Darcy Ummels

Using an activity tracker in daily clinical practice | 133 6 data collection, and analyses to ensure investigator triangulation; and different sources of the same information were used (multiple interviewees) to achieve data triangulation. By providing a thick description of our study population and study process, transferability was assured. Clinical relevance This study was performed in a specialized mental healthcare center for people with chronic somatic symptom disorders specific to spinal pain. However, even though this study was performed in this specific setting, the approach and results are still generalizable to a broader context where measuring physical activity is important. Measuring is an important aspect of almost all healthcare professionals’ daily routines. The availability of eHealth tools, including activity trackers, is growing and its relevance has already been shown during the COVID ‐ 19 pandemic. Moreover, the relevance of using activity trackers is already recommended in guidelines for healthcare professionals such as physical therapists. 71 In order to use eHealth and thus activity trackers in a meaningful way, healthcare professionals require new competencies, so ‐ called eHealth competencies. 72,73 Current healthcare professionals have not been sufficiently trained in these new competencies for optimal use in daily healthcare. It is important not only to focus on eHealth devices but, in addition, on how to embed them in processes of clinical reasoning and discussions with the patient and to support and train healthcare professionals to gain these competencies. An action research design could be beneficial to achieve this transition. Further research should focus on optimally embedding the activity tracker in healthcare, and our approach could be an example of how to implement eHealth in combination with healthcare professionals in their daily clinical practice. The draft manual and framework can be used completely or partially in other studies to assess the feasibility and facilitate the use of activity trackers in daily clinical practice. Consequently, a next step can be to evaluate the effectiveness of embedded activity trackers in daily clinical practice. Conclusion Therapists did identify opportunities to embed the use of the activity tracker into their clinical reasoning and engage patients in their treatment. Based on their expertise and experiences, therapists had clear ideas about for whom the use of activity trackers could be beneficial. They were able to formulate specific exclusion criteria accordingly (e.g., depression). An important part of this study was the adaptation of the flowchart. Each