Trial reportThe international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity2021
Effect of commercial wearables and digital behaviour change resources on the physical activity of adolescents attending schools in socio-economically disadvantaged areas: the RAW-PA cluster-randomised controlled trial.
Trial report in The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 44 citations in OpenAlex.
- Interventions for promoting physical activity among adolescents in school settings: systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of global health · 2026Pooled it
- Digital Tools' Effectiveness on Physical Activity Outcomes in Children and Adolescents: Umbrella Review.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2026Pooled it
- Meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials assessing the effect of digital tools on step count and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity in healthy children and adolescents.Frontiers in digital health · 2026Pooled it
- Effectiveness of wearable activity trackers on physical activity among adolescents in school-based settings: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC public health · 2025Pooled it
- Digital interventions for weight control to prevent obesity in adolescents: a systematic review.Frontiers in public health · 2025Pooled it
- Technology-Supported Physical Activity and Its Potential as a Tool to Promote Young Women's Physical Activity and Physical Literacy: Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Pooled it
- Effectiveness of mHealth App-Based Interventions for Increasing Physical Activity and Improving Physical Fitness in Children and Adolescents: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2024Pooled it
- Effectiveness of a Mobile Phone-Delivered Multiple Health Behavior Change Intervention (LIFE4YOUth) in Adolescents: Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Trial
- A mobile healthy lifestyle intervention to promote mental health in adolescence: a mixed-methods evaluation.BMC public health · 2024Trial
- Mediators of Effects on Physical Activity and Sedentary Time in an Activity Tracker and Behavior Change Intervention for Adolescents: Secondary Analysis of a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2022Trial
- Review
- Effectiveness and feasibility of family and peer challenge intervention with wearable technology on physical activity among middle schoolers in Utah: A pilot trial.Preventive medicine reports · 2025Article
- A Comprehensive Review of Behavior Change Techniques in Wearables and IoT: Implications for Health and Well-Being.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Effect of an activity wristband-based intermittent teaching unit in Physical Education on students' physical activity and its psychological mediators: a cluster-randomized controlled trial. School-fit study.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Physical Activity Knowledge, Attitude, and Behaviours Among Adolescents in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Prior to and during COVID-19 Restrictions.Journal of obesity · 2022Article
- Review
- Promoting child and adolescent health through wearable technology: A systematic review.Digital healthReview
- Association between fitness tracker use, physical activity, and general health of adolescents in Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.Journal of family & community medicineArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThere has been increasing interest in using wearable activity trackers to promote physical activity in youth. This study examined the short- and longer-term effects of a wearable activity tracker combined with digital behaviour change resources on the physical activity of adolescents attending schools in socio-economically disadvantaged areas.
methodsThe Raising Awareness of Physical Activity (RAW-PA) Study was a 12-week, multicomponent intervention that combined a Fitbit Flex (and accompanying app), and online digital behaviour change resources and weekly challenges delivered via Facebook. RAW-PA was evaluated using a cluster-randomised controlled trial with 275 adolescents (50.2% female; 13.7 ± 0.4 years) from 18 Melbourne secondary schools (intervention n = 9; wait-list control group n = 9). The primary outcome was moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA), measured using hip-worn ActiGraph accelerometers. The secondary outcome was self-reported physical activity. Data were collected at baseline, 12-weeks (immediately post-intervention), and 6-months post-intervention (follow-up). Multilevel models were used to determine the effects of the intervention on daily MVPA over time, adjusting for covariates.
resultsNo significant differences were observed between intervention and wait-list control adolescents' device-assessed MVPA immediately post-intervention. At 6-months post-intervention, adolescents in the intervention group engaged in 5 min (95% CI: - 9.1 to - 1.0) less MVPA per day than those in the wait-list control group. Males in the intervention group engaged in 11 min (95% CI: - 17.6 to - 4.5) less MVPA than males in the wait-list control group at 6-months post-intervention. No significant differences were observed for females at either time point. For self-reported physical activity, no significant effects were found at 12-weeks and 6-months post-intervention.
conclusionsCombining a wearable activity tracker with digital behaviour change resources and weekly challenges did not increase inactive adolescents' accelerometer-derived and self-reported physical activity levels immediately post-intervention. This contrasts previous research that has suggested wearable activity tracker may increase youth physical activity levels in the short-term. Lower engagement in MVPA 6-months post-intervention was observed for males but not for females, though it is unclear why this finding was observed. The results suggest wearable activity trackers, in combination with supporting materials, may not be effective for increasing physical activity levels in adolescents.
trial registrationACTRN12616000899448 . Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry. Registered 7 July 2016.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.