E-health physical activity interventions and moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity levels among working-age women: a systematic review protocol

Jennifer L Reed, Stephanie A Prince, Christie A Cole, Kara A Nerenberg, Swapnil Hiremath, Heather E Tulloch, J George Fodor, Agnieszka Szczotka, Lisa A McDonnell, Kerri-Anne Mullen, Andrew L Pipe, Robert D Reid

The rapid pace of modern life requires working-age women to juggle occupational, family, and social demands. Despite the large numbers of working-age women in developed countries and the proven benefits of regular moderate-to-vigorous intensity aerobic physical activity (MVPA) in chronic disease prevention, few women meet current physical activity (PA) recommendations of 150 min of MVPA per week. It is important that appropriate and effective behavioral interventions targeting PA are identified and developed to improve the MVPA levels of working-age women. As women worldwide embrace modern technologies, e-health innovations may provide opportune and convenient methods of implementing programs and strategies to target PA in an effort to improve MVPA levels and cardiometabolic health. Previous reviews on this topic have been limited; none have focused on working-age women from developed countries who exhibit inappropriately low PA levels. It remains unknown as to which e-health interventions are most effective at increasing MVPA levels in this population. The purpose of this systematic review is to examine the effectiveness of e-health interventions in raising MVPA levels among working-age women in developed countries and to examine the effectiveness of these interventions in improving the health of women.