Adding maps (GPS) to accelerometry data to improve study participants recall of physical activity: a methodological advance in physical activity research

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Publication Type pre-print
School or College College of Social & Behavioral Science
Department Family & Consumer Studies
Creator Brown, Barbara B.
Other Author Wilson, Laura; Tribby, Calvin P.; Werner, Carol M.; Wolf, Jean; Miller, Harvey J.; Smith, Ken R.
Title Adding maps (GPS) to accelerometry data to improve study participants recall of physical activity: a methodological advance in physical activity research
Date 2014-01-01
Description Objective Obtaining the ‘when, where and why' of healthy bouts of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) provides insights into natural PA. Design In Salt Lake City, Utah, adults wore accelerometer and Global Positioning System (GPS) loggers for a week in a cross-sectional study to establish baseline travel and activity patterns near a planned Complete Street intervention involving a new rail line, new sidewalks and a bike path. Results At the end of the week, research assistants met with the 918 participants who had at least three 10 h days of good accelerometer readings. Accelerometer and GPS data were uploaded and integrated within a custom application, and participants were provided with maps and time information for past MVPA bouts of ≥3 min to help them recall bout details. Participants said that ‘getting someplace' was, on average, a more important motivation for their bouts than leisure or exercise. A series of recall tests showed that participants recalled most bouts they were asked about, regardless of the duration of the bout, suggesting that participant perceptions of their shorter lifestyle bouts can be studied with this methodology. Visual prompting with a map depicting where each bout took place yielded more accurate recall than prompting with time cues alone. Conclusions These techniques provide a novel way to understand participant memories of the context and subjective assessments associated with healthy bouts of PA. Prompts with time-stamped maps that illustrate places of MVPA offer an effective method to improve understanding of activity and its supportive sociophysical contexts
Type Text
Publisher BMJ Publishing Group
Volume 48
Issue 13
First Page 1054
Last Page 1058
Language eng
Bibliographic Citation Brown, B. B., Wilson, L., Tribby, C. P., Werner, C. M., Wolf, J., Miller, H. J., & Smith, K. R. (2014). Adding maps (GPS) to accelerometry data to improve study participants recall of physical activity: a methodological advance in physical activity research. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 48(13), 1054-8.
Rights Management (c) BMJ Publishing Group
Format Medium application/pdf
Format Extent 1,308,606 bytes
Identifier uspace,18691
ARK ark:/87278/s6642zx6
Setname ir_uspace
ID 713298
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6642zx6
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