The experiences of people with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) using activity monitors in everyday life: An interpretative phenomenological study

Laura Wilde, Carol Percy, Gillian Ward, Cain Clark, Petra Wark, Louise Sewell

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)
30 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Purpose: Understanding the experiences of people with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) using activity monitors in daily life could support the utilisation of technology within healthcare to increase physical activity and support self-management. This qualitative study aimed to explore the experiences of people with COPD using activity monitors at home in everyday life.
Methods: Semi-structured face-to-face or telephone interviews were conducted with seven people with COPD between August 2018 and June 2020. Participants had all used an activity monitor within the last year (Fitbit, Garmin, or Apple Watch). Interviews were analysed in-depth using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA).
Results: Four themes, developed using IPA, highlight participants’ engagement with activity monitors and integrating them into their lives: 1) Motivational features to monitor activity, 2) Importance of setting achievable goals, 3) Developing knowledge and awareness, and 4) Integration into everyday life for self-management.
Conclusion: Activity monitors were perceived to be beneficial and useful to people with COPD, not just for monitoring their activity, but also helping to self-manage their condition. Activity monitors may be a useful tool within rehabilitation and healthcare services for COPD.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)(In-Press)
Number of pages11
JournalDisability and Rehabilitation
Volume(In-Press)
Early online date18 Jan 2024
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 18 Jan 2024

Bibliographical note

© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.

Funder

LW’s PhD studies (of which this study is a part of ) was funded by the Centre for Intelligent Healthcare, Coventry University, UK

Keywords

  • activity tracker
  • Exercise
  • physical activity
  • pulmonary rehabilitation
  • respiratory care
  • respiratory disease
  • self-management
  • wearable technology

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