0.5 times/person and an average of 3.75 minutes/visit/person. In contrast, 79% of participants read an average of 1.3 SMS/person/week and 47% voluntarily replied to ∼3.8 SMS/person. These findings demonstrate the acceptability and preliminary efficacy of an Internet-SMS-based intervention for promoting PA in Hong Kong school children. The divergent exposure rates between the Internet and SMS may be a unique pattern for adolescents in early SMR. Future research should be cognizant of the importance of SMR since it may influence utilization and/or adherence.
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In instances where perceptions of culturally adapted mHealth interventions have been described, these perceptions are positive.
“In instances where perceptions of culturally adapted mHealth interventions have been described, these perceptions are positive [3,4,6,15-18].”
From Development of a Culturally Tailored Text Message Maternal Health Program: TextMATCH (2017) · cites this paper as [17]
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- Authors
- Lau, E. Y., Lau, P. W. C., Chung, P.-K., Ransdell, L. B., & Archer, E.
- Affiliations
- University of South Carolina (US)
- Department of Physical Education, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong.
- Hong Kong Baptist University (HK)
- Boise State University (US)
- Venue
- Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2012-08
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 425-434
- ISSN
- 2152-2715 (ISSN-L)
- 2152-2723
- OpenAlex
- W2071042476
- Cited by
- 21
- References
- 55
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 3 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 2 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 1.71
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Cyberpsychology Behavior and Social Networking (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Hong Kong Education Bibliographic Database (submittedVersion)
- HKBU Institutional Repository (Hong Kong Baptist University) (submittedVersion)
- ScholarWorks (Boise State University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Mobile Health and mHealth Applications
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Physical Activity and Health
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Keywords
- physical activity promotion, adolescents, elementary school students, online intervention, short message service, text messaging intervention, motivational readiness, acceptability, intervention efficacy, Hong Kong Chinese, mobile health
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Child, Female, Health Promotion, Hong Kong, Humans, Male, Motor Activity, Physical Fitness, Pilot Projects, Schools, Students, Exercise, Internet, Text Messaging
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