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Cited by 39Mobile Health and mHealth ApplicationsDigital Mental Health InterventionsPhysical Activity and Health

Feasibility of a Persuasive mHealth Behavioural Change Intervention in Promoting Physical Activity in the Workplace (Preprint)

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Haque, MD Sanaul, Kangas, Maarit, Jämsä, Timo·2019·JMIR Formative Research
DOI 10.2196/15083PMC PMC7235808

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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Employees in an office setting are more likely to remain physically inactive. Physical inactivity has become one of the major barriers to overcoming the risk factors for anxiety, depression, coronary heart disease, certain cancers, and type 2 diabetes. Currently, there is a gap in mobile health (mHealth) apps to promote physical activity (PA) for workers in the workplace. Studies on behavior change theories have concluded that health apps generally lack the use of theoretical constructs. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to study the feasibility of a persuasive app aimed at encouraging PA among employees and to understand the motivational aspects behind the implementation of mHealth apps among office workers. METHODS: A 4-week study using a mixed methods (quantitative and qualitative) design was conducted with office-based employees in cities in 4 countries: Oulu, Finland; Carlow, Ireland; London, United Kingdom; and Dhaka, Bangladesh. Of the 220 invited participants (experimental group, n=115; control group, n=105), 84 participated (experimental group, n=56; control group, n=28), consisting of working-age volunteers working in an office setting. Participants used 2 different interventions: The experimental group used an mHealth app for PA motivation, and the control group used a paper diary. The purpose was to motivate employees to engage in healthier behavior regarding the promotion of PA in the workplace. A user-centered design process was followed to design, develop, and evaluate the mHealth app, incorporating self-determination theory (SDT) and using game elements. The paper diary had no specific theory-driven approach, design technique, nor game elements. RESULTS: Compliance with app usage remained relatively low, with 27 participants (experimental group, n=20; control group, n=7) completing the study. The results support the original hypothesis that the mHealth app would help increase PA (ie, promoting daily walking in the workplace) in comparison to a paper diary (P=.033). The mHealth app supported 2 of the basic SDT psychological needs, namely autonomy (P=.004) and competence (P=.014), but not the needs of relatedness (P=.535). CONCLUSIONS: The SDT-based mHealth application motivated employees to increase their PA in the workplace. However, compliance with app usage remained low. Future research should further develop the app based on user feedback and test it in a larger sample.

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  • Users value making connections with others through physical personal contact, which is not a feature that apps provide.

    “Users also value making connections with others through physical personal contact, which is not a feature that apps provide [25, 55].”

    From Advantages and disadvantages of mobile applications for workplace health promotion: A scoping review (2024) · cites this paper as [55]

    In Results > Open Questions (page unavailable), a participant describes feeling connected while walking with colleagues and friends. The Discussion > Principal Findings says the iGO app did not fulfill participants’ need for relatedness, partly because of limited interaction with colleagues. This supports the value of in-person connection and a limitation of this app, but not the broader assertion that apps cannot provide opportunities for such contact; the paper describes iGO offering a choice to walk with others. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Visualisations and appealing interfaces can make apps easier to use, making health improvement a positive experience and reinforcing users' motivation.

    “Visualisations and appealing interfaces also can make apps easier to use, making health improvement a positive experience and reinforcing users’ motivation [55].”

    From Advantages and disadvantages of mobile applications for workplace health promotion: A scoping review (2024) · cites this paper as [55]

    The Methods > App Design section describes a visual leaderboard for tracking activity and reports that an earlier usability evaluation found the app successful in motivating users to be physically active. The Discussion > Principal Findings also suggests that app use may have increased intrinsic motivation. Our copy does not establish that appealing interfaces made the app easier to use or made health improvement a positive experience. (LLM, conf=0.78)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Competition with privately available health apps might lead to high attrition or costs to keep up with trends, even though users are curious at first.

    “Of course, the competition with privately available health apps should not be neglected and might lead to high attrition or costs to keep up with trends, even though users are curious at first [9, 55].”

    From Advantages and disadvantages of mobile applications for workplace health promotion: A scoping review (2024) · cites this paper as [55]

    Methods > Participants reports substantial dropout and says some participants declined because they were already using an mHealth app. Discussion > Principal Findings also describes low compliance and comparatively high discontinuation. The paper does not establish that competition caused the overall attrition, nor does it address costs of keeping up with trends or initial curiosity. (LLM, conf=0.85)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Others cited the lack of direct interaction as another weakness of technical solutions.

    “However, some authors cited social pressure as one weakness of technical solutions [24, 41], while others cited the lack of direct interaction as another [25, 55].”

    From Advantages and disadvantages of mobile applications for workplace health promotion: A scoping review (2024) · cites this paper as [55]

  • Privacy and data security were viewed as potential pitfalls that have not been addressed properly.

    “These apps’ privacy and data security also were viewed as potential pitfalls that have not been addressed properly [9, 52, 55, 56], though there has been discussion of potential privacy and security measures in mHealth [80, 81].”

    From Advantages and disadvantages of mobile applications for workplace health promotion: A scoping review (2024) · cites this paper as [55]

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Haque, M. S., Kangas, M., & Jämsä, T.
Affiliations
Oulu University Hospital (FI)
ORCID
Venue
JMIR Formative Research
Publisher
JMIR Publications Inc.
Published
2019-07-01
Volume
4
Issue
5
Pages
e15083-e15083
ISSN
2561-326X (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.2196/15083
PMC
PMC7235808
OpenAlex
W3013618109
Cited by
39
References
16
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 2
FWCI
5.45
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • JMIR Formative Research (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Mobile Health and mHealth Applications
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Physical Activity and Health
Keywords
mobile health apps, physical activity promotion, workplace health promotion, office workers, persuasive technology, self-determination theory, game elements, user-centered design, walking, behaviour change interventions, feasibility

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