- Title
- mHealth intervention to support adults’ participation in resistance training using outdoor gym equipment: The ecofit effectiveness randomised controlled trial
- Creator
- Jansson, Anna Kristina
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2022
- Description
- Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Description
- Background: Physical inactivity accounts for 9% of premature mortality and is one of the leading risk factors for several major non-communicable diseases. The health benefits of regular physical activity (i.e., both resistance and aerobic physical activity) are well established. Yet in Australia, between 60-90% of the population do not meet the resistance-based physical activity guideline and only half do so for aerobic physical activity. Research to date has predominantly targeted aerobic exercise and considerably fewer interventions have included resistance training (RT). Of these, the vast majority have been supervised efficacy trials targeting clinical populations or older adults. While some effectiveness trials evaluating RT have been conducted, to our knowledge no study has targeted the general population. ‘Outdoor gyms’ (i.e., exercise apparatus often installed outdoors in public spaces) are being increasingly installed in Australia and represent a promising community-based setting to promote RT. However, descriptions of outdoor gym use and interventions utilising outdoor gyms are largely absent from the research literature. mHealth is a promising platform to deliver health behaviour interventions, given the ability to reach larger proportions of the population. The effect of smartphone applications on RT engagement is not well established. Thesis aims: This thesis-by-publication presents a series of studies, which aim to address several gaps in the current literature, these include: Primary Aim: The primary aim of this thesis is to evaluate an mHealth intervention to support adults’ participation in RT using outdoor gym equipment (presented in Chapter 6). The primary outcomes consist of upper and lower body muscular fitness and the secondary outcomes include self-reported resistance-based physical activity, aerobic physical activity (accelerometry and self-report), body composition, aerobic fitness, body mass index, mental health outcomes (i.e., self-reported happiness, depression, anxiety and stress) and social-cognitive outcomes. Secondary Aim 1: To conduct a systematic review on the effects of outdoor gyms on physical activity and describe outdoor gym characteristics, user characteristics, and outdoor gym usage (presented in Chapter 3).; Secondary Aim 2: To investigate outdoor gym use and demographic characteristics of users in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie Local Government Areas (presented in Chapter 4).; Secondary Aim 3: To explore how the COVID-19 pandemic affected participants’ experience and engagement with ‘ecofit’, overall physical activity and engagement in outdoor gym usage (presented in Chapter 7).
- Subject
- resistance training; outdoor gym; mHealth; thesis by publication
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1504055
- Identifier
- uon:55439
- Rights
- Copyright 2022 Anna Kristina Jansson
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT01 | Thesis | 32 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download | ||
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT02 | Abstract | 451 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |