Experience with an Activity Tracker: A Mixed Methods Design
Event Type
Presentation
Start Date
12-10-2017 9:00 AM
End Date
12-10-2017 12:00 PM
Description
Innovative wearable technologies are becoming pervasive in society and potentially influencing users to change their behaviors regarding health; namely their activity level. One common persuasive wearable technology comes in the form of an activity tracker; however, the literature is limited on the user experience regarding whether it is persuasive in changing user behavior. Understanding user experiences with persuasive wearable technologies may help individuals maintain healthy habits, especially users who identify as sedentary.
Recommended Citation
Davenport, R. D., Granada, C. M., Lopez, J., & Henry, T. H. (2017), Experience with an Activity Tracker: A Mixed Methods Design, Presentation, Third Annual Research Colloquium, https://nsuworks.nova.edu/ot_colloquium/third/events/6
Experience with an Activity Tracker: A Mixed Methods Design
Innovative wearable technologies are becoming pervasive in society and potentially influencing users to change their behaviors regarding health; namely their activity level. One common persuasive wearable technology comes in the form of an activity tracker; however, the literature is limited on the user experience regarding whether it is persuasive in changing user behavior. Understanding user experiences with persuasive wearable technologies may help individuals maintain healthy habits, especially users who identify as sedentary.
Comments
Objective: To describe the persuasive wearable activity tracker experiences of individuals who identify as sedentary (defined as an individual who walks < 10,000 steps/day). To identify if the competition feature of a persuasive wearable activity tracker influences the user's step count.
Methods: A mixed methods design was used to evaluate a 7-week interaction of a persuasive wearable activity tracker (e.g. Fitbit) with four individuals who identified as sedentary. Quantitative data of weekly step count reports and qualitative data from daily journals and in-depth interviews were coded to describe the user experience and assess the effect of the progressive competition experiential component.
Results: Half of participants demonstrated a decrease in average weekly step counts upon and during competition weeks with an approximate range from 200-2200 steps. All participants were engaged in the activitycategory of ‘mostly light activity’ duringthe course of the study. The overall TPB belief of the Fitbit experience of the collected themes were behavioral beliefs; however, competition was not one of the influencing factors for this sample.