MHEALTH (MOBILE HEALTH) IN THE PROMOTION OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND PREVENTION OF NONCOMMUNICABLE DISEASES

Abstract

Promoting healthy lifestyle behaviors such as having more physical activity (PA) and reducing sedentary behavior (SB), and modifying major risk factors such as hypertension, represent an important step towards preventing cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and mortality in adults. Mobile health (mHealth) strategies (integrating modern wearable devices, smartphone application and behavioral change techniques) offer opportunities for health promotion. Therefore, this thesis aimed to explore the potential of mHealth as an enabler for promoting PA and preventing major noncommunicable diseases in Singapore and beyond. Guided by the Behavioral Epidemiology Framework, this thesis examined sociodemographic determinants of the prevalence and management of hypertension among multi-ethnic adults in Singapore, systematically synthesized the evidence on the association of device-measured PA or SB with CVDs and mortality, validated wearable devices, and investigated the feasibility of a team-based mHealth intervention in promoting PA. Our findings support further exploration on the potential of mHealth intervention for delivering tailored PA strategies to motivate individuals at risk of physical inactivity or poor health.