Effect of efitbuddy on promoting physical activity and motivation in college students

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a theory-based smartphone application, efitbuddy, on college students' physical activity and motivation. A convenience sample of 106 college students (mean age = 20.4 +/- 2.8 years; 77 females) were recruited from a university located in the Northeastern U.S. Participants installed the efitbuddy application on their smartphone, and used it every day over a 2-week time period. Physical activity was measured using a self-recall questionnaire and motivational variables were collected using established surveys. All measures were collected at baseline and at a 2-week post-test time-point. A 2 x 2 Doubly Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) test was employed to test time main effect and the sex x time interaction effect on each outcome measure, using age as covariate. Results of the study indicated that there was a statistically significant multivariate model (Wilks' lambda = 0.87, F (12, 542.7) = 2.49, p = 0.003). Statistically significant effects included a sex main effect (F (1, 205) = 4.98, p = 0.002) and the statistical significance of the age covariate (F (3, 205) = 3.73, p = 0.012). There were no significant time main effects (p = 0.594). To conclude, efitbuddy has limited effect on young adults' physical activity and motivation over a 2-week intervention. Additional research with longer intervention periods should be conducted to explore potential effectiveness.