Feasibility of smartphone application- and social media-based intervention on college students’ health outcomes: A pilot randomized trial

Abstract

Objective We evaluated the feasibility of a 10-week program combining a smartphone application and theoretically-based, social media-delivered health education intervention to improve college students’ health behaviors and outcomes. Participants: Forty-four college students (32 female; X̅_age=21.6 years) in 2015-2016. Methods: Participants were randomized into one of two groups: (1) experimental: used MapMyFitness smartphone application to log and track physical activity (PA) and participated in a Social Cognitive Theory-based, Facebook-delivered health education intervention; (2) comparison: only included in a separate, but content-identical, Facebook intervention. Our primary outcomes pertained to intervention feasibility while our secondary outcomes reflected health behaviors and outcomes. Results: Intervention interest was high, with retention 95.5%. Experimental participants used MapMyFitness 1.71x/week, with both groups implementing the Facebook-delivered health education tips 1-3x/week. We observed a modest sedentary behavior reduction in the experimental group (−29.2-minutes/day). Additionally, both groups demonstrated slight reductions in weight (experimental:−1.2 kg/comparison:−0.6 kg) and body fat percentage (both groups:−0.8%-decrease). Increased PA-related social support and decreased barriers were observed. Conclusions: A low-burden and well-integrated social media-based intervention is feasible and of interest to college students, possibly improving select health behaviors and outcomes. PA-oriented smartphone application offered limited additional benefit.

Keywords:

• Mobile health applications
• physical activity
• physiological health
• psychosocial health
• sedentary behavior
• social media technology

Acknowledgments

The authors thank the participants of this study.

Authors’ contributions

Author #1 developed the study idea, carried out the implementation of all study procedures, completed all data analyses, and drafted the manuscript. Author #2 advised on the study’s design/implementation and edited the manuscript.

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States and received approval from the University of Minnesota Institutional Review Board.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Society of Health and Physical Educators (SHAPE) America (Contract #: CON000000055686; University Project #: 00051053). That said, SHAPE America had no input on the design, implementation, analysis, or reporting of the observations of the current trial.