The Use of Wearable Technologies in the Assessment of Physical Activity in Preschool- and School-Age Youth: Systematic Review

António C Sousa; Susana N Ferrinho; Bruno Travassos

doi:10.3390/ijerph20043402

The Use of Wearable Technologies in the Assessment of Physical Activity in Preschool- and School-Age Youth: Systematic Review

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Feb 15;20(4):3402. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20043402.

Authors

António C Sousa^{1

2}, Susana N Ferrinho³, Bruno Travassos^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Research Center in Sports Sciences, Health Sciences and Human Development, CIDESD, 5001-801 Vila Real, Portugal.
² Department of Sport Sciences, University of Beira Interior, 6201-001 Covilhã, Portugal.
³ Department of Letters, University of Beira Interior, 6201-001 Covilhã, Portugal.

Abstract

In recent years, physical activity assessment has increasingly relied on wearable monitors to provide measures for surveillance, intervention, and epidemiological research. This present systematic review aimed to examine the current research about the utilization of wearable technology in the evaluation in physical activities of preschool- and school-age children. A database search (Web of Science, PubMed and Scopus) for original research articles was performed. A total of twenty-one articles met the inclusion criteria, and the Cochrane risk of bias tool was used. Wearable technology can actually be a very important instrument/tool to detect the movements and monitor the physical activity of children and adolescents. The results revealed that there are a few studies on the influence of these technologies on physical activity in schools, and most of them are descriptive. In line with previous research, the wearable devices can be used as a motivational tool to improve PA behaviors and in the evaluation of PA interventions. However, the different reliability levels of the different devices used in the studies can compromise the analysis and understanding of the results.

Keywords: assessment; children; physical activity; preschool; school; wearable device.

Publication types

Systematic Review
Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Child
Child, Preschool
Exercise*
Humans
Motivation
Reproducibility of Results
Schools
Wearable Electronic Devices*

Grants and funding

This research was funded by national funding through the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P., under project UID/DTP/04045/2019. This work is also funded by FCT/MEC through national funds and co-funded by FEDER—PT2020 partnership agreement under the project UIDB/50008/2020.