Abstract
The increasing capabilities of smartphones have motivated the appearance of mobile applications targeting physical activity in the app stores. Through a variety of specifications and functions, these mobile apps support behavior change. This systematic review reports the behavior change techniques (BCTs) and health behavior theories used in mobile applications targeting physical activity. In this review, taxonomy of 26 different behavior change techniques and 7 different health behavior theories was used as a framework. Of 350 potentially relevant articles, 8 satisfied the inclusion criteria for this study. The results showed that providing feedback on performance was the most frequently used BCT. Prompting specific goal setting was the second most common, and providing instruction was the third most commonly used BCT. These findings suggest that app developers make an effort to integrate health behavior theories to some extent.
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Appendix. The Frequency of BCTs in the Studies
Appendix. The Frequency of BCTs in the Studies
BCT | Yang et al. (2015) | Middelweerd et al. (2014) | Conroy et al. (2014) | Direito et al. (2014) | Mercer et al. (2016) | Bardus et al. (2016) | Brannon and Cushing (2014) | Lyons et al. (2014) | Frequency |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Provide feedback on performance | 97 | 64 | 83 | 52 | 7 | 33 | 2 | 15 | 353 |
Prompt specific goal setting | 53 | 40 | 103 | 38 | 4 | 32 | 3 | 21 | 294 |
Provide instruction | 37 | 14 | 111 | 84 | 4 | 9 | 13 | 5 | 277 |
Plan social support or social change | 84 | 37 | 61 | 55 | 7 | 11 | 14 | 269 | |
Prompt self-monitoring of behavior | 51 | 62 | 17 | 60 | 7 | 20 | 12 | 29 | 258 |
Model or demonstrate behavior | 47 | 7 | 88 | 52 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 208 | |
Prompt review of behavioral goals | 23 | 4 | 69 | 22 | 15 | 44 | 13 | 13 | 203 |
Provide opportunities for social comparison | 35 | 10 | 26 | 55 | 14 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 162 |
Provide contingent rewards | 38 | 31 | 24 | 25 | 19 | 4 | 3 | 11 | 155 |
Provide information about others’ approval | 64 | 46 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 140 | ||
Set graded tasks | 33 | 3 | 22 | 70 | 2 | 5 | 135 | ||
Provide information on consequences | 13 | 10 | 52 | 5 | 16 | 12 | 108 | ||
Prompt practice | 5 | 12 | 18 | 45 | 3 | 7 | 90 | ||
Provide general encouragement | 34 | 35 | 3 | 13 | 85 | ||||
Prompt intention formation | 10 | 6 | 5 | 50 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 84 | |
Prompt identification as a role model | 55 | 55 | |||||||
Teach to use prompts or cues | 3 | 1 | 13 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 34 | ||
Prompt barrier identification | 15 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 26 | ||
Provide information about behavior-health link | 13 | 12 | 25 | ||||||
Use follow-up prompts | 2 | 5 | 7 | ||||||
Stress management | 5 | 5 | |||||||
Motivational interviewing | 2 | 2 | |||||||
Prompt self-talk | 2 | 2 | |||||||
Time management | 2 | 2 | |||||||
Agree on behavioral contract | 1 | 1 | |||||||
Relapse prevention | 1 | 1 |
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Kuru, H. (2018). Behavior Change Techniques Used in Mobile Applications Targeting Physical Activity: A Systematic Review. In: Sezgin, E., Yildirim, S., Özkan-Yildirim, S., Sumuer, E. (eds) Current and Emerging mHealth Technologies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73135-3_3
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