Sensor-triggered ecological momentary assessment in physical activity and sedentary behaviour research among Belgian community-dwelling elderly: lessons learnt from intensive longitudinal studies
Apr 3, 2025BMJ open
Using sensor-based momentary surveys to study activity and sitting habits in older adults living in the community: insights from long-term tracking
Participants responded to 81.22% of surveys in the physical activity study and 79.10% in the sedentary behaviour study.
The confirmation rate for physical activity was 94.16%, while it was 72.40% for sedentary behaviour.
Each additional day in the sedentary behaviour study significantly increased the odds of responding to EMA surveys by 1.59 times.
Time in the study significantly decreased the odds of confirming physical activity by 19% with each additional day.
A one-minute increase in latency before starting the EMA survey decreased the odds of confirming physical activity by 20%.
Shorter event durations and minimum time intervals between prompts increased the number of EMA surveys.
Most participants found the HealthReact app user-friendly, although some reported issues with notifications and technical reliability.
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OBJECTIVES: Regular physical activity (PA) and reduced sedentary behaviour (SB) have been associated with positive health outcomes, but many older adults do not comply with the current recommendations. Sensor-triggered (EMA) studies allow capturing real-time data during or immediately after PA or SB, which can yield important insights into these behaviours. Despite the promising potential of sensor-triggered EMA, this methodology is still in its infancy. Addressing methodological challenges in sensor-triggered EMA studies is essential for improving protocol adherence and enhancing validity. Therefore, this study aimed to examine (1) the patterns in sensor-triggered EMA protocol adherence (eg, compliance rates), (2) the impact of specific settings (eg, event duration) on the number of prompted surveys, and (3) participants' experiences with engaging in a sensor-triggered EMA study.
DESIGN: Two longitudinal, sensor-triggered EMA studies-one focused on PA and the other on SB-were conducted using similar methodologies from February to October 2022. Participants' steps were monitored for seven days using a Fitbit activity tracker, which automatically prompted an EMA survey through the HealthReact smartphone application when specified (in)activity thresholds were reached. After the monitoring period, qualitative interviews were conducted. Data from both studies were merged.
SETTING: The studies were conducted among community-dwelling Belgian older adults.
PARTICIPANTS: The participants had a median age of 72 years, with 54.17% being females. The PA study included 88 participants (four dropped out), while the SB study included 76 participants (seven dropped out).
PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Descriptive methods and generalised logistic mixed models were employed to analyse EMA adherence patterns. Simulations were conducted to assess the impact of particular settings on the number of prompted EMA surveys. Additionally, qualitative interview data were transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed using NVivo.
RESULTS: Participants responded to 81.22% and 79.10% of the EMA surveys in the PA and SB study, respectively. The confirmation rate, defined as the percentage of EMA surveys in which participants confirmed the detected behaviour, was 94.16% for PA and 72.40% for SB. Logistic mixed models revealed that with each additional day in the study, the odds of responding to the EMA survey increased significantly by 1.59 times (OR=1.59, 95% CI: 1.36 to 1.86, p<0.01) in the SB study. This effect was not observed in the PA study. Furthermore, time in the study did not significantly impact the odds of participants confirming to be sedentary (OR=0.97, 95% CI: 0.92 to 1.02, p=0.28). However, it significantly influenced the odds of confirming PA (OR: 0.81, 95% CI: 0.68 to 0.97, p=0.02), with the likelihood of confirming decreasing by 19% with each additional day in the study. Furthermore, a one-minute increase in latency (ie, time between last syncing and starting the EMA survey) in the PA study decreased the odds of the participant confirming to be physically active by 20% (OR: 0.80, 95% CI: 0.72 to 0.89, p<0.01). Simulations of the specific EMA settings revealed that reducing the event duration and shorter minimum time intervals between prompts increased the number of EMA surveys. Overall, most participants found smartphone usage to be feasible and rated the HealthReact app as user-friendly. However, some reported issues, such as not hearing the notification, receiving prompts at an inappropriate time and encountering technical issues. While the majority reported that their behaviour remained unchanged due to study participation, some noted an increased awareness of their habits and felt more motivated to engage in PA.
CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates the potential of sensor-triggered EMA to capture real-time data on PA and SB among older adults, showing strong adherence potential with compliance rates of approximately 80%. The SB study had lower confirmation rates than the PA study, due to technical issues and discrepancies between self-perception and device-based measurements. Practical recommendations were provided for future studies, including improvements in survey timing, technical reliability and strategies to reduce latency.
Key numbers
81.22%
for PA Study
Percentage of surveys completed in the PA study.
91.32%
for PA Study
Proportion of correctly prompted events in the PA study.
70.03%
for SB Study
Proportion of correctly prompted events in the SB study.
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