The Influence of Healthy Lifestyle Technologies on Young People’s Physical Activity Participation and Health Learning: A Systematic Review

ABSTRACT

Healthy lifestyle technologies (HLT) have gained popularity in young people’s daily lives, but the long-term effect of these technologies on their physical activity (PA) participation and health learning is unclear. This systematic review (a) explores the effect of HLT use on the PA participation and health learning of young people (aged 13–18), and (b) determines whether the effects were long-term and/or sustainable. Literature searches were conducted in five databases to identify studies published in academic journals in English between 2011 to 2022 which explored young people’s use of HLT to support their PA participation and health learning. Twenty-six studies were identified. The reported impact of these technologies focused on three dimensions: behavior change, psychological responses, and facilitators and barriers to HLT use. This review concluded that HLT can have positive short-term effects on young people’s PA participation and health learning, but the long term or sustainable influence remains inconclusive.

KEYWORDS:

• Digital technologies
• physical activity
• health

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/00336297.2023.2218038

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the China Scholarship Council [202108250016].