Will women interact with technology to increase physical activity?
Creators: name: Hildebrand, Kathy Louise
Publisher: name: Graduate Studies
Year: 2018
Subjects: subject: women
subject: Technology
subject: Health
subject: activity
subject: cardiovascular
subject: Education--Health
subject: Anthropology--Physical
subject: Nursing
subject: FOS: Health sciences

description: Background: Cardiovascular disease continues to be one of the leading causes of death for women. New approaches need to be identified that will enable women to recognize modifiable risk factors (i.e., smoking, diabetes, physical inactivity, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol and obesity) and target their efforts towards prevention. Technology is increasingly being accessed by individuals to understand components of their health. A sensor-based activity monitor, with the novel web-based platform VivametricaTM and a small amount of personal health information, can provide a personalized cardiovascular health risk score. Objectives: The objectives of this study were to examine: 1) if women would wear a Garmin Vivosmart® HR Wrist Tracker (GVWT) and access VivametricaTM to assess information about their cardiovascular health risk; 2) whether using the VivametricaTM tools would lead women to increase their physical activity, as measured by their daily step counts; and 3) women’s opinions about using VivametricaTM. This study was undertaken in two phases using quantitative then qualitative methods. The first phase addressed objectives #1 and #2. The second phase addressed objective #3. Methods: Phase one was a prospective observational study involving thirty-six English speaking women aged 45-64 years old, without physical disabilities. Participants wore a GVWT for 12 weeks and were instructed in how to access the VivametricaTM platform. The number of times participants accessed VivametricaTM and participants’ physical activity (step count) were streamed via the GVWT to VivametricaTM. The number of steps data were analyzed from those participants who accessed VivametricaTM (during the 12 week period) using Wilcoxon signed rank test to compare the median number of steps walked during the participants’ first 14 days (T1) with median number of steps walked during the last 14 days (T2). Phase two was a qualitative descriptive study whereby all participants in phase one engaged in semi-structured audio-recorded interviews. Qualitative content analysis, using the technology assessment model, was used to analyze the text data. Results: Twenty-six (72%) participants accessed VivametricaTM over the course of the study. The median number of steps at baseline and at 12 weeks were 9329 steps (range 5406-18228 steps) and 10181 steps (range 5398-21401 steps) respectively. There was no significant change in number of steps taken by the participants over the 12 week period (Z = -1.143, p =.253). Although the change in steps was not statistically significant, it represents an average increase in daily steps of 9%, which is clinically important. Four themes were identified from the qualitative interviews. They were: confusion, convenience, measurement, and sleep. Confusion resulted for some participants when two forms of technology were introduced at the same time. The participants expected using the technology to be convenient and effortless. Yet, having to sign onto a computer to see their health scores was frustrating for many women. The GVWT was effortless when in the mode of collecting steps. However, if a participant wanted to capture other activity, such as cycling, they needed to change the mode. The women did not like having to adjust any settings on the GVWT. The value of measurement meant different things to different women. Knowing their health scores and activity awareness were valued by the participants. However, some participants found having missed data (e.g., in the case of forgetting to wear the GVWT not appropriately changing the mode on the GVWT) frustrating and discouraging. Finally, participants sought out other information when using the technology and this was focused on their sleep patterns. Some participants changed their behavior to achieve better sleep. Discussion: VivametricaTM provides more than activity data, thereby allowing a unique option for individuals to access personal health risk information. This innovative technology has great potential for supporting women to understand their personal CVD risk. However, people who use this technology need to be trained and supported with resources to enable them to use this technology to its capacity.