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Mixed Methods Assessment of Health Tracking Use by Diverse, Urban Youth
Author(s) -
Schaefer Sara,
Carter Ching Cynthia
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.29.1_supplement.902.16
Subject(s) - tracking (education) , curriculum , medical education , psychology , focus group , health data , applied psychology , gerontology , medicine , health care , pedagogy , business , political science , marketing , law
Health tracking technologies are changing the way people engage with health and lifestyle management. Healthy behaviors acquired early in life are most effective for disease prevention, but feasibility of health tracking among youth is unclear. This study explored how urban youth engage with health tracking to identify effective avenues for using health tracking in health education in under resourced communities that stand to benefit the most. Diverse youth (n=33, age 12.6 y) in an after school program in urban Sacramento were asked to use a Fitbit™ physical activity monitor that displays users' actualized data (ie, step count, calorie burn) and wirelessly syncs to an online profile to log data over time. Log data were used to quantitatively assess objective device engagement. Engagement (calculated as % time the device was actually used) was ~30% over 4 months. When research or technical support weren't available, engagement dropped even more. Researchers conducted focus groups to assess student reported experiences, behavior change, motivators and barriers with the device. While students weren't as engaged with online tracking, they reported using the immediate data from the display (ie, competing with peers for steps). They reported initial unsustainable changes to their activities (ie, shaking the device, running in place), but over time began to make more sustainable changes (ie, participating more in PE). Thus, health tracking in diverse youth may be feasible for teaching healthy behaviors if combined with educational curricula but adequate training, programmatic support and technology access are also needed to sustain ongoing engagement. Supported by the National Science Foundation Cyberlearning grant IIS‐1217317.