ArticleInternational journal of environmental research and public health2022
Evaluation Methods Applied to Digital Health Interventions: What Is Being Used beyond Randomised Controlled Trials?-A Scoping Review.
Article in International journal of environmental research and public health, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
22 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- A Systematic Umbrella Review of the Effects of Teledentistry on Costs and Oral-Health Outcomes.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Pooled it
- Digital Solution to Support Medication Adherence and Self-Management in Patients with Cancer (SAMSON): Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR formative research · 2025Trial
- Digital Intervention Components for Preventing and Reducing Substance Use in Adolescents and Emerging Adults: A Comprehensive Scoping Review.Journal of prevention (2022) · 2026Article
- Designing and Evaluating Digital Mental Health Interventions: Scoping Review.JMIR mental health · 2026Article
- Evaluating Methodological Coherence and Evidence Recognition in Digital Health Systematic Reviews: Sample-based Meta-research Study.Online journal of public health informatics · 2026Review
- A consensus-based evaluation framework for telehealth in resource-constrained settings: evidence from a community Delphi study in Colombia.Frontiers in digital health · 2026Article
- Methodological approaches and author-reported limitations in evaluation studies of digital health technologies (DHT): A scoping review of DHT interventions for cancer, diabetes mellitus, and cardiovascular diseases.PLOS digital health · 2025Review
- Editorial: Designing and evaluating digital health interventions.Frontiers in digital health · 2025Article
- Comparison of the Efficacy of Type 2 Diabetes Group Training Courses With and Without the Integration of mHealth Support in a Controlled Trial Setting: Results of a Comparative Pilot Study.Diabetes spectrum : a publication of the American Diabetes Association · 2025Article
- Don't Forget the Humble Text Message: 25 Years of Text Messaging in Health.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Review
- Challenges and Alternatives to Evaluation Methods and Regulation Approaches for Medical Apps as Mobile Medical Devices: International and Multidisciplinary Focus Group Discussion.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Article
- Approaches to Evaluating Digital Health Technologies: Scoping Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Article
- Methods, Indicators, and End-User Involvement in the Evaluation of Digital Health Interventions for the Public: Scoping Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Article
- Clinical Validation of Digital Healthcare Solutions: State of the Art, Challenges and Opportunities.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Digital Solutions to Optimize Guideline-Directed Medical Therapy Prescriptions in Heart Failure Patients: Current Applications and Future Directions.Current heart failure reports · 2024Review
- The Impact of Intervention Design on User Engagement in Digital Therapeutics Research: Factorial Experiment With a Mixed Methods Study.JMIR formative research · 2024Article
- Mapping Theories, Models, and Frameworks to Evaluate Digital Health Interventions: Scoping Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Article
- A Future of Smarter Digital Health Empowered by Generative Pretrained Transformer.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Article
- Adolescents' perceptions and user experiences with a virtual reality-based alcohol prevention tool in Germany: A focus group study.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Use of Mobile Apps and Wearables to Monitor Diet, Weight, and Physical Activity: A Cross-Sectional Survey of Adults in Poland.Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research · 2022Article
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
Despite the potential of digital health interventions (DHIs), evaluations of their effectiveness face challenges. DHIs are complex interventions and currently established evaluation methods, e.g., the randomised controlled trial (RCT), are limited in their application. This study aimed at identifying alternatives to RCTs as potentially more appropriate evaluation approaches. A scoping review was conducted to provide an overview of existing evaluation methods of DHIs beyond the RCT. Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE, Web of Science, and EMBASE were screened in May 2021 to identify relevant publications, while using defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Eight studies were extracted for a synthesis comprising four alternative evaluation designs. Factorial designs were mostly used to evaluate DHIs followed by stepped-wedge designs, sequential multiple assignment randomised trials (SMARTs), and micro randomised trials (MRTs). Some of these methods allow for the adaptation of interventions (e.g., SMART or MRT) and the evaluation of specific components of interventions (e.g., factorial designs). Thus, they are appropriate for addressing some specific needs in the evaluation of DHIs. However, it remains unsolved how to establish these alternative evaluation designs in research practice and how to deal with the limitations of the designs.
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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.