Using mobile sensors to expand recording of physical activity and increase motivation for prolonged data sharing in a population-based study

Source at http://www.ep.liu.se/ecp/article.asp?issue=145&article=005.Regularly conducted population cohort studies contribute important new knowledge to medical research. A high participation rate is required in these types of studies in order to claim representativeness and validity of study results. Participation rates are declining worldwide, and re-searchers are challenged to develop new data collection strategies and tools to motivate people to participate. The last years of advances in sensor and mobile technology, and the widespread use of activity trackers and smart watches, have made it possible to privately collect physical activity data, in a cheap, easy and prolonged way. The unstructured way of collecting this data can have other applications than just showing users their activity trends. In this paper, we describe our plans for how to use these pervasive sensors as new tools for collecting data on physical activity, in a way that can motivate participants to share more information, for a longer time period and with a renewed motivation to participate in a population study

Three Studies Concerning Movement Integration In Low Socioeconomic Elementary School Classrooms

This dissertation contains three studies that advance the knowledge base on classroom movement integration (MI), specifically within low socioeconomic (SES) schools. Study One examined the current level and types of MI being utilized in a low SES school district. Study Two and Study Three focused on one low SES school. Study Two compared movement breaks in traditional general education classrooms to other in-school PA opportunities (i.e., time in physical education, recess, and movement facilitative classrooms) regarding their associations with student off-task behavior, while Study Three evaluated an MI training delivered to classroom teachers For Study One, classroom teachers (N = 48) in eight elementary schools in a rural, low SES school district in the southeastern U.S. were systematically observed using the System for Observing Student Movement in Academic Routines and Transitions (SOSMART). Trained observers (N = 10) observed the teachers’ classrooms randomly and on unannounced days over one academic calendar year. Descriptive statistics were calculated for the frequency and types of MI being used. The majority of teachers (n=44) were observed using MI. Of the 9398 individual observation scans across the year, students engaged in movement 41.3% of observed time. Student movement was observed to be teacher directed 14.4% of scans and non-teacher directed 26.9% of scans. Non-teacher directed movement consisted mostly of transitions (M = 99.5) in which movement occurred as a result of pre-established classroom rules, protocols, and organization. This is one of the first studies to provide objective information about MI in a low SES school district. These descriptive data lay the groundwork for future correlational and experimental research that can lead to the development of effective intervention design and teacher professional development training to increase MI use in low SES school contexts. Systematic observation protocols for student off-task behavior and teacher redirects were developed for Study Two. For four non-consecutive weeks across one academic year, observations of off-task behavior, teacher redirects, and PA opportunities across the school day were conducted with students from elementary classrooms (N=6) in one low SES school. Percent agreement between codes for off-task behavior and redirects was calculated to determine the consistency of the two measures. A multi-level mixed effects logistic regression explored the likelihood of a teacher redirect at 5, 10, 15, 30, and 60 minutes post each PA opportunity and identified the association of student participation in the different school-based PA opportunities to the occurrences of students’ off task. Teacher redirects were found to be a suitable proxy for measuring occurrences of student off-task behavior. The only PA opportunity associated with teacher redirects was movement breaks in traditional classrooms, where redirects were found to be less likely to occur at all post-PA opportunity time points. Findings of this study provide a teacher-driven measurement protocol for examining off-task behavior and further support the benefits of classroom-based PA for reducing children’s off-task behaviors during regular classroom time. The purpose of Study Three was to evaluate an MI training for classroom teachers at the school from Study Two. Participants in this study were classroom teachers (n=6), the activity lab supervisors (n=2), and the school principal (n=1). The training was recorded compared to recommended best practices for teacher professional development, Less than half (M = 42%) of best practices were evident in the training. Interviews with participants led to the identification of three themes, each with two subthemes concerning the strengths and weaknesses of the training: a) training purpose, b) challenges, and (c) future training recommendations. It is important for future research to align MI training design and resources provided with current recommendations for professional development and to ensure stakeholder perceptions of MI trainings are identified and utilized

MOBILE INTERACTIVE FITNESS TECHNOLOGIES AND THE RECREATIONAL EXPERIENCE OF BICYCLING: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL EXPLORATION OF THE STRAVA COMMUNITY

Technology is now embedded in many aspects of daily life. Over the past few years, fitness related smartphone applications have steadily grown in popularity. Despite the prevalence of technology in recreation and leisure experiences, the topic remains to be thoroughly examined from a qualitative interpretive viewpoint. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand and describe how cyclists use and experience Strava--a GPS enabled smartphone application that tracks bicycle rides and uploads the data to an online community of other users. Particular attention was given to user motivations, affordances of the technology, and notions of community. After participant observation and in-depth qualitative interviews with 11 Strava users, the following five theme clusters emerged: (1) King of the Mountain, (2) Ethical Dilemmas, (3) A Social Technology, (4) An Emotion-Laden Experience, and (5) An Augmented Experience. In summary, this thesis offers an accurate portrayal of the lived experience of bicycling as mediated by the interactive fitness technology of Strava. The project concludes with suggestions for areas of future research, as well as implications for health practitioners and technology manufacturers

M-health review: joining up healthcare in a wireless world

In recent years, there has been a huge increase in the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) to deliver health and social care. This trend is bound to continue as providers (whether public or private) strive to deliver better care to more people under conditions of severe budgetary constraint

Implementing Digital Media as a Pedagogical Tool in University Physical Activity Courses

Technological advancements have influenced the way we teach, learn, and communicate in education. Higher educational institutions must continually adapt to emerging technologies by implementing a variety of technologies such as photographs, audio, video, and an endless array of online platforms. Specifically, university physical activity programs, which have existed in higher educational institutions for over a century, are encouraged to incorporate digital media as a means to effectively and efficiently communicate a variety of content areas (Cardinal, 2017; Casey, Goodyear, & Armour, 2017; Tiernan, 2015). The purpose of this case study was to explore the implementation of digital media as a pedagogical tool within physical activity courses (PACs). Eight participants shared their lived experiences as instructors of record for PACs throughout the fall 2019 semester. Results showed the need for digital resources both for the instructor as well as students, the value of digital media as a social connection tool, and the need to use Canvas, video, and audio as pedagogical tools. Professional development opportunities are necessary for PAC instructors to effectively and efficiently implement digital media as a pedagogical tool

A review of activity trackers for senior citizens: research perspectives, commercial landscape and the role of the insurance industry

The objective assessment of physical activity levels through wearable inertial-based motion detectors for the automatic, continuous and long-term monitoring of people in free-living environments is a well-known research area in the literature. However, their application to older adults can present particular constraints. This paper reviews the adoption of wearable devices in senior citizens by describing various researches for monitoring physical activity indicators, such as energy expenditure, posture transitions, activity classification, fall detection and prediction, gait and balance analysis, also by adopting consumer-grade fitness trackers with the associated limitations regarding acceptability. This review also describes and compares existing commercial products encompassing activity trackers tailored for older adults, thus providing a comprehensive outlook of the status of commercially available motion tracking systems. Finally, the impact of wearable devices on life and health insurance companies, with a description of the potential benefits for the industry and the wearables market, was analyzed as an example of the potential emerging market drivers for such technology in the future

Continuous physical activity recording - Consumer-based activity trackers in epidemiological studies

Physical activity is an important modifiable lifestyle factor that can improve general health and reduce the risk of disease. Currently, collecting data on physical activity in epidemiological studies are generally limited to long-term but self-reported and inaccurate physical activity questionnaires and/or using short-term but objective and more accurate accelerometers. Consumer-based activity trackers are designed for long-term objective data collection and can therefore potentially be used to close this gap. The objective of this dissertation was therefore to explore and develop new methods for collecting data on physical activity in epidemiological studies using consumer-based activity trackers. The four included papers apply different methods to explore the objective from multiple angles. Results includes an overview of how activity tracker sensor support has changed over time, recommendations when choosing an activity tracker model for future physical activity research, recommendations for increasing activity tracker wear time among participants in clinical studies, as well as knowledge about activity tracker validity and physical activity trends during the Norwegian COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. Finally, the dissertation describes a system for automatic and continuous data collection using consumer-based activity trackers from multiple providers. We show the usability of this system by accessing and analysing historic activity tracker data from participants who wore a tracker before-, during-, and after the COVID-19 lockdown period. The proposed system can be a valuable addition to existing methods for physical activity assessment by contributing to closing the above-mentioned method gap

Wearable technology industry: challenges and opportunties in the European market

Wearable technology is a new industry which is develop. Smartwatches, activity trackers are done explains of these devices. In this new field, fashion and technology work together to create successful products with limitless function

A Semantic Web approach to ontology-based system: integrating, sharing and analysing IoT health and fitness data

With the rapid development of fitness industry, Internet of Things (IoT) technology is becoming one of the most popular trends for the health and fitness areas. IoT technologies have revolutionised the fitness and the sport industry by giving users the ability to monitor their health status and keep track of their training sessions. More and more sophisticated wearable devices, fitness trackers, smart watches and health mobile applications will appear in the near future. These systems do collect data non-stop from sensors and upload them to the Cloud. However, from a data-centric perspective the landscape of IoT fitness devices and wellness appliances is characterised by a plethora of representation and serialisation formats. The high heterogeneity of IoT data representations and the lack of common accepted standards, keep data isolated within each single system, preventing users and health professionals from having an integrated view of the various information collected. Moreover, in order to fully exploit the potential of the large amounts of data, it is also necessary to enable advanced analytics over it, thus achieving actionable knowledge. Therefore, due the above situation, the aim of this thesis project is to design and implement an ontology based system to (1) allow data interoperability among heterogeneous IoT fitness and wellness devices, (2) facilitate the integration and the sharing of information and (3) enable advanced analytics over the collected data (Cognitive Computing). The novelty of the proposed solution lies in exploiting Semantic Web technologies to formally describe the meaning of the data collected by the IoT devices and define a common communication strategy for information representation and exchange

The Integration of Technology within Physical Education Teacher Education: Perceptions of the Faculty

In 2008, the national Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) standards included a more integrated approach to teaching pre-service teachers about technology and stated that teacher candidates should be able to plan and implement technology infused learning experiences that meet lesson objectives. With the inclusion of the 2008 standards, PETE faculty have the task to create instruction that effectively integrates technology. This study investigated the preparedness for technology integration of 198 teacher educators within nationally recognized PETE programs. The study utilized survey research design to identify current technologies used, analyze current level of technology proficiency in relationship to the level of integration, identify factors that aid or hinder the technology infusion process and examine approaches PETE programs use to integrate technology within PETE programs. Roger`s Diffusion Theory (2003) and the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge Framework (Mishra & Koehler, 2006) were used as theoretical guides. Results indicated low proficiency and integration levels. On average, proficiency levels were that of basic use of technology and integration levels indicated that PETE professors were aware of the use of technology but often did not integrate it or teach it to the students. In addition, the level of proficiency predicted integration levels significantly. Computer technologies, pedometers and heart rate monitor were tools most often integrated within PETE programs. PETE teacher educators expressed concerns related to the abundance of technologies as well as the limited availability and accessibility of technologies both at the PETE level and within K-12 schools. The results and literature suggest PETE faculty can enhance technology integration by developing a clear vision of technology integration, creating a technology plan, constructing teaching technology labs, and encouraging faculty-practitioner collaboration. In light of the 2008 national PETE standards, the results suggest that both the national and regional associations as well as PETE administrators should explore various professional development models in the area of both using technology (improving proficiency levels) as well as teaching effective teaching strategies related to technology (enhancing integration levels). Crucially, strategies where technology can assist in the enhancement of the overall quality of PE, in both PETE and K-12 PE, should be the main focus