SynthesisJournal of medical Internet research2016
Which Combinations of Techniques and Modes of Delivery in Internet-Based Interventions Effectively Change Health Behavior? A Meta-Analysis.
Synthesis in Journal of medical Internet research, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 49 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
49 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Psychological Theoretical Frameworks of Healthy and Sustainable Food Choices: A Systematic Review of the Literature.Nutrients · 2024Pooled it
- The Effectiveness of Strategies to Improve User Engagement With Digital Health Interventions Targeting Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Overweight and Obesity: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Pooled it
- Design Features Associated With Engagement in Mobile Health Physical Activity Interventions Among Youth: Systematic Review of Qualitative and Quantitative Studies.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2023Pooled it
- Self-regulatory behaviour change techniques in interventions to promote healthy eating, physical activity, or weight loss: a meta-review.Health psychology review · 2021Pooled it
- Multiple moderator meta-analysis using the R-package Meta-CART.Behavior research methods · 2020Pooled it
- Interventions to Promote Healthy Eating, Physical Activity and Smoking in Low-Income Groups: a Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis of Behavior Change Techniques and Delivery/Context.International journal of behavioral medicine · 2018Pooled it
- Toward the Design of Evidence-Based Mental Health Information Systems for People With Depression: A Systematic Literature Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2017Pooled it
- Efficacy of interventions that use apps to improve diet, physical activity and sedentary behaviour: a systematic review.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2016Pooled it
- A randomized feasibility trial of Managing Your Health: a self-management and peer mentoring intervention for young adult survivors of childhood cancer.Journal of pediatric psychology · 2025Trial
- Implementation and Evaluation of a Digitally Enabled Precision Public Health Intervention to Reduce Inappropriate Gabapentinoid Prescription: Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2022Trial
- Effectiveness of Human Versus Computer-Based Instructions for Exercise on Physical Activity-Related Health Competence in Patients with Hip Osteoarthritis: Randomized Noninferiority Crossover Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2020Trial
- Reducing Primary Care Attendance Intentions for Pediatric Respiratory Tract Infections.Annals of family medicine · 2019Trial
- Efficacy of a Web-Based Guided Recommendation Service for a Curated List of Readily Available Mental Health and Well-Being Mobile Apps for Young People: Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2017Trial
- Supporting couples' perinatal sexual well-being: a feasibility study of the introductory modules of a novel prevention program (STORK).Pilot and feasibility studies · 2026Article
- Designing a Self-Guided Digital Intervention for Self-Management of Shoulder Pain in People Living With Spinal Cord Injury: Tutorial on Using a Person-Based Approach.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2026Article
- Systematic review of dynamically tailored eHealth interventions targeting physical activity and healthy diet in chronic disease.NPJ digital medicine · 2025Article
- Effects of a Digitally-Enabled Healthy Eating and Physical Activity Diabetes Prevention Peer Support Program on Weight over 6-Months.Nutrients · 2025Article
- Formative Research to Develop DC-SIPS: A Multilevel Intervention to Reduce Sugary Drink Intake and Promote Water Intake Among Black Youth in Washington, DC.Journal of nutrition education and behavior · 2025Article
- Behaviour change techniques, intervention features and usability of diet apps.Preventive medicine reports · 2025Article
- Technology-Supported Behavior Change-Applying Design Thinking to mHealth Application Development.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMany online interventions designed to promote health behaviors combine multiple behavior change techniques (BCTs), adopt different modes of delivery (MoD) (eg, text messages), and range in how usable they are. Research is therefore needed to examine the impact of these features on the effectiveness of online interventions.
objectiveThis study applies Classification and Regression Trees (CART) analysis to meta-analytic data, in order to identify synergistic effects of BCTs, MoDs, and usability factors.
methodsWe analyzed data from Webb et al. This review included effect sizes from 52 online interventions targeting a variety of health behaviors and coded the use of 40 BCTs and 11 MoDs. Our research also developed a taxonomy for coding the usability of interventions. Meta-CART analyses were performed using the BCTs and MoDs as predictors and using treatment success (ie, effect size) as the outcome.
resultsFactors related to usability of the interventions influenced their efficacy. Specifically, subgroup analyses indicated that more efficient interventions (interventions that take little time to understand and use) are more likely to be effective than less efficient interventions. Meta-CART identified one synergistic effect: Interventions that included barrier identification/ problem solving and provided rewards for behavior change reported an average effect size that was smaller (ḡ=0.23, 95% CI 0.08-0.44) than interventions that used other combinations of techniques (ḡ=0.43, 95% CI 0.27-0.59). No synergistic effects were found for MoDs or for MoDs combined with BCTs.
conclusionsInterventions that take little time to understand and use were more effective than those that require more time. Few specific combinations of BCTs that contribute to the effectiveness of online interventions were found. Furthermore, no synergistic effects between BCTs and MoDs were found, even though MoDs had strong effects when analyzed univariately in the original study.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.