Tailoring digital apps to support active ageing in a low income community

Abstract

Despite physical activity being one of the determinants of healthy aging, older people tend to become less active over the years. Maintaining physical activity levels during the life course is a motivational challenge. Digital tools have been used to change this pattern, such as smartphone applications to support physical activity; but there is a lack of in-depth research on the diversity of user’s experiences, especially considering older users or non-users of information and communication technologies. Objective: Our goal was to identify requirements for designing a mobile app to encourage physical activity in a low-income community population of older people in Brazil (i.e. over 40 years old). Method: We conducted a qualitative focus group study, involving by co-design of a physical activity application (Pacer)®. Seventeen volunteers were divided into 2 focus groups of physical active and insufficiently active, and 2 further 4 subgroups in each characterised by digital engagement. The following procedures were performed: (i) baseline assessments; (ii) a focus group with physically active older people and a focus group with insufficiently active older people (iii) design activities with both groups to re-design Pacer. Results: Developing physical activity apps for older people should consider the following features: free application, simple interface, motivational messages using audio and visual information, sharing information among users, multimedia input and sharing and user customisation. In particular, we recommend that exercise apps in low-income communities be tailored to our four categories of users differing in baseline physical activity and digital engagement, to match the social and behavioural preferences we discovered.

The Barriers and Facilitators to the Use of Lifestyle Apps: A Systematic Review of Qualitative Studies

“…Gamification and other reward-based systems have been identified as important features that motivate users, especially younger audiences, to use LAs [ 15 , 16 , 17 ]. Both the ability to compare oneself against their former self and the rewards that these systems offer are engaging for users.…”

“…Both the ability to compare oneself against their former self and the rewards that these systems offer are engaging for users. The rewards used in these systems should be tangible and varied, with some studies even suggesting that financial incentives could be motivational for users [ 15 , 16 , 18 ].…”

“…"Even if it's just a reminder. It pushes us through" [16] Additionally, the existence of extrinsic motivation within the LA and the environment of the user is also important to facilitate continued use.…”

“…The presence of leader boards that compared users against one another encouraged the use of LAs, because users had the desire to "beat" their friends [16,18,21] Finally, the existence of supportive and active social environments helps users to see the benefits of LAs more clearly and therefore leads to greater user engagement with the app [22,23]. Furthermore, support members using the LA alongside the participant nurtured user engagement further [14].…”

“…[18] Users disliked over-complicated apps with irrelevant features and clustered interfaces, often feeling "overwhelmed" by them. [15][16][17][18]21,28]. Even menial tasks such as logging in to the LA caused disengagement when such tasks were too lengthy [23].…”