The role of healthy lifestyle technologies in supporting young adults’ healthy active lifestyles

Young people are increasingly using healthy lifestyle technologies (HLT) to support their healthy active lifestyles, yet little is known about how they use their digital skills and/or health knowledge to regulate their healthy behaviours and engage with HLT critically. Moreover, there is a dearth of literature on young adults’ perspectives and experiences of HLT use in this regard. This is noteworthy as this age group is more likely to use HLT to regulate their physical activity (PA) participation and health learning independently. Therefore, this study aims to explore young adults’ (aged 18–20) experiences of using HLT in supporting and regulating their healthy active lifestyles beyond a formal learning context. The research was undertaken with university students in central England, with 23 young adults participating in eight focus groups and 11 participating in individual interviews. An abductive thematic analysis approach was employed to analyse the data, and self-regulated learning theory was used as a theoretical framework to guide data analysis. Three analytical themes were conceptualised as follows: (1) The use of HLT to facilitate a healthy active lifestyle, (2) Barriers and concerns, and (3) Digital health strategies. The findings indicate that the young adults sought to foster healthy active lifestyles through a noticeable self-regulation process within the pedagogical environment afforded by HLT. This involved setting goals, selecting and implementing appropriate strategies, and monitoring and adjusting their PA participation and health learning as needed. Whilst the young adults had encountered various barriers and challenges in regulating their healthy active lifestyles via HLT, they had developed various digital health strategies to address or mitigate these. This research provides new empirical evidence on how and why young adults engage with HLT and develop strategies to support their healthy active lifestyles, thereby illustrating the potential of HLT to foster their lifelong PA participation and health learning.<p></p>