Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27966189›Full record

SynthesisTranslational behavioral medicine2017

Conceptualising engagement with digital behaviour change interventions: a systematic review using principles from critical interpretive synthesis.

Olga Perski, Ann Blandford, Robert West, Susan Michie

Registry-linked trialAbstract readSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Translational behavioral medicine, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05003518 (ParentText User Engagement and Effectiveness Study), which is not on this map. Cited by 740 papers, 18 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
740citing papers in PubMed, 18 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

NCT05003518 naterminatednot on this mapstarted 2022, after this paper: background citation

ParentText User Engagement and Effectiveness Study

TypeinterventionalSponsorUniversity of OxfordRan2022 to 2022Enrolled1,400ConditionsEngagement, Positive Parenting, Child Maltreatment, Intimate Partner ViolenceArmsParentText
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

740 citing papers in PubMed, 18 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

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  5. Inequalities in Exclusively Mobile Interventions Targeting Weight-Related Behaviors: Systematic Review of Observational Studies.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2026
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  6. Identifying Social Media-Based Interactions That Help Adults to Adhere to Weight Loss Goals: A Systematic Review.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2026
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680 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Olga PerskiDepartment of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, 1-19 Torrington Place, London, WC1E 6BT, UK. olga.perski.14@ucl.ac.uk.ORCID 0000-0003-3285-3174
Ann BlandfordUCL Interaction Centre, University College London, 66-72 Gower Street, London, WC1E 6EA, UK.
Robert WestCancer Research UK, Health Behaviour Research Centre, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, 1-19 Torrington Place, London, WC1E 6BT, UK.
Susan MichieDepartment of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, 1-19 Torrington Place, London, WC1E 6BT, UK.

Funding

Cancer Research UK 14135Cancer Research UK 22962Medical Research Council MR/K006584/1
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

"Engagement" with digital behaviour change interventions (DBCIs) is considered important for their effectiveness. Evaluating engagement is therefore a priority; however, a shared understanding of how to usefully conceptualise engagement is lacking. This review aimed to synthesise literature on engagement to identify key conceptualisations and to develop an integrative conceptual framework involving potential direct and indirect influences on engagement and relationships between engagement and intervention effectiveness. Four electronic databases (Ovid MEDLINE, PsycINFO, ISI Web of Knowledge, ScienceDirect) were searched in November 2015. We identified 117 articles that met the inclusion criteria: studies employing experimental or non-experimental designs with adult participants explicitly or implicitly referring to engagement with DBCIs, digital games or technology. Data were synthesised using principles from critical interpretive synthesis. Engagement with DBCIs is conceptualised in terms of both experiential and behavioural aspects. A conceptual framework is proposed in which engagement with a DBCI is influenced by the DBCI itself (content and delivery), the context (the setting in which the DBCI is used and the population using it) and the behaviour that the DBCI is targeting. The context and "mechanisms of action" may moderate the influence of the DBCI on engagement. Engagement, in turn, moderates the influence of the DBCI on those mechanisms of action. In the research literature, engagement with DBCIs has been conceptualised in terms of both experience and behaviour and sits within a complex system involving the DBCI, the context of use, the mechanisms of action of the DBCI and the target behaviour.

Indexed as

Health PromotionPatient ParticipationTelemedicineHealth BehaviorHumansBehaviour change interventionsConceptual frameworkDigitaleHealthEngagementmHealthSystematic review

Identifiers

PMID27966189
PMCPMC5526809

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
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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.