College Students' Use and Perceptions of Wearable Fitness Trackers.

Background: Nearly half of all college students do not engage in the recommended amount of physical activity which may contribute to chronic diseases such as obesity. Purpose: To investigate college students' use and perceptions of wearable fitness trackers (WFTs) and the impact on confidence and motivation for increasing physical activity. Reasons for non-use were also explored. Methods: 356 College students completed a 25 -item paper survey. Results: 22.5% reported using a WFT. Most wore their WFT either "every day without fail" or "most days" and half wore their WFT "all day and while sleeping". Analyses were significant for those reporting a high increase in physical activity and or a high increase in number of steps as being more likely to report a high motivation for physical activity. Discussion: Two reasons for use of WFT were weight loss and to track sleep. A common reason for non-use of WFT was cost. WFTs may help to increase motivation to engage in physical activity. Translation to Health Education Practice: When considering the use of WFTs, Health Educators would do well to identify affordable WFTs for use in interventions and be mindful of the barriers related to discontinuation of use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]