Technology-Based Motivation Support for Seniors’ Physical Activity—A Qualitative Study on Seniors’ and Health Care Professionals’ Views

Maria Ehn, Ann-Christin Johansson and Åsa Revenäs
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Maria Ehn: School of Innovation, Design and Engineering, Mälardalen University, SE-721 23 Västerås, Sweden
Ann-Christin Johansson: School of Health, Care and Social Welfare, Mälardalen University, SE-721 23 Västerås, Sweden
Åsa Revenäs: School of Health, Care and Social Welfare, Mälardalen University, SE-721 23 Västerås, Sweden

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 13, 1-20

Abstract: This paper investigates seniors’ and health care professionals’ (HCPs) perceptions on needed contributions and qualities of digital technology-based motivation support for seniors’ physical activity (PA). Seniors and HCPs expressed their views in focus groups, which were analyzed separately by inductive content analysis. Similarities and differences in seniors’ and HCPs’ views were identified through thematic analysis of qualitative results from both focus groups. This article’s main findings are that both seniors and HCPs believed digital technology should support and make PA more enjoyable in ways to strengthen seniors’ control and well-being. However, seniors emphasized support for social interaction, while HCPs also requested support for increasing seniors’ insight into PA and for facilitating their dialogue with seniors. Conclusions to be drawn are that seniors and HPCs shared overall views on digital technology’s main contributions but had different perspectives on how those contributions could be obtained. This highlights the importance of the early identification of user groups and exploration of their different needs when developing new solutions. Moreover, seniors’ and HCPs’ perceptions included aspects relevant for personal motivation, technology acceptance, and PA behavioral change according to self-determination theory, unified theory of acceptance and use of technology, and behavioral change techniques for increasing PA.

Keywords: physical activity; senior; technical support; motivation; behavioral change techniques (BCTs); self-determination theory (SDT); unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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