A stAPP to a Healthier Lifestyle
Condition: Sedentary Lifestyle
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      The main objective of the project is to make participants aware of their sedentary behavior
      (prolonged sitting behavior) and then to encourage behavioral change through the use of an
      innovative and fun application on a smartphone.
    

Detailed description: 
      Recent scientific research has shown that prolonged sitting, also called sedentary behavior
      may have adverse effects on health. An increased negative association was found with
      cardio-metabolic risk factors, type 2 diabetes and premature mortality.

      The occurrence of these adverse health effects even appears to be independently of the degree
      of physical activity. There is more and more evidence to interrupt prolonged sitting
      regularly.

      Until today there is still no international scientific standard that specifies how often the
      sitting behavior should be interrupted. Moreover, it is also unclear how long the breaks
      should take to counter adverse health effects. Only a few studies examined the health effects
      after an intervention that aimed to reduce the sitting behavior.

      Currently, there is a great need for interventions in which one is made aware of the problem
      of sedentarity, but by which, one is equally encouraged changing behavior in the short as
      well as long term. In the proposed project the investigators therefore contribute to a good
      method to fight sedentary behavior in an innovative way. The investigators will try to
      achieve that goal through the development and implementation of an application on the
      smartphone.

      Recent figures show that it is impossible to ignore the existence of the smartphone with all
      its applications. In 2011 40.4% of the Flemish people owned a smartphone. In the same year
      650 000 smartphones were sold in Belgium. In 2012, according to projections this number
      should be increased by 250% to 1.625 000.

      The smartphone is a very popular tool that can be used for the adoption of a healthy
      lifestyle. There are meanwhile a lot of sport and exercise apps that measure physical
      activity (eg Runkeeper Pro or Fitness Builder) and give more information around physical
      activity. Motion sensors, which are standard built-in in a smartphone, are often used for
      this purpose.

      In the development of the app and the associated processes in this project, the principles of
      Self Determination Theory (SDT) are taken into account. This theoretical framework makes it
      possible to aim for a change in behavior in the short and in the long term.

      During the development of the app, the investigators respect the sense of autonomy,
      competence and social connectedness of the user. Recent research showed already that
      applications which generate awareness and at regular intervals supply reminders, and this
      while autonomy and trust in their own competencies are respected, are effective in reducing
      sedentary behavior.

      The effectiveness of the application will be investigated by means of a controlled
      intervention study. In this study, a control- and intervention group of 30 participants are
      included.

      At the beginning of the project, both the intervention group and the control group will fill
      in some scientific questionnaires about sedentary behavior (pre-test).

        1. st week: During one week, both the control- and the intervention group will wear an
           activity monitor (ActivPal). In this way, the investigators can determine the degree of
           physical activity and sedentary behavior.

        2. nd week: After this week, the control group is asked not to change lifestyle. The
           persons of the control group still wear the activity monitor. The intervention group can
           use the app for a week and at the same time the persons of the intervention group have
           to carry the activity monitor. They can choose how they use the application (as they
           prefer, depending on the profile eg no advice versus daily advice received).

      After the 2nd week, both the control and the intervention group are invited and fill in the
      questionnaire (post-test). Data from the activity monitor are retrieved. Now the
      investigators can examine if sedentary behavior of the intervention group was significantly
      decreased by the use of the app, compared to the sedentary behavior of the control group.
      Moreover, the investigators will also examine whether the way of use of the app (cfr profile)
      has an effect on the result.
    

Intervention name(s): Application on smartphone
Intervention type(s): Other
Intervention description(s): innovative application on smartphone which helps to increase the awareness of sedentary behavior of the user by messages, scoring system, ...
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Prevention
Keywords: Sedentary behavior, smartphone, application