The Use of Wearable Activity Trackers Among Older Adults: Focus Group Study of Tracker Perceptions, Motivators, and Barriers in the Maintenance Stage of Behavior Change (Preprint)

Abstract

Wearable activity trackers offer the opportunity to increase physical activity through continuous monitoring. Viewing tracker use as a beneficial health behavior, we explored the factors that facilitate and hinder long-term activity tracker use, applying the transtheoretical model of behavior change with the focus on the maintenance stage and relapse.

The aim of this study was to investigate older adults’ perceptions and uses of activity trackers at different points of use: from nonuse and short-term use to long-term use and abandoned use to determine the factors to maintain tracker use and prevent users from discontinuing tracker usage.

Data for the research come from 10 focus groups. Of them, 4 focus groups included participants who had never used activity trackers (n=17). These focus groups included an activity tracker trial. The other 6 focus groups (without the activity tracker trial) were conducted with short-term (n=9), long-term (n=11), and former tracker users (n=11; 2 focus groups per user type).

The results revealed that older adults in different tracker use stages liked and wished for different tracker features, with long-term users (users in the maintenance stage) being the most diverse and sophisticated users of the technology. Long-term users had developed a habit of tracker use whereas other participants made an effort to employ various encouragement strategies to ensure behavior maintenance. Social support through collaboration was the primary motivator for long-term users to maintain activity tracker use. Short-term and former users focused on competition, and nonusers engaged in vicarious tracker use experiences. Former users, or those who relapsed by abandoning their trackers, indicated that activity tracker use was fueled by curiosity in quantifying daily physical activity rather than the desire to increase physical activity. Long-term users saw a greater range of pros in activity tracker use whereas others focused on the cons of this behavior.

The results suggest that activity trackers may be an effective technology to encourage physical activity among older adults, especially those who have never tried it. However, initial positive response to tracker use does not guarantee tracker use maintenance. Maintenance depends on recognizing the long-term benefits of tracker use, social support, and internal motivation. Nonadoption and relapse may occur because of technology’s limitations and gaining awareness of one’s physical activity without changing the physical activity level itself.