RISE AND RECHARGE: THE EFFECTIVENESS OF A ‘POINT OF CHOICE’ SMARTPHONE APPLICATION ON SEDENTARY BEHAVIOUR IN HEALTHY ADULTS: A PILOT STUDY

Background and Purpose: It has recently been found that prolonged sedentary behaviour (SB) is associated with increased risks of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, mortality and other negative health outcomes. Early research has suggested that breaking up SB into smaller bouts can have a positive impact on health. Majority of interventions to change SB have been implemented in the workplace and there has been limited research utilising smartphone applications to break up SB. Smartphone ownership has risen in the past number of years and offers an optimal tool for implementing SB interventions in all settings. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a smartphone-based point-of-choice prompting application on decreasing SB in a healthy adult population compared to education only. Methods The study had a randomised controlled trial design. Eight participants (87% female, mean age= 29 (9.72) years old) wore an ActivPAL monitor for 7-days at baseline to collect 5-days of data. Participants were then randomised to a control and intervention group for a 1-week intervention period. The intervention group (n=4, age=33.25 (12.53)) received an education leaflet and downloaded the Rise and Recharge smartphone application, which prompted them to walk 15-steps after 30-minutes of SB. The control group (n=4, age=25 (4.24)) received the education leaflet only. After the intervention period participants wore the ActivPAL monitor for another 7-day period to collect 5-days of data. Sleep time was removed and data was analyzed. Results: It was found that the intervention group decreased their total sitting time and increased their total stepping time and total steps more than the control group. It was also found that the control group increased their sit-to-stand transitions and decreased the number of sitting events longer than 30-minutes more than the intervention group. However, an independent t-test showed that none of these changes reached statistically significance (p<0.05). A paired t-test also showed there was no statistical change from baseline to post-intervention measure for any of the outcome measures in either group (p