A Review of Health Wearable-Based Physical Activity Interventions Among Children and Adolescents

Abstract

Health wearable technologies have become popular in recent decades to improve individual physical activity (PA) behavior. Thus, this paper aims to examine the health of wearable-based PA intervention among children and adolescents and provide narrative overviews. This paper retrieved articles based on the following inclusion criteria: (1) experimental design; (2) studies among healthy children and adolescents aged from 5 to 18 years; (3) studies using health wearables as a medium to enhance PA or reduce sedentary behavior; and (4) studies with PA assessments as an outcome. Relevant articles were searched based on recent preceding review papers published in 2021 and 2022. A total of 45 studies were included in this review. Research conducted in the United States was predominant, and the participants' ages varied from 6 to 18 years old. Most interventions were implemented for 6 to 12 weeks, and pedometers seemed to be the most easily accessible device. Regarding intervention fidelity, a brief survey and interview were the most frequently used methods. However, there is a paucity of research reporting intervention fidelity on this topic, leading to uncertainty about research findings.