Can a fitness app help physical therapy patients stay on track?
That’s what Lauren Galantai ’17 wanted to know. For years, the Kinesiology major has volunteered at rehabilitation centers including outpatient settings and inpatient care helping stroke patients—including the internationally recognized Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center. While working alongside the physical therapists, Galantai saw that patients have trouble staying motivated—especially at home.
“When patients went home, they didn’t do the prescribed exercises the physical therapist told them to do,” Galantai said. “So how can we hold people accountable to continue doing these exercises?”
One answer could be a fitness app, tapping into patients’ intrinsic and extrinsic motivations.
This past year, Galantai researched the effects that competitive apps like Fitbit have on people’s motivation, effort, and enjoyment of their exercise. After tracking 40 people over several weeks, she discovered a difference in psychological factors between whether an app compared the users’ workout against people they knew, such as friends and family, versus strangers.
When people used an app to compare their exercises against acquaintances’, they were motivated and enjoyed the workout. But for the people who used an app to compare their exercise to strangers’, their effort and enjoyment fell, according to Galantai’s survey.
“So it seemed that the friendly competition seems to be a really effective motivator,” said Galantai, presenting her findings at Whittier College’s annual undergraduate research day.
Galantai theorizes that an app could be developed that sets goals for patients. The app could track their progress to leverage intrinsic motivations, plus show them their goal completion compared to their friends’ and families’ exercise goals.
Galantai’s research was funded by the Barbara Ondrasik ’57 and David Groce Fellowship, which awards sophomores and juniors of any major to engage in a substantial undergraduate research project with a professor. Galantai paired with Assistant Professor of Psychological Sciences Joanne Hash-Converse, who helps students translate pragmatic knowledge to real-world applications.
