Online Communities for Promoting Physical Activity: A Scoping Review of Use, Characteristics and Research Gaps

Jennifer Hachiya

2025

Abstract

The objective of this scoping review was to identify, characterise, and synthesise existing literature on the use of online communities (OC) to promote physical activity (PA) and identify gaps to direct future research. Systematic searches were conducted in Science Direct, PubMed, Scopus, and Institute of Electrical and Electron-ics Engineers Xplore for studies published up to August 2020. The search terms included a combination of the following keywords: physical activity, sedentary, exercise, health, sport, brand, and online community. No limits were used. Studies were included if they encompassed a full publication containing enough details on characteristics and described any feature primarily aiming at PA promotion. A total of 21 different OC were found in the total of 25 selected studies. Of those studies, all reported on at least one behaviour change technique, 68.2% (n=15) used websites to support the OC, 36% (n=9) reported on strategies to keep users engaged, 16% (n=4) comprised information related to the design process, and 16% (n=4) reported on OC effectiveness. Existing reports do not provide evident detailed information on the design process or user engagement strategies related to OC, and only a few studies assess its effectiveness in improving PA. Further research is needed.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Hachiya J. (2025). Online Communities for Promoting Physical Activity: A Scoping Review of Use, Characteristics and Research Gaps. In Proceedings of the 18th International Joint Conference on Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies - Volume 2: HEALTHINF; ISBN 978-989-758-731-3, SciTePress, pages 425-432. DOI: 10.5220/0013121400003911

in Bibtex Style

@conference{healthinf25,
author={Jennifer Hachiya},
title={Online Communities for Promoting Physical Activity: A Scoping Review of Use, Characteristics and Research Gaps},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 18th International Joint Conference on Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies - Volume 2: HEALTHINF},
year={2025},
pages={425-432},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0013121400003911},
isbn={978-989-758-731-3},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 18th International Joint Conference on Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies - Volume 2: HEALTHINF
TI - Online Communities for Promoting Physical Activity: A Scoping Review of Use, Characteristics and Research Gaps
SN - 978-989-758-731-3
AU - Hachiya J.
PY - 2025
SP - 425
EP - 432
DO - 10.5220/0013121400003911
PB - SciTePress