Table 3.

Summary of identified themes.

RQa	Themes	Example quotes
RQ1: How did long-term users initiate the use of wearable activity trackers?	Meaningful initial start	“She [The physician] laid it out to me there, end of February: ‘You’re going to have a choice. We’re going to give you injections, or it’s borderline [diabetes]. Exercise and eating right can reduce it.” (Participant 20)
RQ2: How did long-term users set goals?	Goal setting: start with a small goal and gradually increase	“The tracker came preset with the 10,000 step goal. I think that’s what the American Heart Association recommends. I didn’t really push my steps for that goal because if I was walking, I would still have some pain in my chest……After I had that stress test after a year is when I really started picking up the pace and doing a lot more and working on the 10,000 steps every single day. There have been days where it’s tracked 15,000 so I would be significantly over the goal some days. It did take me a while to work up to it.” (Participant 4)
RQ3: What consistent contextual cues did long-term users use to form the habit of wearing wearable activity trackers?	Consistent cues: use time and locational cues to make it a routine	“If you develop a routine and a habit by having a place you put it every night, an agreement with yourself that it’s the first thing you do when your feet hit the ground in the morning is put it on, then it will become a habit. Anything you do for 15 days in a row becomes a habit. If you can do it for 15 days, you probably will continue to do it.” (Participant 15)
RQ4: How did long-term users engage in action planning and coping planning to support the continued use of wearable activity trackers?	Action planning: creative contextual cues Action planning: use reminders Coping planning: anticipate problems and have a plan to deal with it Coping planning: mindset for managing unfulfillment and lapses Coping planning: try to have fun and try something new	“While we were talking, I’ve been walking some because I knew I still lacked a few steps. And so, that’s right. Anytime I talk on the phone, you know, since we all have the cell phones, I walk while I talk.” (Participant 9) “When you set up the account you can turn on the alerts and the alerts can go to your phone and can go to also your email. That is... I did both and it’s a duplicate because the email goes to the phone, too, but...whatever gets my attention at the moment, that’s fine. And then I go and charge. And it doesn’t take long to charge.” (Participant 10) “I carry one with me. I have it in my bag that I carry to work, but I do have two chargers. So that’s probably a good idea, too, to have more than one. I know one person I know has it in their car. Charges it in their car.” (Participant 7) “Put it on and don’t be discouraged the first few days or even weeks or months you don’t reach what you want, because it’s like everything else. It’s something new. It’s something you’ve never done before.” (Participant 1) “Maybe in the spring so you can hear the birds and just do something like that to motivate you and look at the other side of town. When you walk over and say, hey I haven’t been down in this area for quite a while. You've got to come up with something that motivates you to walk or to see something different, or whatever.” (Participant 19)

^aRQ: research questions.