SynthesisBMC health services research2025
Investigating the approach of using behavior change techniques in the field of mobile applications: a systematic review.
Synthesis in BMC health services research, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Article
- Considerations for mHealth development: lessons learned from two diabetes education apps.mHealth · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundBehavior change techniques (BCTs) are widely used to improve health conditions in individuals. Mobile technologies are increasingly used in health care by facilitating adherence to the recommendations and behavior change. There is inconsistency regarding the usefulness of various BCTs in mobile technologies.
objectivesThis systematic review aimed to assess more effective behavior change techniques in increasing adherence in the management of chronic diseases, promoting behavior change, and improving people's lifestyles in the field of mobile applications.
methodsA systematic review of English-language studies was conducted by searching in the reliable scientific databases, including PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Embase, and the Cochrane Library. All published articles in the English language that assessed BCTs in behavior change via mobile applications till May 11, 2025, were included in the study. Two techniques were selected as the default techniques in the field of mobile applications based on the behavior change wheel and its mapping to the BCT taxonomy (Michie protocol) and citing scientific reasons.
resultsA total of 8042 articles were obtained, 16 of which were relevant to the objectives of the present study. App Store or Google Play Android applications were evaluated in 10 papers (62.5%), some of which used the Mobile Application Rating Scale (MARS) tool to evaluate applications. Interventions in the majority of the papers (67%) were maintenance treatments and lifestyle modification, including diet and physical activity. BCTs were reported to be effective in all the reviewed studies. The number of BCTs in the studies ranged between one and 53, but the reason for choosing the desired BCTs was not mentioned.
conclusionsThe results of this systematic review show that the use of BCTs in mobile phone applications is important in achieving outcomes. Due to the small body of literature, further studies are necessary to compare the effectiveness of different BCTs in mobile applications.
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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.