Effects of a Gamified, Behavior Change Technique-Based Mobile App on Increasing Physical Activity and Reducing Anxiety in Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorder: Feasibility Randomized Controlled Trial

Daehyoung Lee; Georgia C Frey; Donetta J Cothran; Jaroslaw Harezlak; Patrick C Shih

doi:10.2196/35701

Effects of a Gamified, Behavior Change Technique-Based Mobile App on Increasing Physical Activity and Reducing Anxiety in Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorder: Feasibility Randomized Controlled Trial

JMIR Form Res. 2022 Jul 28;6(7):e35701. doi: 10.2196/35701.

Authors

Daehyoung Lee¹, Georgia C Frey², Donetta J Cothran², Jaroslaw Harezlak³, Patrick C Shih⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Applied Human Sciences, University of Minnesota Duluth, Duluth, MN, United States.
² Department of Kinesiology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, United States.
³ Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, United States.
⁴ Department of Informatics, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, United States.

PMID: 35900808
PMCID: PMC9377470
DOI: 10.2196/35701

Abstract

Background: Physical activity (PA) has an impact on physical and mental health in neurotypical populations, and addressing these variables may improve the prevalent burden of anxiety in adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Gamified mobile apps using behavior change techniques present a promising way of increasing PA and reducing sedentary time, thus reducing anxiety in adults with ASD.

Objective: This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of a gamified and behavior change technique-based mobile app, PuzzleWalk, versus a commercially available app, Google Fit, on increasing PA and reducing sedentary time as an adjunct anxiety treatment for this population.

Methods: A total of 24 adults with ASD were assigned to either the PuzzleWalk or Google Fit group for 5 weeks using a covariate-adaptive randomization design. PA and anxiety were assessed over 7 days at 3 different data collection periods (ie, baseline, intervention start, and intervention end) using triaxial accelerometers and the Beck Anxiety Inventory. Group differences in outcome variables were assessed using repeated-measures analysis of covariance, adjusting for age, sex, and BMI.

Results: The findings indicated that the PuzzleWalk group spent a significantly longer amount of time on app use compared with the Google Fit group (F_2,38=5.07; P=.01; partial η²=0.21), whereas anxiety was unfavorably associated with increases in light PA and decreases in sedentary time after intervention (all P<.05).

Conclusions: Further research is needed to clarify the determinants of physical and mental health and their interrelationship in adults with ASD to identify the factors that facilitate the use and adoption of mobile health technologies in these individuals. Despite these mixed results, the small changes in PA or anxiety may be clinically significant for adults with ASD.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05466617; https://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT05466617.

Keywords: anxiety; autism; behavior change techniques; gamification; mHealth; mental health; mobile app; mobile phone; physical activity; sedentary behavior.

©Daehyoung Lee, Georgia C Frey, Donetta J Cothran, Jaroslaw Harezlak, Patrick C Shih. Originally published in JMIR Formative Research (https://formative.jmir.org), 28.07.2022.

Associated data

ClinicalTrials.gov/NCT05466617