Feasibility and Effectiveness of Online Physical Activity Advice Based on a Personal Activity Monitor: Randomized Controlled Trial
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Inactive people are often not aware of the fact that they are insufficiently active. Providing insight into their actual physical activity (PA) levels may raise awareness and could, in combination with tailored PA advice, stimulate a physically active lifestyle. OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated the feasibility and effectiveness of a 3-month intervention in which Dutch office workers were provided with a personal activity monitor (PAM) coupled to simple and concise Web-based tailored PA advice (PAM COACH). METHOD: Participants were randomly assigned to the 3-month PAM intervention (n = 51) or received a single written information brochure with brief general PA recommendations (n = 51). Study outcome measures were changes in PA (recall of minutes per week spent on PA, as measured by the Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents and Adults), determinants of PA, aerobic fitness, and body composition. Follow-up measurements were performed immediately after the 3-month intervention and at 8-months, 5 months after the end of the 3-month intervention period. RESULTS: A total of 102 workers, 23 to 39 years old, completed the baseline measurement at the worksite. 48 completed the 3-month follow up and 38 the 8-month follow-up in the intervention group, 50 completed the 3-month follow up and 42 the 8-month follow up in the control group. 35 out of 48 (73%) participants in the PAM intervention group reported wearing the PAM regularly, and the PAM COACH was used almost once a week; 24 out of 46 (52%) PAM users set a personal goal, and 33 (72%) entered their favorite activities on the website. Main reasons for not using these items were lack of interest or not being able to find the item on the website. The majority of PAM users (34 out of 46, 74%) read the advice, of whom 14 (39%) found it unappealing. After the 3-month intervention, no significant intervention effect was observed (adjusted difference in min/week) for sedentary behavior (beta = 10, 95% CI = -435 to 455), light-intensity PA (beta = -129, 95% CI = -337 to 79), moderate-intensity PA (beta = -13, 95% CI = -89 to 63), vigorous-intensity PA (beta= -6, 95% CI = -75 to 62), and moderate- to vigorous-intensity PA (beta = -23, 95% CI = -121 to 76). No significant intervention effect was observed in the PA outcomes at the 8-month follow-up. For the determinants of PA, aerobic fitness, and body composition, no statistically significant intervention effect was observed in the total study population immediately after the 3-month intervention or the 8-month follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: The intervention appeared to be easily applicable to real-life settings. The intervention was ineffective in improving PA behavior or its determinants in healthy office workers. More attention should have been given to the quality and appropriateness of the tailored advice. TRIAL REGISTRATION: International Standard Randomized Controlled Trial Number (ISRCTN): 93896459; http://www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN93896459/ (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/5iR3mf7ex).
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Blinding of outcome assessors (detection bias) was assessed as high risk for 7 studies [31,43,45-48,52] because of the use of subjective outcome measures.
“Blinding of outcome assessors (detection bias) was assessed as high risk for 7 studies [31,43,45-48,52] because of the use of subjective outcome measures.”
From Consumer-based wearable activity trackers increase physical activity participation: systematic review and meta-analysis (2019) · cites this paper as [48]
Two studies [48,52] presented data as median and IQRs, suggesting that the data were not normally distributed; authors provided mean and SD data, and the studies were included in the meta-analyses.
“Two studies [48,52] presented data as median and IQRs, suggesting that the data were not normally distributed. Authors of both the studies were contacted, and they provided mean and SD data, and the studies were subsequently included in the meta-analyses [28].”
From Consumer-based wearable activity trackers increase physical activity participation: systematic review and meta-analysis (2019) · cites this paper as [48]
Eight studies that reported physical activity outcome measures had greater than 20% loss to follow-up, with three of these reporting a reduction in physical activity participation.
“In addition, 8 studies [29,32,33,37,42,43,46,48] that reported physical activity outcome measures had greater than 20% loss to follow-up, with 3 of these studies reporting a reduction in physical activity participation.”
From Consumer-based wearable activity trackers increase physical activity participation: systematic review and meta-analysis (2019) · cites this paper as [48]
The significant heterogeneity in MVPA is most likely because of the inclusion of a greater range of intervention types and the method by which MVPA was measured, including two studies that subjectively measured MVPA and another study that presented MVPA data in bouts.
“This is most likely because of the inclusion of a greater range of intervention types when compared with other outcome measures and the method by which MVPA was measured, including 2 studies [30,48] that subjectively measured MVPA and another study [39] that presented MVPA data in bouts.”
From Consumer-based wearable activity trackers increase physical activity participation: systematic review and meta-analysis (2019) · cites this paper as [48]
3 studies [36,48,54] were assessed as high risk for selective outcome reporting.
“In addition, 3 studies [36,48,54] were assessed as high risk for selective outcome reporting”
From Consumer-based wearable activity trackers increase physical activity participation: systematic review and meta-analysis (2019) · cites this paper as [48]
The cited paper reports its own trial outcomes in Results and discusses limitations in Discussion (page numbers unavailable). A search for selective outcome reporting, risk-of-bias assessments, and prespecified outcomes found no passage assessing this trial—or three studies—as high risk for selective outcome reporting. (LLM, conf=0.76)
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Many trials use pilots and usability studies to ensure the program functions as planned.
“Many trials use pilots and usability studies to ensure the program functions as planned [18-22].”
From A Systematic Review of the Impact of Adherence on the Effectiveness of e-Therapies (2011) · cites this paper as [22]
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- Authors
- Slootmaker, S. M., Chinapaw, M. J. M., Schuit, A. J., Seidell, J. C., & Van Mechelen, W.
- Affiliations
- Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (NL)
- National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (NL)
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (NL)
- Venue
- Journal of Medical Internet Research
- Publisher
- JMIR Publications Inc.
- Published
- 2009-07-29
- Volume
- 11
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- e27
- ISSN
- 1438-8871 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC2763404
- OpenAlex
- W1981074799
- Cited by
- 99
- References
- 34
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 8
- FWCI
- 4.21
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Journal of Medical Internet Research (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Amsterdam UMC (VU Amsterdam) - Institutional Repository (publishedVersion)
- VU Research Portal (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Pure Amsterdam UMC (submittedVersion)
- Rivm (National Institute for Public Health and the Environment) (submittedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- ZonMw
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Physical Activity and Health
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Mobile Health and mHealth Applications
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition › Context-Aware Activity Recognition Systems
- Keywords
- physical activity, office workers, sedentary behavior, physical activity awareness, physical activity goals, cardiorespiratory fitness, body composition, intervention feasibility, workplace health promotion, physical activity guidelines, light physical activity, moderate physical activity, high-intensity exercise, determinants of physical activity
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Computer-Assisted Instruction, Feasibility Studies, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Life Style, Male, Monitoring, Physiologic, Motor Activity, Netherlands, Online Systems, Pamphlets, Physical Fitness, Surveys and Questionnaires, Running, Exercise, Internet
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