Do fitness and diet trackers promote body dissatisfaction and disordered eating? Systematic review of qualitative research
Creators: name: Deli, Arianna
name: Ross, Lindsay
name: Sharpe, Helen
name: Moody, Sarah
name: Marie-Christine Opitz
name: Page, Imogen
Publisher: name: Open Science Framework
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Mental and Social Health
subject: Medicine and Health Sciences
subject: Psychiatry and Psychology
subject: Fitness Tracking
subject: Diet Tracking
subject: Disordered Eating
subject: Systematic Review

description: The use of fitness and diet tracking technology has rapidly increased over recent years. There are numerous apps which can be used to manually track exercise and diet as well as the release of various smart watches which track live physical activity. While these are designed to promote healthier lifestyles and aid individuals to achieve their fitness goals, there are concerns regarding their potential to trigger, maintain, or exacerbate disordered eating. A systematic review of quantitative research in this area found that calorie tracking was more strongly associated with disordered eating than fitness tracking and that people with eating disorders seem to be at higher risk of negative associations. This project will be a complementary systematic review of qualitative studies of diet and fitness trackers, conducting a thematic synthesis of how people experience using these devices, any impact they have on eating-related behaviours and cognitions. This review aims to investigate the following research question: What are users’ experiences of fitness and diet trackers in relation to body dissatisfaction and disordered eating? Studies will be included in the review if the following apply: • Presence of qualitative data that looks at experiences of using fitness and/or diet trackers - either a wholly qualitative study or a mixed methods study which includes a qualitative component • Relevant theme: At least one theme is relevant to the topic of disordered eating. This includes reference to eating behaviours (e.g. restriction, purging, binging, compensatory/excessive exercise) or to eating-related cognitions (e.g. over-evaluation of food, over-evaluation of shape and weight) • Study conducted after 2005: This is when fitness and diet tracking technology came into use. The first Fitbit was released in 2009 (Zheng et al., 2018). The first diet tracker, MyFitnessPal was released in 2005 (Vickey et al., 2013). • Written in English Studies will be excluded if the following apply: • Study exclusively looks at experiences of using fitness or diet trackers for purposes other than self-monitoring (for example, studies where trackers are used solely for research purposes (e.g., Grosser et al., 2020) The following databases will be searched: PsycInfo, MEDLINE, CINAHL Plus (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature), Scopus, EMBASE, ASSIA (Applied Social Science Index and Abstracts), Cochrane Library, Sociological Abstracts and ERIC, ProQuest Dissertation and Theses Global, Sports Medicine &amp; Educational Health, SportDiscus, and Psyarxiv These databases will be searched for a period covering January 1st, 2005, to August 2023. The included studies will be quality assessed by the Joanna Briggs Institute (Lockwood et al., 2015) qualitative critical appraisal tool. This will also be carried out by two independent researchers and comparisons will be made. Any disagreements will be resolved through consensus. As the data being reviewed will be primarily qualitative or mixed-methods type, a thematic synthesis will be conducted according to the methods outlined by Thomas and Harden (2008).