FitAware: Channeling Group Dynamics Strategies with Smartwatches in a Physical Activity Intervention.

Physical inactivity of the general population is a major public health concern in the US and around the world. Community-based interventions, with group dynamics strategies at the core, are effective at improving individual physical activity behaviors. The use of technologies such as smartwatches has potential to channel and amplify the underlying program principles in such interventions. This work presents a smartwatch-centered system to encourage group cohesion in physical activity interventions, exploring it as part of an eight-week study that revealed participant awareness of group performance through smartwatch interactions.