Beyond Harmonization: Why Context Matters for Interpreting Wearable-Derived Movement Behaviors Across Cohorts
Year of publication
2026
Authors
McVeigh, Joanne; Kulmala, Janne; Micklesfield, Lisa; Pang, Bingyan
Abstract
The rapid uptake of wearables over the past 25 years has been transformative, enabling unprecedented insights into movement behaviors (physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep) and their determinants across diverse populations. In 2025, the World Health Organization signaled a major shift by calling for future physical activity guidelines to be informed by device-measured data. This challenging, but highly supported ambition raises a critical question for the research community: How should harmonized movement behavior measures be interpreted when applied across cohorts with markedly different lived and geographic contexts?
Show moreOrganizations and authors
JAMK University of Applied Sciences
Kulmala Janne 
Publication type
Publication format
Article
Report
No
Parent publication type
Journal
Article type
Other articleAudience
ScientificPeer-reviewed
Non Peer-ReviewedMINEDU's publication type classification code
B1 Non-refereed journal articlesPublication channel information
Journal/Series
Publisher
Pages
1-2
ISSN
Publication forum
Publication forum level
1
Open access
Open access in the publisher’s service
Yes
Open access of publication channel
Partially open publication channel
Self-archived
Yes
Other information
Fields of science
Sport and fitness sciences
Keywords
[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]
Identified topic
[object Object]
Publication country
United States
Internationality of the publisher
International
Language
English
International co-publication
Yes
Co-publication with a company
No
DOI
10.1123/jpah.2026-0185
The publication is included in the Ministry of Education and Culture’s Publication data collection
Yes