Abstract
The continual interest in mobile application usage for daily life has increased amongst individuals across all spheres. Smartphones provide individuals with a mobile tool that can be specifically designed to meet their health needs and goals.
This descriptive quantitative study focused on the use of health applications to support a smartphone user’s personal motivation and health practices. Participants in this study were required to complete a questionnaire that included behavioral change factors such as physical activity, weight management, smartphone application usage and motivation. The questionnaire was administered on Google Forms. The link to the questionnaire was emailed to students registered with the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Johannesburg, who gained access to their questionnaire using their email addresses. The descriptive data was collected and statistically analysed using frequency tests, cross-tabulations and split file analysis was used and tables were compared.
The findings in the study significantly reflected that 93% of the individuals that participated in the study would recommend health applications as tools to promote health and behavior change. Participants used specific health applications for physical activity, goal setting and tracking daily activities as well as weight management interventions. Regarding the latter, the majority of the population (60%) indicated that their weight decreased, thus there was a positive adherence to these applications. Additionally, motivation for using applications was also seen as an important factor for adherence as participants indicated that features such as proactive feedback and social media interaction contributed to their perceived benefits. This study concluded that health applications can be used as tools to facilitate health behavior change and meeting wellness goals.
M.Phil. (Sport Science)