Examining Sedentary Behaviors Among University Students in Online Education Post-Earthquake: Use of Mobile Health Applications

Background Research indicates that sedentary lifestyles significantly elevate the risk of chronic diseases. Individuals at younger ages exhibit increased susceptibility to the development of behavioral patterns that can have long-term negative impacts on health. The increase in sedentary behaviors (SB) among youth constitutes a notable public health issue. This research analyzed the effects of the nationwide shift to online education, prompted by an earthquake, on the SBs of university students by using mobile health data. Methods This retrospective and observational study used mobile health data to compare individuals' SB throughout the spring semester of online education and the fall semester of face-to-face education. Research was conducted between January 20 and February 20, 2024. The researchers contacted university students via class reps, email, and WhatsApp® groups. Research comprises two parts. In the first phase, 164 participants reported their socio-demographic, dietary, and online habits. The second phase involved the collection of mobile health data from participants. The research methodology required mobile health apps to track step count, calories burned, and distance traveled. Participants were asked to submit the data logs from mobile health applications on their smartphones. A programmer created software to convert XML mobile health data to Excel®. Another software developer built a Python script in Python 3.6 to calculate cumulative steps, total distance, and daily caloric expenditure from health data collected over the fall and spring semesters of 2022–2023. A t-test was used to examine sedentary tendencies across online and face-to-face semesters since the research variables are normally distributed. Results The study comprised 164 undergraduate participants, with 86% identifying as female. Data from mobile health applications were collected from participants (N = 55). Statistically significant differences were observed in the average number of daily steps (p = 0.009), average distances traveled per day (p = 0.004), and average daily physically inactive time (p = 0.001). However, no significant difference was found in the average basic calories burned per day (p = 0.521). Conclusions This study shows that online education did not consistently increase SBs or decrease PA; higher step counts and potentially lower sedentary time due to the freedom of going out during online education, seasonal effects, and post-earthquake coping behaviors were observed.