{"id":5839,"date":"2016-11-01T03:39:29","date_gmt":"2016-10-31T19:39:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/fit-for-purpose\/"},"modified":"2022-12-07T13:07:47","modified_gmt":"2022-12-07T05:07:47","slug":"fit-for-purpose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/fit-for-purpose\/","title":{"rendered":"Fit for purpose"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fitbits \u2013 the wireless high-tech wristbands people wear to track their daily steps, among other things \u2013 are usually considered the domain of the young, fit and lycra-clad. However, Research Fellow\u00a0Dr Elissa Burton\u00a0from the\u00a0School of Physiotherapy and Exercise Science is curious about how older people use Fitbits, and has taken the ubiquitous activity tracker to a group of seniors in the community to find out.<\/p>\n

A Fitbit tracks the wearer\u2019s daily activity, such as the number of steps taken (the Fitbit vibrates and flashes at 10,000 steps), stairs climbed, heart rate and quality of sleep. The daily data is accessed via a Fitbit app on the user\u2019s smartphone or tablet, which can also log fitness goals, food and water intake and weight.<\/p>\n

Dr Burton, the research lead on the project, \u2018Assessing the reliability, validity and feasibility of fitness tracker devices for older people\u2019 is examining the reliability of Fitbit data, and its ease-of-use for seniors, over a two week period.<\/p>\n

\u201cOther researchers have been looking at the validity and reliability of fitness trackers with younger people but not as much with older people, who are the fastest growing proportion of the population throughout the world,\u201d Dr Burton said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOlder people also have different walking patterns and speeds to younger people, so it\u2019s also necessary to look at how that affects the tracker\u2019s ability to count steps and track the data. Also, a higher proportion of younger people are more inclined to use technology, and we wanted to see whether older people like using the technology and apps that go with the Fitbits.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dr
The participants wear a Fitbit and an accelerometer for two weeks, and go about their usual routine.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Approximately 30 people will participate in the study, which involves completing a questionnaire, and being filmed while walking and wearing two Fitbits, and an accelerometer, on each arm. The participants are then asked to wear a Fitbit \u2013 a Flex or a Charge HR \u2013 and an accelerometer for two weeks, and go about their usual routine. They are shown how to use the Fitbit apps on their smartphone or tablet, and provided with written step-by-step instructions for home use.<\/p>\n

After two weeks, participants return the fitness tracker and answer a number of questions about the usability and ease of wearing the device, and using the app.<\/p>\n

Results from the research will be available in early 2017. Also participating in the project are Head of School of Physiotherapy and Exercise Science\u00a0Professor Keith Hill, Curtin adjunct\u00a0Professor Gill Lewin, Professor Nicola Lautenschlager\u00a0from the\u00a0Academic Unit for Psychiatry of Old Age, University of Melbourne,\u00a0Associate Professor Cecilie Th\u00f8gersen-Ntoumani\u00a0from the\u00a0School of Psychology and Speech Pathology, and Dr Erin Howie\u00a0from the\u00a0University of Arkansas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are Fitbits \u2013 the high-tech wristbands that track daily steps, among other things \u2013 exclusively the domain of the young, fit and lycra-clad, or are older people getting in on the action, too?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4275,"featured_media":5840,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_research-areas":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"research-areas":[],"class_list":["post-5839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research"],"acf":{"post_options":{"":null,"additional_content":{"title":"Researcher profile \u2013 Dr Elissa Burton","content":"

Dr Burton<\/a>\u00a0researches healthy ageing. Her PhD, completed in July 2014, looked at physical activity and older home-care clients. Dr Burton\u2019s passion is exploring and utilising physical activity interventions that have a positive effect on older people, and help them stay in their homes for as long as they choose. She enjoys working directly with organisations to help their clients, patients or members live their best lives through being physically active. Although difficult at times, translating research into practice is a strong focus of her research.<\/p>\n","image":false},"related_courses":[{"title":"Exercise, Sports and Rehabilitation Science","qualification":"Bachelor of Science (Exercise, Sports and Rehabilitation Science)","link":"http:\/\/courses.curtin.edu.au\/course_overview\/undergraduate\/exercise-sport-rehabilitation","description":"","faculty":"Health Sciences"}],"credits":{"author":{"title":"Arianne Chavez","url":"#","target":""},"photographer":"","media":false},"display_author":true,"banner":{"image":false}}},"featured_image":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/fitbit-elissa-burtin.jpg","author_meta":{"first_name":"Curtin","last_name":"University","display_name":"Curtin University"},"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-14 06:51:35","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4275"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5839"},{"taxonomy":"research-areas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-areas?post=5839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}