ArticlePLOS digital health2025
Digital citizen science for ethical monitoring of youth physical activity frequency: Comparing mobile ecological prospective assessments and retrospective recall.
Article in PLOS digital health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Comprehensive Pediatric Health Risk Stratification Using an AI-Driven Framework in Children Aged 2 to 8 Years: Design and Validation Study.JMIR medical informatics · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Physical inactivity is a leading risk factor for mortality worldwide. Understanding youth patterns of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) is essential for addressing non-communicable diseases. Digital citizen science approaches, using citizen-owned smartphones for data collection, offer an ethical and innovative method for monitoring MVPA. This study compares the frequency of MVPA reported by youth using retrospective surveys and mobile ecological prospective momentary assessments (mEPAs) to explore the potential of digital citizen science for physical activity (PA) surveillance. Youth (N = 808) were recruited from Saskatchewan, Canada, between August and December 2018. Sixty-eight participants (ages 13-21) provided complete data on retrospective surveys (International Physical Activity Questionnaire, Simple Physical Activity Questionnaire, Global Physical Activity Questionnaire) and prospective mEPAs. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests compared retrospective and prospective MVPA frequencies, while negative binomial regression analysis examined associations between contextual factors and MVPA. Significant differences were found in the frequency of MVPA reported via retrospective surveys versus mEPAs (p < 0.000). Prospective MVPA was associated with family and friend support, having drug-free friends, part-time employment, and school distance, while retrospective MVPA frequency was associated with school and strength training. Digital citizen science, utilizing mEPAs, can provide more accurate and timely data on youth MVPA. With increasing smartphone access and digital literacy, mEPAs represent a promising method for developing effective and personalized MVPA recommendations for youth. However, these findings should be interpreted with caution, as the sample represents a small subset of youth, limiting generalizability to other youth populations.
Identifiers
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Registered trials
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