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Clinical Trial
. 2021 Apr 23;21(1):782.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-021-10794-w.

Can a 'rewards-for-exercise app' increase physical activity, subjective well-being and sleep quality? An open-label single-arm trial among university staff with low to moderate physical activity levels

Sakari Lemola  1   2 , Anna Gkiouleka  3 , Brieze Read  4 , Anu Realo  5   6 , Lukasz Walasek  5 , Nicole K Y Tang  5 , Mark T Elliott  4
Affiliations
Clinical Trial

Can a 'rewards-for-exercise app' increase physical activity, subjective well-being and sleep quality? An open-label single-arm trial among university staff with low to moderate physical activity levels

Sakari Lemola et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: This study examined the impact of a 'rewards-for-exercise' mobile application on physical activity, subjective well-being and sleep quality among 148 employees in a UK university with low to moderate physical activity levels.

Methods: A three-month open-label single-arm trial with a one-year follow-up after the end of the trial. Participants used the Sweatcoin application which converted their outdoor steps into a virtual currency used for the purchase of products available at the university campus' outlets, using an in-app marketplace. The primary outcome measure was self-reported physical activity. Secondary measures included device-measured physical activity, subjective well-being (i.e., life satisfaction, positive affect, negative affect), and self-reported sleep quality.

Results: The findings show an increase in self-reported physical activity (d = 0.34), life satisfaction (d = 0.31), positive affect (d = 0.29), and sleep quality (d = 0.22) during the three-month trial period.

Conclusion: The study suggests that mobile incentives-for-exercise applications might increase physical activity levels, positive affect, and sleep quality, at least in the short term. The observed changes were not sustained 12 months after the end of the trial.

Keywords: Behaviour change; Extrinsic incentives; Mobile applications; Physical activity; Sleep quality; Subjective well-being.

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Conflict of interest statement

Dr. Mark Elliott held an honorary unpaid research position within Sweatco Ltd. (Sweatcoin) for the period of the Innovate UK funded project (May 2017–May 2018). The rest of the authors have no conflict of interest to disclose.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Example screenshots from the customised Sweatcoin application. Participants’ daily step count was captured by the app before being verified (only outdoor steps were rewarded) and converted to Sweatcoins (a). Accumulated coins are stored in the digital wallet along with a record of transactions (b). Sweatcoins can be used to buy products on an in-app marketplace; here a local marketplace was added to the app, where participants could be products available from campus retail outlets (c). Permission to publish the images was obtained from Sweatco Ltd. (Copyright holder)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
An overview of participant enrolment and drop-out as the trial progressed. Abbreviations: IPAQ: International Physical Activity Questionnaire [12]; LS: Life satisfaction questions; PANAS: Positive and Negative Affect Survey [51]; PoH: Perception of Health questions; PSQI: Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index) [5]
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Results from the primary and secondary outcome measures, standardised as z-scores over the time periods T0 (baseline), T1 (after 1 month), T2 (after 2 months), T3 (after 3 months) and T4 (follow-up, 12 months after T3). Error bars indicate 95% confidence intervals. The scores of Physical Activity represent metabolic equivalent of task (MET). The scores of Sleep Quality are inverted in the Figure (such that higher values indicate better sleep) to improve readability
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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