From Theory to Design : Developing a smartphone behavioral intervention to promote physical activity

Abstract: Physical inactivity is a growing public health problem in the 21st century. A large proportion of the adult and adolescent population is not achieving recommended levels of physical activity which has significant consequences for both the individual and our society. With no evidence that the levels of physical inactivity will improve in the future, traditional methods of addressing this problem have evidently proven ineffective. A relatively new and promising approach to this problem that has become increasingly important in recent years is smartphone-based behavioral interventions to promote physical activity and other health-related behaviors. While several studies have shown many positive and promising results with this approach, other studies have also shown that the method is not completely understood. For instance, research shows that many of the health and fitness applications available today do not adequately adhere to behavior change strategies or health-related research, suggesting that these applications are not reaching their fullest potential. The goal of this study was to develop and evaluate an application to promote physical activity that was aligned with such research. A high-fidelity prototype based on the Behaviour Change Wheel was developed in Adobe XD and later evaluated by four participants. The outcome of the evaluation indicated that the developed prototype was well received overall, and participants believed it would trigger the desired behavior change of an increase in physical activity. However, due to the study limitations of unrepresentative participants and evaluation environment, time frame and application levels, nothing was truly proven in this regard. Further improvement of the prototype and future studies are needed to evaluate the prototype more accurately.