Dataset Information

Leveraging Citizen Science and Information Technology for Population Physical Activity Promotion.

ABSTRACT: PURPOSE:While technology is a major driver of many of society's comforts, conveniences, and advances, it has been responsible, in a significant way, for engineering regular physical activity and a number of other positive health behaviors out of people's daily lives. A key question concerns how to harness information and communication technologies (ICT) to bring about positive changes in the health promotion field. One such approach involves community-engaged "citizen science," in which local residents leverage the potential of ICT to foster data-driven consensus-building and mobilization efforts that advance physical activity at the individual, social, built environment, and policy levels. METHOD:The history of citizen science in the research arena is briefly described and an evidence-based method that embeds citizen science in a multi-level, multi-sectoral community-based participatory research framework for physical activity promotion is presented. RESULTS:Several examples of this citizen science-driven community engagement framework for promoting active lifestyles, called "Our Voice", are discussed, including pilot projects from diverse communities in the U.S. as well as internationally. CONCLUSIONS:The opportunities and challenges involved in leveraging citizen science activities as part of a broader population approach to promoting regular physical activity are explored. The strategic engagement of citizen scientists from socio-demographically diverse communities across the globe as both assessment as well as change agents provides a promising, potentially low-cost and scalable strategy for creating more active, healthful, and equitable neighborhoods and communities worldwide.

SUBMITTER: King AC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4978140 | biostudies-literature | 2016 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Leveraging Citizen Science and Information Technology for Population Physical Activity Promotion.

King Abby C AC Winter Sandra J SJ Sheats Jylana L JL Rosas Lisa G LG Buman Matthew P MP Salvo Deborah D Rodriguez Nicole M NM Seguin Rebecca A RA Moran Mika M Garber Randi R Broderick Bonnie B Zieff Susan G SG Sarmiento Olga Lucia OL Gonzalez Silvia A SA Banchoff Ann A Dommarco Juan Rivera JR

Translational journal of the American College of Sports Medicine 20160501 4

<h4>Purpose</h4>While technology is a major driver of many of society's comforts, conveniences, and advances, it has been responsible, in a significant way, for engineering regular physical activity and a number of other positive health behaviors out of people's daily lives. A key question concerns how to harness information and communication technologies (ICT) to bring about positive changes in the health promotion field. One such approach involves community-engaged "citizen science," in which ...[more]

PMID: 27525309

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Project description:OBJECTIVES:The purpose of this study was to develop a replicable methodology of mobile ecological momentary assessments (EMAs) to capture prospective physical activity (PA) within free-living social and physical contexts by leveraging citizen-owned smartphones running on both Android and iOS systems. DESIGN:Data were obtained from the cross-sectional pilots of the SMART Platform, a citizen science and mobile health initiative. SETTING:The cities of Regina and Saskatoon, Canada. PARTICIPANTS:538 citizen scientists (?18 years) provided PA data during eight consecutive days using a custom-built smartphone application, and after applying a rigid inclusion criteria, 89 were included in the final analysis. OUTCOME MEASURES:EMAs enabled reporting of light, moderate, and vigorous PA, as well as physical and social contexts of PA. Retrospective PA was reported using International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). For both measures, PA intensities were categorised into mean minutes of light and moderate-to-vigorous PA per day. Wilcoxon signed ranks tests and Spearman correlation procedures were conducted to compare PA intensities reported via EMAs and IPAQ. RESULTS:Using EMAs, citizen scientists reported 140.91, 87.16 and 70.38 mean min/day of overall, light and moderate-to-vigorous PA, respectively, whereas using IPAQ they reported 194.39, 116.99 and 98.42 mean min/day of overall, light and moderate-to-vigorous PA, respectively. Overall (?=0.414, p<0.001), light (?=0.261, p=0.012) and moderate-to-vigorous PA (?=0.316, p=0.009) were fairly correlated between EMA and IPAQ. In comparison with EMAs, using IPAQ, citizen scientists reported significantly greater overall PA in active transportation (p=0.002) and recreation, sport and leisure-time domains (p=0.003). CONCLUSIONS:This digital epidemiological and citizen science methodology adapted mobile EMAs to capture not only prospective PA, but also important physical and social contexts within which individuals accumulate PA. Ubiquitous tools can be leveraged via citizen science to capture accurate active living patterns of large populations in free-living conditions through innovative EMAs.

Project description:Over the last 6?years, a coordinated "healthy corner store" network has helped an increasing number of local storeowners stock healthy, affordable foods in Camden, New Jersey, a city with high rates of poverty and unemployment, and where most residents have little or no access to large food retailers. The initiative's funders and stakeholders wanted to directly engage Camden residents in evaluating this effort to increase healthy food access. In a departure from traditional survey- or focus group-based evaluations, we used an evidence-based community-engaged citizen science research model (called Our Voice) that has been deployed in a variety of neighborhood settings to assess how different features of the built environment both affect community health and wellbeing, and empower participants to create change. Employing the Our Voice model, participants documented neighborhood features in and around Camden corner stores through geo-located photos and audio narratives. Eight adult participants who lived and/or worked in a predefined neighborhood of Camden were recruited by convenience sample and visited two corner stores participating in the healthy corner store initiative (one highly-engaged in the initiative and the other less-engaged), as well as an optional third corner store of their choosing. Facilitators then helped participants use their collected data (in total, 134 images and 96 audio recordings) to identify and prioritize issues as a group, and brainstorm and advocate for potential solutions. Three priority themes were selected by participants from the full theme list (n?=?9) based on perceived importance and feasibility: healthy product selection and display, store environment, and store outdoor appearance and cleanliness. Participants devised and presented a set of action steps to community leaders, and stakeholders have begun to incorporate these ideas into plans for the future of the healthy corner store network. Key elements of healthy corner stores were identified as positive, and other priorities, such as improvements to safety, exterior facades, and physical accessibility, may find common ground with other community development initiatives in Camden. Ultimately, this pilot study demonstrated the potential of citizen science to provide a systematic and data-driven process for public health stakeholders to authentically engage community residents in program evaluation.

Dataset Information

Leveraging Citizen Science and Information Technology for Population Physical Activity Promotion.

Publications

Leveraging Citizen Science and Information Technology for Population Physical Activity Promotion.

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