The effect of smartphone application interventions on physical activity level among university/college students: a systematic review protocol

Abstract

Introduction: Strong evidence has shown the benefits of engagement in recommended amount of physical activity. However, it is estimated that nearly half of university students do not participate in sufficient amount of physical activity. While entering university life is a transitional stage important for adopting a particular lifestyle, it is crucial to develop and implement novel strategies to promote physical activity among this population. A smartphone application is a potential media for delivering physical activity intervention. However, recent reviews in this area have demonstrated high levels of heterogeneity, potentially due to population diversity. To date there has been no attempt to synthesize the literature assessing the effectiveness of this particular intervention in university students. Aim: The primary aim of this review is to investigate the effectiveness of smartphone application intervention on physical activity level among university students. The secondary aim is examining the behavior change technique elements of smartphone applications used in available studies. Methods: Sixteen electronic databases will be searched for randomized controlled trials and quasi-experimental studies reporting the effect of smartphone application intervention on physical activity outcomes among university students. Two reviewers will independently screen the potential studies and extract data from included studies. Active elements of smartphone applications used in included studies will be coded using the Behavior Change Technique taxonomy v1. Risk of bias and quality of evidence of individual studies will be assessed. The overall evidence will be presented in a narrative synthesis and quantitative synthesis.

The Effectiveness of Web-Based Interventions to Promote Health Behaviour Change in Adolescents: A Systematic Review

“…Most previous systematic reviews about digital health interventions are limited to the self-management of clinical conditions or symptoms instead of focusing on health promotion [ 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 ] or try to understand only one major health outcome change such as nutrition-related behaviours [ 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 ], sedentary behaviours [ 52 ] and physical activity [ 53 ], depression and mental health [ 54 ], alcohol-related problems [ 55 ] and their target population is other than adolescents such as adults [ 56 ] and older adults [ 57 ].…”

University Students’ Motives-for-Physical-Activity Profiles: Why They Practise and What They Get in Terms of Psychological Need Satisfaction

“…Concretely, programs could be aimed at promoting higher intrinsic motivation levels through tailored activities. About such interventions, it has been argued that, on the one hand, the accumulated knowledge about motivation in PA requires more examples, systematicity, and longitudinal approaches ( Belogianni and Baldwin, 2019 ; Huffman et al, 2020 ), and on the other hand, there have been reports of positive effects of the incorporation of new technologies in increasing PA in the youth ( Wibowo et al, 2020 ). These evidences highlight that, looking into the future, a joint venture between longitudinal research designs and more highly sensitive measurement devices, aligned with day-to-day lives of the youth, will be important for the understanding of young people’s motives for physical activity.…”

Practical tips to adopt active lifestyle for university students during pandemic life: a narrative review

“…22,23 PA programs delivered through the web or app also hold promising results, especially for the populations who are already familiar with technology. 24 Individuals could select technology-delivered PA programs which contain self-monitoring with a combination of intention formation, goal-setting, providing feedback, or providing reviews of PA goals. 25…”