Exercise and Physical Activity eHealth in COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study of Effects on Motivations, Behavior Change Mechanisms, and Behavior.

Gonzalo Marchant,Marino Bonaiuto,Emma Guillet Descas,Flavia Bonaiuto

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.618362

Abstract

ObjectivesThe aims of this research were (1) to compare the levels of physical activity of eHealth users and non-users, (2) to determine the effects of these technologies on motivations, and (3) to establish the relationship that could exist between psychological constructs and physical activity behaviors.MethodsThis cross-sectional study involved 569 adults who responded to an online questionnaire during confinement in France. The questions assessed demographics, usage of eHealth for exercise and physical activity, and behavioral levels. The questionnaire also measured the constructs of Social Cognitive Theory, the Theory of Planned Behavior, and automaticity facets toward eHealth for exercise and physical activity.ResultsParticipants who were users of eHealth for exercise and physical activity presented significantly higher levels of vigorous physical activity and total physical activity per week than non-users (p < 0.001). The chi-square test showed significant interactions between psychological constructs toward eHealth (i.e., self-efficacy, behavioral attitudes, intentions, and automaticity) and physical activity levels (all interactions were p < 0.05). Self-efficacy was significantly and negatively correlated with walking time per week. Concerning the automaticity facets, efficiency was positive and significantly correlated with vigorous physical activity levels per week (p < 0.05). Then, regressions analyses showed that self-efficacy and automaticity efficiency explained 5% of the variance of walking minutes per week (ß = −0.27, p < 0.01) and vigorous physical activity per week (ß = 0.20, p < 0.05), respectively.ConclusionThis study has shown that people during confinement looked for ways to stay active through eHealth. However, we must put any technological solution into perspective. The eHealth offers possibilities to stay active, however its benefits and the psychological mechanisms affected by it remains to be demonstrated: eHealth could be adapted to each person and context.

Highlights

The COVID-19 pandemic has led half of the world’s population to stay home or be confined to reduce the spread of the virus (Sandford, 2020)
We address the effect of electronic health (eHealth) on physical activity behaviors and mechanisms for changing the behavior of its users during confinement through the constructs of Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB; Ajzen, 1991) and Social Cognitive Theory (SCT; Bandura, 1989)
Impact of eHealth use on the psychological mechanisms in a COVID-19 pandemic context; and, third, to explore what was the relationship between those mechanisms and the levels of physical activity assessed by questionnaires

Summary

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic has led half of the world’s population to stay home or be confined to reduce the spread of the virus (Sandford, 2020). Among all the measures adopted to avoid a health crisis, many different countries affected by the virus chose to apply spatial distancing as a means to slow its spread (Abel and McQueen, 2020). This measure had three undeniable effects: the exacerbation of Internet use (Effenberger et al, 2020), the digitalization of human activity linked to health (Ting et al, 2020), and a high acceptance rate for the use of technological solutions (Ammar et al, 2020c). Regular physical activity has been indicated as an essential factor to prevent severe complications in any future pandemic viruses similar to COVID-19 (Jakobsson et al, 2020)

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