Background: Activity trackers can monitor vital signs and physical activity and potentially support cardiac telerehabilitation delivery. However, their current use in clinical practice remains limited.
Aim: To investigate Australian cardiac rehabilitation clinicians’ perspectives, attitudes, and behaviours towards using activity trackers, and the barriers and enablers of both personal and clinical use.
Methods: A descriptive survey was conducted via the Australian Cardiovascular Health and Rehabilitation Association (ACRA) membership and social media from April to May 2023, through REDCap. Descriptive and chi-squared tests were conducted to determine statistical differences between the perspectives of exercise and non-exercise staff. Open-text responses were organised into categories by two researchers, with a third overseeing the grouping of responses.
Results: A total of 41 complete responses were collected. The participants' mean age was 45.37 (SD 10.6) years and the average work experience in cardiac rehabilitation was 9.79 (SD 8.0) years. About half (46.3%) had experience with cardiac telerehabilitation, whilst 17.1% had no experience in any digital delivery. Thirty-five (85.5%) clinicians owned a personal activity tracker, and 30 (73.2%) recommended the trackers for clinical use. Barriers identified were limited funding to purchase trackers (92.7%), no relevant policies for clinical use (82.9%), and difficulties implementing new technology into cardiac rehabilitation programs (78.0%).
Conclusion: Most Australian cardiac rehabilitation clinicians have positive attitudes towards activity trackers for clinical use. The most common perceived benefits were monitoring fitness and increasing motivation for exercise. However, barriers such as limited funding and lack of policy should be considered when implementing into the practice.