College Students’ Use and Perceptions of Wearable Fitness Trackers

ABSTRACT

Background: Nearly half of all college students do not engage in the recommended amount of physical activity which may contribute to chronic diseases such as obesity. Purpose: To investigate college students’ use and perceptions of wearable fitness trackers (WFTs) and the impact on confidence and motivation for increasing physical activity. Reasons for non-use were also explored. Methods: 356 College students completed a 25 -item paper survey. Results: 22.5% reported using a WFT. Most wore their WFT either “every day without fail” or “most days” and half wore their WFT “all day and while sleeping”. Analyses were significant for those reporting a high increase in physical activity and or a high increase in number of steps as being more likely to report a high motivation for physical activity. Discussion: Two reasons for use of WFT were weight loss and to track sleep. A common reason for non-use of WFT was cost. WFTs may help to increase motivation to engage in physical activity. Translation to Health Education Practice: When considering the use of WFTs, Health Educators would do well to identify affordable WFTs for use in interventions and be mindful of the barriers related to discontinuation of use.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.