PURPOSE: To investigate the presence of reactivity, if any, to wearing sealed and unsealed
pedometers, with and without step count recording.
METHODS: On the first visit to the laboratory 63 participants (41 female, 22 male: age = 23.6±9.6
years, BMI = 22.7±3.0 kg/m2), blinded to the study aim, were provided with a sealed pedometer
(New Lifestyles NL-1000) and informed that it was a 'Body Posture Monitor' (covert
monitoring). Participants wore the pedometer throughout waking hours for 1 week. Upon return
to the laboratory, stored step counts were downloaded and participants were informed that the
device was a pedometer. Participants wore the pedometer under 3 more conditions – sealed,
unsealed, and unsealed plus logging daily steps in an activity diary - each having a duration of 1
week. The order of participation in each condition (sealed/unsealed/diary) was balanced across
participants. Mean daily step counts recorded during the 4 conditions were compared using a
repeated-measures ANOVA.
RESULTS: There was a significant overall effect of condition (p<0.001) (covert monitoring =
8362±2600 steps/day; sealed condition = 8832±2845 steps/day; unsealed condition = 9176±3299
steps/day; diary condition = 9635±2709 steps/day), with post hoc analyses revealing that mean
step counts were significantly higher in the diary condition than those reported during both the
covert and sealed conditions (both p<0.003). No significant gender effects were observed
(p=0.33)
CONCLUSION: The greatest increase in step counts occurred in the diary condition, suggesting that
reactivity to pedometers is greatest when participants are requested to wear an unsealed
pedometer and record their step counts. This has validity implications for short-term pedometer studies investigating habitual free-living activity that require participants to provide a daily log
of their step counts.
History
School
Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences
Published in
MEDICINE AND SCIENCE IN SPORTS AND EXERCISE
Volume
41
Issue
3
Pages
674 - 680 (7)
Citation
CLEMES, S.A. and PARKER, R.A.A.., 2009. Increasing our understanding of reactivity to pedometers in adults. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 41 (3), pp. 674-680.
This is a non-final version of an article published in final form in: CLEMES, S.A. and PARKER, R.A.A.., 2009. Increasing our understanding of reactivity to pedometers in adults. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 41 (3), pp. 674-680. URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0b013e31818cae32.