Journal Article

Users’ experiences of wearable activity trackers: a cross-sectional study

Maher, Carol, Ambrosi, Christina, Ryan, Jillian, Edney, Sarah

2017

Overview

Background Wearable activity trackers offer considerable promise for helping users to adopt healthier lifestyles. This study aimed to explore users’ experience of activity trackers, including usage patterns, sharing of data to social media, perceived behaviour change (physical activity, diet and sleep), and technical issues/barriers to use. Methods A cross-sectional online survey was developed and administered to Australian adults who were current or former activity tracker users. Results were analysed descriptively, with differences between current and former users and wearable brands explored using independent samples t -tests, Mann-Whitney, and chi square tests. Results Participants included 200 current and 37 former activity tracker users (total N  = 237) with a mean age of 33.1 years (SD 12.4, range 18–74 years). Fitbit (67.5%) and Garmin devices (16.5%) were most commonly reported. Participants typically used their trackers for sustained periods (5–7 months) and most intended to continue usage. Participants reported they had improved their physical activity (51–81%) more commonly than they had their diet (14–40%) or sleep (11–24%), and slightly more participants reported to value the real time feedback (89%) compared to the long-term monitoring (78%). Most users (70%) reported they had experienced functionality issues with their devices, most commonly related to battery life and technical difficulties. Conclusions Results suggest users find activity trackers appealing and useful tools for increasing perceived physical activity levels over a sustained period.

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Springer Nature B.V,BMC
• Subject: Activity trackers / Australians / Behavior / Biostatistics / Cardiovascular disease / Cross-sectional studies / Diet / Digital media / Energy consumption / Environmental Health / Epidemiology / Exercise / Fitness / Health behavior / Health behaviour / health promotion and society / Measurement / Measuring instruments / Medicine / Medicine & Public Health / Motion sensors / Pedometry / Perceptions / Physical activity / Physical activity assessment / Physical fitness / Public Health / Research Article / Sleep / Smartphones / Social behavior / Social interactions / Social media / Social networks / Software / Surveys / Tracking devices / Type 2 diabetes / Vaccine / Wearable technology