Effectiveness of motion sensor-embedded health promotion programmes on health behavioural changes and health-related measures: an assessor-blinded parallel randomised controlled study. (Preprint)
Authors: Shih Ying-Jyun , Yang Yung-Jen , Wang Ya-Hui , Wang Jiun-Yi , Chien Hui-Wen 
Published: March 2022

BACKGROUND

Motion sensors have become easily accessible to the general public and their roles in promoting health have also been propagated in the past years. However, the results across the past studies on health-related measures and behavioural changes by motion sensors were controversial and inconsistent, and the specific effectiveness of motion sensors in the health programmes to build up healthy behaviours remained uncertain. In the present study, the research team investigated the effectiveness of the motion sensors in the health promotion programme by adopting the methodologically rigorous two-arm, parallel assessor-blinded randomised control study design.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of the study is to investigate the effectiveness of wearable motion sensor on the participation in health promotion programme, establishing healthy behaviours, and the influence on health-related measures in shift-working healthcare professionals.

METHODS

Healthcare professionals who work on shift were eligible to the study. The participants were randomised either to the interventional group (wearing activated motion sensors) or the controlled group (wearing deactivated motion sensors) and attended to the 24-week health promotion programmes which consisted of both in-person and online health promotion activities. The participants in both groups were required to wear the motion sensors for most of the time during study period, and to complete the daily log and other activities arranged in the programmes. The primary outcomes were the weekly participation rate of weekly health promotion activities and the completion rate of health dietary log while the secondary outcomes were objective and subjective measurements.

RESULTS

59 participants (mean age = 35.47 years; 88.13% female) were recruited and completed the study. The weekly participation rate of weekly health promotion activities was 46.09% (SD=19.40%) in interventional group and 37.01% (SD=24.62%) in the controlled group while the completion rate of health dietary log was 26.60% (SD=39.02%) and 25.24% (SD=38.38%) respectively. There was no statistical significance found between groups in our primary outcomes, and neither was found at our secondary outcomes. However, in the within-group analyses, improvement in the secondary outcome of physical efficiency index (PEI) showed statistical significance at midpoint and endpoint (p=0.035 and 0.043 respectively) but not in the controlled group.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite of the lack of statistical significance of the primary and secondary outcomes in the between-group analyses, our findings support the evidence that motion sensors could be helpful in improving physical efficiency in healthy healthcare professionals in self-paced health promotion as evidenced by the improved within-group physical efficiency index. The long-term effectiveness of motion sensors in health promotion is still warranted.

CLINICALTRIAL

The study is registered with the ISRCTN registry, number: 16420147, https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN16420147.