Discussion
CORONAVIRUS
This study explored young women’s lived experience of behaviour change techniques employed in popular physical activity apps. In doing so it has generated valuable insights into the process through which common behaviour change techniques may influence physical activity behaviour in this cohort, and highlighted important considerations for operationalising behaviour change techniques effectively to promote both engagement and behaviour change.Promisingly, participants’ experiences in this study suggest the behaviour change techniques explored can help to change important determinants like motivation and competence, as outlined in prominent behaviour change frameworks (e.g., the behaviour change wheel [Videos and written workouts also had a positive impact on competence for some participants by helping them believe they were capable of doing new exercises. Having a variety of exercises to choose from gave some participants a sense of control, and enhanced opportunities for home-based exercise during coronavirus lockdowns. Conversely, not having access to videos, having no guidance about which exercises to choose and/or the exercises in the videos being too difficult led to participants feeling less confident. For this technique to be effective it is recommended that easier workouts are included so that users can gain confidence through feelings of mastery. The relatability of trainers also seems to be an important factor for operationalising this technique, however participants experienced video trainers differently. It is unclear why participants with seemingly similar characteristics (e.g., ethnicities, fitness levels) responded differently. This unexpected result suggests that other determinants or individual-level traits may moderate the effect that videos have on user self-efficacy. A potential improvement would be to include diverse trainer-types to account for individual differences. However, future research is needed on what factors impact perceived relatability, and how or when this is likely to impact engagement.Reminders helped participants focus attention on physical activity goals (in line with prior research) [In contrast to other key techniques, in-app social features were not discussed as being as helpful for physical activity behaviour change. Apps included a range of social features aimed at positively targeting user’s self-efficacy, relatedness with others, and user subjective norms. Participants frequently discussed reasons for not engaging, including not feeling motivated by other users’ physical activity. As seen in a British study with university students [The strengths and limitations of this study should be considered when generalising and building on these results. The semi-longitudinal design and use of photovoice methods enhance the ecological validity of the findings, by gathering data about participants’ actual behaviour change processes. The adequacy of the data was also enhanced by the number of participants nationally recruited, and the variety of participant data collected. The trustworthiness of results was improved by conducting member-checks, and using analytical memos, participant flow-diagrams, and conceptual frameworks. However, participants were predominantly university students, and experiences may have been influenced by this shared characteristic. Further, several participants discussed that their participation served as motivation to engage with the app, or to work towards their goal. Whilst participant experiences may have been influenced by study participation, the use of a control group was not possible with photovoice methodology. Finally, the qualitative methods did not allow for analysis of individual characteristics that may have influenced participants’ experiences and we did not collect quantitative engagement data with the apps.