Increasing physical activity in older adults using STARFISH, an interactive smartphone application (app); a pilot study

Lorna Paul; Stephen  Brewster; Sally Wyke; Angus K. McFadyen; Naveed Sattar; Jason M.R. Gill; Aleksandra Dybus; Cindy M. Gray

doi:10.1177/2055668317696236

Increasing physical activity in older adults using STARFISH, an interactive smartphone application (app); a pilot study

Lorna Paul, Stephen Brewster, Sally Wyke, Angus K. McFadyen, Naveed Sattar, Jason M.R. Gill, Aleksandra Dybus, Cindy M. Gray

Physiotherapy

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Abstract

Background: Increasing physical activity in older adults has preventative and therapeutic health benefits. We have developed STARFISH, a smartphone application, to increase physical activity. This paper describes the features of STARFISH, presents the views of older users on the acceptability and usability of the app and reports the results of a six week pilot study of the STARFISH app in older adults.

Methods: The operationalisation of the behaviour change techniques (BCTs) within the STARFISH app was mapped against the BCT Taxonomy of Michie et al. Sixteen healthy older adults (eight women and eight men; age 71.1 ± 5.2 years) used the app, in groups of four, for six weeks. Focus groups explored the user experience and objective measure of steps per day recorded.

Results: Participants were very positive about using the STARFISH app, in particular the embedded BCTs of self-monitoring, feedback and social support (in the form of group rewards). Objective step data, available for eight participants, showed that step counts increased by an average of 14% ( p = 0.077, d = 0.56).

Conclusion: The STARFISH app was acceptable and straightforward to use for older adults. STARFISH has potential to increase physical activity in older adults; however, a fully powered randomised controlled trial is required.

Original language	English
Number of pages	10
Journal	Journal of Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies Engineering
Volume	4
Early online date	5 Apr 2017
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/2055668317696236
Publication status	Published - 2017

Keywords

physical activity
older adults
STARFISH
smartphone app
telehealth
patient behaviour monitoring devices
design requirements
assistive technology
ageing

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10.1177/2055668317696236

Paul, L. et al (2017) Increasing physical activity in older adults using STARFISH, an interactive smartphone application (app); a pilot study
Copyright The Author(s) 2017 Creative Commons CC-BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 License (http://www. creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Final published version, 244 KBLicence: CC BY-NC

Cite this

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title = "Increasing physical activity in older adults using STARFISH, an interactive smartphone application (app); a pilot study",

abstract = "Background: Increasing physical activity in older adults has preventative and therapeutic health benefits. We have developed STARFISH, a smartphone application, to increase physical activity. This paper describes the features of STARFISH, presents the views of older users on the acceptability and usability of the app and reports the results of a six week pilot study of the STARFISH app in older adults.Methods: The operationalisation of the behaviour change techniques (BCTs) within the STARFISH app was mapped against the BCT Taxonomy of Michie et al. Sixteen healthy older adults (eight women and eight men; age 71.1 ± 5.2 years) used the app, in groups of four, for six weeks. Focus groups explored the user experience and objective measure of steps per day recorded.Results: Participants were very positive about using the STARFISH app, in particular the embedded BCTs of self-monitoring, feedback and social support (in the form of group rewards). Objective step data, available for eight participants, showed that step counts increased by an average of 14% ( p = 0.077, d = 0.56). Conclusion: The STARFISH app was acceptable and straightforward to use for older adults. STARFISH has potential to increase physical activity in older adults; however, a fully powered randomised controlled trial is required.",

keywords = "physical activity, older adults, STARFISH, smartphone app, telehealth, patient behaviour monitoring devices, design requirements, assistive technology, ageing",

author = "Lorna Paul and Stephen Brewster and Sally Wyke and McFadyen, {Angus K.} and Naveed Sattar and Gill, {Jason M.R.} and Aleksandra Dybus and Gray, {Cindy M.}",

note = "Acceptance email: in SAN AAM: uploaded by author (Word); as article is OA (CC-BY-NC) uploaded VoR - ET YYYY only for final pub date - interferes with OA logic. ET Funding: The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Bupa Foundation (grant number TBF-PPW11-021F).",

year = "2017",

doi = "10.1177/2055668317696236",

language = "English",

volume = "4",

journal = "Journal of Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies Engineering",

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T1 - Increasing physical activity in older adults using STARFISH, an interactive smartphone application (app); a pilot study

AU - Paul, Lorna

AU - Brewster, Stephen

AU - Wyke, Sally

AU - McFadyen, Angus K.

AU - Sattar, Naveed

AU - Gill, Jason M.R.

AU - Dybus, Aleksandra

AU - Gray, Cindy M.

N1 - Acceptance email: in SAN AAM: uploaded by author (Word); as article is OA (CC-BY-NC) uploaded VoR - ET YYYY only for final pub date - interferes with OA logic. ET Funding: The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the Bupa Foundation (grant number TBF-PPW11-021F).

PY - 2017

Y1 - 2017

N2 - Background: Increasing physical activity in older adults has preventative and therapeutic health benefits. We have developed STARFISH, a smartphone application, to increase physical activity. This paper describes the features of STARFISH, presents the views of older users on the acceptability and usability of the app and reports the results of a six week pilot study of the STARFISH app in older adults.Methods: The operationalisation of the behaviour change techniques (BCTs) within the STARFISH app was mapped against the BCT Taxonomy of Michie et al. Sixteen healthy older adults (eight women and eight men; age 71.1 ± 5.2 years) used the app, in groups of four, for six weeks. Focus groups explored the user experience and objective measure of steps per day recorded.Results: Participants were very positive about using the STARFISH app, in particular the embedded BCTs of self-monitoring, feedback and social support (in the form of group rewards). Objective step data, available for eight participants, showed that step counts increased by an average of 14% ( p = 0.077, d = 0.56). Conclusion: The STARFISH app was acceptable and straightforward to use for older adults. STARFISH has potential to increase physical activity in older adults; however, a fully powered randomised controlled trial is required.

AB - Background: Increasing physical activity in older adults has preventative and therapeutic health benefits. We have developed STARFISH, a smartphone application, to increase physical activity. This paper describes the features of STARFISH, presents the views of older users on the acceptability and usability of the app and reports the results of a six week pilot study of the STARFISH app in older adults.Methods: The operationalisation of the behaviour change techniques (BCTs) within the STARFISH app was mapped against the BCT Taxonomy of Michie et al. Sixteen healthy older adults (eight women and eight men; age 71.1 ± 5.2 years) used the app, in groups of four, for six weeks. Focus groups explored the user experience and objective measure of steps per day recorded.Results: Participants were very positive about using the STARFISH app, in particular the embedded BCTs of self-monitoring, feedback and social support (in the form of group rewards). Objective step data, available for eight participants, showed that step counts increased by an average of 14% ( p = 0.077, d = 0.56). Conclusion: The STARFISH app was acceptable and straightforward to use for older adults. STARFISH has potential to increase physical activity in older adults; however, a fully powered randomised controlled trial is required.

KW - physical activity

KW - older adults

KW - STARFISH

KW - smartphone app

KW - telehealth

KW - patient behaviour monitoring devices

KW - design requirements

KW - assistive technology

KW - ageing

U2 - 10.1177/2055668317696236

DO - 10.1177/2055668317696236

M3 - Article

C2 - 31186925

VL - 4

JO - Journal of Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies Engineering

JF - Journal of Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies Engineering

ER -

Increasing physical activity in older adults using STARFISH, an interactive smartphone application (app); a pilot study

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Keywords

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