Snacktivity WP1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Snacktivity- to promote physical activity and reduce future risk of disease in the population.
IRAS ID
272760
Contact name
Amanda Daley
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 1 months, 28 days
Research summary
There is strong evidence that being active and sitting less is important for health. Guidance states that adults should, over a week, complete at least 150-minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity physical activity (30-minutes per/day) in periods of 10-mins or more. However, few people manage this which puts their health at risk. The reason why so few people are meeting the current physical activity guidance may be because they have to make big changes to their lifestyle, which can be too difficult. An alternative is an idea we have called ‘snacktivity’. Rather than encouraging people to do 30-minutes of physical activity each day in one go, or in 10 min periods, snacktivity focuses on encouraging people to do small physical activity ‘snacks’, throughout the day so they achieve 150-minutes of activity per/week.
An activity snack might typically last between 2-5-minutes (e.g. using stairs not lifts; walking while on the phone). Small changes are easier for people to make than large ones. A common reason for being inactive is lack of time; snacktivity provides an opportunity to address this. Snacktivity encourages people to break up their sitting throughout the day. Snacktivity may appear worthwhile, but evidence about whether people will do it and whether it works is needed before it can be recommended to the public.
We will conduct a (a)survey and (b)focus groups to explore public opinion about snacktivity and get feedback on the content and delivery of our digital intervention (snackapp). We will also explore views about the use of wearable technology and the use of physical activity apps.
This first stage of the study will also focus on using data gathered to develop and test the digital smartphone application called ‘snackapp’ which will be synchronised with a wrist worn physical activity tracker.REC name
East Midlands - Leicester South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/EM/0370
Date of REC Opinion
18 Dec 2019
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion