IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v21y2024i9p1128-d1464838.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Time-Use Sequences: A Mixed-Methods Study Exploring How, When, and Where Spatiotemporal Patterns of Everyday Routines Can Strengthen Public Health Interventions

Author

Listed:
  • Brittany V. Barber

    (Faculty of Health, Dalhousie University, 5968 College Street, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada)

  • George Kephart

    (Department of Community Health and Epidemiology, Dalhousie University, 5790 University Avenue, Halifax, NS B3H 1V7, Canada)

  • Michael Vallis

    (Department of Family Medicine, Dalhousie University, 1465 Brenton Street, Suite 402, Halifax, NS B3J 3T4, Canada)

  • Stephen A. Matthews

    (Department of Sociology & Criminology, The Pennsylvania State University, 211 Oswald Tower, University Park, PA 16802, USA)

  • Ruth Martin-Misener

    (School of Nursing, Dalhousie University, 5869 University Avenue, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada)

  • Daniel G. Rainham

    (School of Health and Human Performance, Dalhousie University, 6230 South Street, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada
    Healthy Populations Institute, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada)

Abstract

Background: Behavior change interventions are critical for the secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease and for reducing the risk of a repeat event or mortality. However, the effectiveness of behavior change interventions is challenged by a lack of spatiotemporal contexts, limiting our understanding of factors that influence the timing and location in which day-to-day activities occur and the maintenance of behavior change. This study explored how behavior change interventions could incorporate spatiotemporal contexts of patient activities for modifying behaviors. Methods: A mixed-methods approach with adapted geo-ethnography techniques was used to solicit detailed descriptions of patients’ day-to-day routines, including where, when, and how patients spend time. Data were gathered from patients in one cardiac intervention program in Nova Scotia, Canada, from June to September 2021. Results: A total of 29 individuals (19 men and 10 women) between the ages of 45 and 81 and referred to the program after a cardiac event participated. The results show three key findings: (1) most patients exceeded the minimum guidelines of 30 min of daily physical activity but were sedentary for long periods of time, (2) patient time-use patterns are heterogenous and unique to contexts of individual space-time activity paths, and (3) time-use patterns reveal when, where, and how patients spend significant portions of time and opportunities for adapting patients’ day-to-day health activities. Conclusions: This study demonstrates the potential for interventions to integrate tools for collecting and communicating spatial and temporal contexts of patient routines, such as the types of activities that characterize how patients spend significant portions of time and identification of when, where, and how to encourage health-promoting changes in routine activities. Time-use patterns provide insight for tailoring behavior change interventions so that clinic-based settings are generalizable to the contexts of where, when, and how patient routines could be adapted to mitigate cardiovascular risk factors.

Suggested Citation

  • Brittany V. Barber & George Kephart & Michael Vallis & Stephen A. Matthews & Ruth Martin-Misener & Daniel G. Rainham, 2024. "Time-Use Sequences: A Mixed-Methods Study Exploring How, When, and Where Spatiotemporal Patterns of Everyday Routines Can Strengthen Public Health Interventions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(9), pages 1-23, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:21:y:2024:i:9:p:1128-:d:1464838
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/9/1128/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/9/1128/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nestor Asiamah & Simon Mawulorm Agyemang & Cosmos Yarfi & Reginald Arthur-Mensah Jnr & Faith Muhonja & Hafiz T. A. Khan & Kyriakos Kouveliotis & Sarra Sghaier, 2023. "Associations of Social Networks with Physical Activity Enjoyment among Older Adults: Walkability as a Modifier through a STROBE-Compliant Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-16, February.
    2. Hennink, Monique & Kaiser, Bonnie N., 2022. "Sample sizes for saturation in qualitative research: A systematic review of empirical tests," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gülüm Özer & İdil Işık & Jordi Escartín, 2024. "Is There Somebody Looking out for Me? A Qualitative Analysis of Bullying Experiences of Individuals Diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(2), pages 1-22, January.
    2. Júlio Belo Fernandes & Diana Vareta & Sónia Fernandes & Ana Silva Almeida & Dina Peças & Noélia Ferreira & Liliana Roldão, 2022. "Rehabilitation Workforce Challenges to Implement Person-Centered Care," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-9, March.
    3. Chikako Ishizuka & Kei Aoki, 2024. "Drivers of sustained brand engagement: cases of long-term customers of hedonic and utilitarian brands in Japan," Journal of Marketing Analytics, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(4), pages 979-989, December.
    4. Daniel Muir & Cristiana Orlando & Becci Newton, 2024. "Impact of summer programmes on the outcomes of disadvantaged or ‘at risk’ young people: A systematic review," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 20(2), June.
    5. Maria Provenzano & Nicola Cillara & Felice Curcio & Maria Orsola Pisu & Cesar Iván Avilés González & Maria Francisca Jiménez-Herrera, 2024. "Electronic Health Record Adoption and Its Effects on Healthcare Staff: A Qualitative Study of Well-Being and Workplace Stress," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(11), pages 1-14, October.
    6. Amro Hassan Ibrahim Alhassan & Zainudin Bin Hassan, 2024. "Understanding the Factors Behind Dropout Decisions: A Study of Primary School Students in Red Sea State, Sudan," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 8(3s), pages 5023-5034, October.
    7. Kocsis, Zsófia & Pusztai, Gabriella, 2025. "The role of higher education through the eyes of Hungarian undergraduate students and graduates: A qualitative exploratory study," International Journal for Research in Vocational Education and Training (IJRVET), European Research Network in Vocational Education and Training (VETNET), European Educational Research Association, vol. 12(1), pages 48-75.
    8. Nurul Hidayana Mohd Noor & Amirah Mohamad Fuzi & Nurin Farzana Mohamad Fadzil & Afief El Ashfahany, 2025. "Measuring Financial Management and Bankability of Small Business Mumpreneurs through Triangulation Study," Information Management and Business Review, AMH International, vol. 17(1), pages 328-341.
    9. Yu, Jiazhou & Dong, Dong & Sumerlin, Timothy S. & Kim, Jean H., 2023. "Feasibility of introducing effective alcohol harms reduction strategies in a low regulation region: A qualitative study from Hong Kong," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    10. Maiss Ahmad & Stephen Wilkins, 2025. "Purposive sampling in qualitative research: a framework for the entire journey," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 59(2), pages 1461-1479, April.
    11. Syazuin Sazali & Rozina Muzaffar & Maya Lestari Muchtar & Najibah Binti Yasin, 2025. "From Aspirations to Decisions: A Biographical Study on Factors Influencing Postgraduate Students’ Choices of HEI in Malaysia," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 9(1), pages 5092-5109, January.
    12. Hall, Julie & Hawkins, Olivia & Montgomery, Amy & Singh, Saniya & Mullan, Judy & Degeling, Chris, 2022. "Dismantling antibiotic infrastructures in residential aged care: The invisible work of antimicrobial stewardship (AMS)," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 305(C).
    13. Zhang, Jinsui & Hu, Min & Jia, Yusheng & Gu, Yuanyuan & Chen, Wen, 2024. "How should regulatory schemes be optimized to enhance deterrence against medical insurance fraud by enrollees? Evidence from a discrete choice experiment in China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 354(C).
    14. Hossam Mohamed Elhamy & Maha Abdulmajeed, 2023. "Arab Media Researchers’ Perceptions of Factors Affecting Their Research Problem Selection," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(3), pages 21582440231, September.
    15. Bekmezci, Mustafa & Sürücü, Lütfi, 2025. "Determination of validity, reliability and sample size in qualitative research," OSF Preprints 52jbm_v1, Center for Open Science.
    16. Wesley Darling & Jacquelyn Broader & Adam Cohen & Susan Shaheen, 2023. "Going My Way? Understanding Curb Management and Incentive Policies to Increase Pooling Service Use and Public Transit Linkages in the San Francisco Bay Area," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-20, September.
    17. Michal Beňo, 2023. "Re-Establishing Home and Work Boundaries by Pseudo-Commuting Whilst Working from Home," Central European Business Review, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2023(4), pages 123-134.
    18. Nura Abdel-Rahman & Orly Manor & Liora Valinsky & Ofri Mosenzon & Ronit Calderon-Margalit & Sveta Roberman, 2022. "What is important for people with type 2 diabetes? A focus group study to identify relevant aspects for Patient-Reported Outcome Measures in diabetes care," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(11), pages 1-14, November.
    19. Trisha Dalapati & Emily J Alway & Sneha Mantri & Phillip Mitchell & Ian A George & Samantha Kaplan & Kathryn M Andolsek & J Matthew Velkey & Jennifer Lawson & Andrew J Muzyk, 2024. "Development of a curricular thread to foster medical students’ critical reflection and promote action on climate change, health, and equity," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(5), pages 1-14, May.
    20. Noor Aida Shazwani Abd Razak & Shariff Harun & Siti Norida Wahab, 2024. "Factors Influencing Automotive Lubricant Consumer Purchasing Behavior: A Conceptual Model," Information Management and Business Review, AMH International, vol. 16(3), pages 670-675.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:21:y:2024:i:9:p:1128-:d:1464838. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.