Fitbit as health coach
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This theme summarises the finding that the Fitbit™ was the primary active ingredient to increase PA: ‘Well the Fitbit worked the best’ (Andrea, aged 64, >PA and M) and ‘The Fitbit was the motivator…it was kind of like everyday contact’ (Annette, 66 >PA and M) and Fitbit ‘was a motivator it was very powerful because it’s 24/7’ (Graham, 67, >PA and M). The Fitbit assisted in raising awareness of PA and sedentary behaviour through objective feedback and as a self-monitoring tool to achieve goals. The Fitbit did not work for all participants. Two participants that reduced MVPA had technical problems, for example ‘I couldn’t connect…the computer would say you need an update’ (Louisa, 76, <PA) and ‘My literacy is minimum…if I’d had a bit more training that would have helped’ (Mary, 77 <PA). Others referred to the unreliability of the Fitbit: ‘That was a major discourager…because I knew I could distort it by sweeping’ (Lyn, 68, >PA and M) or its inability to register PA:If the Fitbit worked and I felt I was achieving something it might have encouraged me to do more exercise, but the Fitbit was a bigger disincentive…if you were doing short bursts, it would be very discouraging…it wasn’t recording even when I was making such an effort (Kath, 62, <PA)Renee (59, <PA) recalled ‘I found that really frustrating…I would walk briskly (for) 7.5-minutes and it didn’t count…you get really annoyed when you do 9-minutes of vigorous activity, and it doesn’t count because it needs to be 10’. Fitbit as health coach contained three sub-themes: Prompts, self-monitoring and feedback, goal-setting and review.