The Role of Online Communities in Promoting Physical Activity: A Survey on User Preferences and Perceived Impact

Jennifer Hachiya

2025

Abstract

The primary objective of this online survey is to understand differences in user profile, user preferences and perceived impact among the European population. The sample groups were based on the most recent report of the European country with the highest and lowest levels of physical activity (PA). The cross-sectional online survey population of Portugal residents and Finland residents was selected by simple random sampling. Responses were collected from the open-source tool LimeSurvey. IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences Statistics was used to analyse the acquired data. A total of 538 responses were considered with 48.4% of respondents residing in Portugal, and 51.4% residing in Finland. About 38.5% of the general survey population regularly practice exercise, and 39.7% regularly engage in PA. Regarding the level of online community experience, responses were distributed between medium, moderately low, and very low. Overall, there is a significant relationship between both sample groups when it comes to PA, common emotions using online communities, user perception, preferences and openness. Our survey results provide evidence to support that country of residence is related to user PA and highlight the importance of considering demographic factors to understand general population lifestyle choices.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Hachiya J. (2025). The Role of Online Communities in Promoting Physical Activity: A Survey on User Preferences and Perceived Impact. 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 441-448. DOI: 10.5220/0013121600003911

in Bibtex Style

@conference{healthinf25,
author={Jennifer Hachiya},
title={The Role of Online Communities in Promoting Physical Activity: A Survey on User Preferences and Perceived Impact},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 18th International Joint Conference on Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies - Volume 2: HEALTHINF},
year={2025},
pages={441-448},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0013121600003911},
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 - The Role of Online Communities in Promoting Physical Activity: A Survey on User Preferences and Perceived Impact
SN - 978-989-758-731-3
AU - Hachiya J.
PY - 2025
SP - 441
EP - 448
DO - 10.5220/0013121600003911
PB - SciTePress