Effect of efitbuddy on promoting physical activity and motivation in college students

• Peng Zhang ^[1] ; YOU FU ^[2] ; Ryan D. Burns ^[3] ; Steven Godin ^[3]
  1. [1] East Stroudsburg University

     East Stroudsburg University

     Borough of East Stroudsburg, Estados Unidos

     
  2. [2] University of Nevada Reno

     University of Nevada Reno

     Estados Unidos

     
  3. [3] University of Utah

     University of Utah

     Estados Unidos

     

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• Localización: Journal of Human Sport and Exercise: JHSE, ISSN-e 1988-5202, Vol. 13, Nº. 4, 2018, págs. 799-809
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a theory-based smartphone application, efitbuddy, on college students’ physical activity and motivation. A convenience sample of 106 college students (mean age = 20.4 ± 2.8 years; 77 females) were recruited from a university located in the Northeastern U.S. Participants installed the efitbuddy application on their smartphone, and used it every day over a 2-week time period. Physical activity was measured using a self-recall questionnaire and motivational variables were collected using established surveys. All measures were collected at baseline and at a 2-week post-test time-point. A 2 × 2 Doubly Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) test was employed to test time main effect and the sex × time interaction effect on each outcome measure, using age as covariate.Results of the study indicated that there was a statistically significant multivariate model (Wilks’ 𝜆 = 0.87, F (12, 542.7) = 2.49, p = 0.003). Statistically significant effects included a sex main effect (F (1, 205) = 4.98, p = 0.002) and the statistical significance of the age covariate (F (3, 205) = 3.73, p = 0.012). There were no significant time main effects (p = 0.594). To conclude, efitbuddy has limited effect on young adults’ physical activity and motivation over a 2-week intervention. Additional research with longer intervention periods should be conducted to explore potential effectiveness.