Health and fitness applications (apps) have gained popularity in interventions to improve diet, physical activity and sedentary behaviours but their efficacy is unclear. This systematic review examined the efficacy of interventions that use apps to improve diet, physical activity and sedentary behaviour in children and adults. Systematic literature searches were conducted in five databases to identify papers published between 2006 and 2016. Studies were included if they used a smartphone app in an intervention to improve diet, physical activity and/or sedentary behaviour for prevention. Interventions could be stand-alone interventions using an app only, or multi-component interventions including an app as one of several intervention components. Outcomes measured were changes in the health behaviours and related health outcomes (i.e., fitness, body weight, blood pressure, glucose, cholesterol, quality of life). Study inclusion and methodological quality were independently assessed by two reviewers. Twenty-seven studies were included, most were randomised controlled trials (n = 19; 70%). Twenty-three studies targeted adults (17 showed significant health improvements) and four studies targeted children (two demonstrated significant health improvements). Twenty-one studies targeted physical activity (14 showed significant health improvements), 13 studies targeted diet (seven showed significant health improvements) and five studies targeted sedentary behaviour (two showed significant health improvements). More studies (n = 12; 63%) of those reporting significant effects detected between-group improvements in the health behaviour or related health outcomes, whilst fewer studies (n = 8; 42%) reported significant within-group improvements. A larger proportion of multi-component interventions (8 out of 13; 62%) showed significant between-group improvements compared to stand-alone app interventions (5 out of 14; 36%). Eleven studies reported app usage statistics, and three of them demonstrated that higher app usage was associated with improved health outcomes. This review provided modest evidence that app-based interventions to improve diet, physical activity and sedentary behaviours can be effective. Multi-component interventions appear to be more effective than stand-alone app interventions, however, this remains to be confirmed in controlled trials. Future research is needed on the optimal number and combination of app features, behaviour change techniques, and level of participant contact needed to maximise user engagement and intervention efficacy.

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186%2Fs12966-016-0454-y.pdf

Efficacy of interventions that use apps to improve diet, physical activity and sedentary behaviour: a systematic review.

The overweight and obesity trends have risen over the past few decades, placing significant burdens on health care in terms of increased morbidity and cost. Behavioral change therapy is an effective treatment strategy and includes goal setting, self-monitoring, problem solving, and reinforcement tactics. Traditionally, behavior change therapy has been delivered using face-to-face counseling along with paper and pen recording of dietary intake and physical activity. The current advances in technology provide opportunities to deliver interventions using cellphones, internet, and active video games. These new methods to deliver behavior change for the management and prevention of obesity are being developed in order to increase access, improve convenience, decrease cost, and increase participant engagement. In this review, we present new approaches to promote behavior changes in the management of obesity. Currently available data show promising results. However, future research is needed to address study limitations and implementation challenges of these innovative interventions.

/pdf/innovative-interventions-to-promote-behavioral-change-in-4of4zpqez6.pdf

Innovative interventions to promote behavioral change in overweight or obese individuals: A review of the literature

Mobile technology has emerged as a potentially useful application in the process of facilitating weight loss management. While several empirical studies have demonstrated the positive effects of mobile-based interventions, the extent of such effectiveness is still a topic of debate. Thus, the current systematic review involved searching electronic databases for studies on the use of mobile app-based interventions in the management of overweight and obesity among adults over 18 years of age in a primary and secondary care setting. The results of the review revealed that mobile apps are effective tools for weight loss management and sustaining such loss when compared to standard interventions. However, further research is needed to consider the sustained benefits and the applicability of mobile app-based interventions for large-scale population coverage.

/pdf/use-of-mobile-applications-in-the-management-of-overweight-4fazpibxfw.pdf

Use of mobile applications in the management of overweight and obesity in primary and secondary care.

Mobile health (mHealth) behavioural interventions have increasingly recognised the importance of integrating evidence supported behaviour change techniques and user centred design feedback. This paper presents a mHealth intervention design process that systematically integrates these criteria in the context of designing a novel app to modify snacking behaviour. The design process builds upon previous work with stages to facilitate "conceptualisation", "formative research and pretesting activities", "pilot trials" and "evaluation trials". In "conceptualisation", we use the validated Behaviour Change Wheel framework as a means to illustrate how an innovative mHealth snacking app can be achieved through the use of evidence-based behaviour change techniques (cue monitoring and implementation intentions). We then illustrate how the Health IT Usability Evaluation Model framework can support user centred design in "formative research and pretesting activities", "pilot trials" and "evaluation trials".

mHealth intervention design: creating mHealth interventions for behaviour change

Context: This systematic review was conducted to investigate the role of phones (telephone and mobile phone) in interventions designed to control obesity in children under age six and to determine the features and effects of these interventions. Evidence Acquisition: A systematic search was conducted of the electronic databases (until November 2016). Randomized controlled trials that assessed the effects of phone-based interventions to control obesity in children under age six were included. Results: Of the 1920 papers accessed, 38 were relevant based on title and abstract. After review of the full texts, five studies were deemed eligible for inclusion. The results showed that in two studies phone-based interventions succeeded in improving the children's weight and BMI while in three other studies they were not. Among the functionalities of a telephone and mobile phone (e.g. text messaging and smartphone applications), only phone calls were used to communicate with participants. Only one of the included studies had used the phone as its main intervention, in the other studies the phone was used as part of a multicomponent intervention. Most of the included studies used phone calls to encourage and remind the participants about their children's nutritional status and physical activity. Conclusions: Although the numerous functions of phones can be used independently or in combination with other interventions for controlling obesity, so far, only the phone call function has been used for children under age six. Moreover, there is still no strong evidence on their positive effects on obesity control in children under age six. Â© 2018, Journal of Comprehensive Pediatrics.

Phone-Based Interventions to Control Obesity in Children Under Six Years of Age: A Systematic Review on Features and Effects

Background: In response to the rapid increase in obesity and its association with chronic diseases, World Health Organization has declared an immediate need for effective and widely-accessible interventions for weight management. Cellular phones are portable, convenient, and popular among people of varying economic status and geographic regions; hence, they offer a viable medium for delivering weight loss interventions.
Objective: To determine whether cellular phones are an effective medium for delivering weight loss interventions in adults who are overweight or obese.
Methods: A literature search was conducted to retrieve articles published prior to February 2012. Studies were included if they: 1) included adults with a body mass index (BMI) of 25 or higher and with no known chronic condition, 2) delivered a weight loss intervention using a cellular phone, 3) measured weight, BMI, waist circumference, body fat or any other proxy for weight loss, 4) had a comparison group, and 5) were published in English. At least two reviewers independently screened all titles and abstracts and reviewed the included articles.
Results: 193 unique citations were screened; of those, six studies met inclusion criteria. Mobile interventions varied from phone calls and short message service (SMS) messaging to emails, websites and podcasts. Among studies of one-way interactive interventions (i.e., the researcher could contact the participants, but the participants could not respond), one high quality randomized controlled trial (RCT) showed a small but statistically significant effect in weight reduction, favoring the intervention, and one low quality study reported no significant difference compared to printed material. Of the four studies on two-way interactive interventions (i.e., there was open communication between researchers and participants), two RCTs demonstrated statistically significant difference for weight and waist circumference, while one showed no significant difference. When compared to a clinic-based intervention, one low quality study showed that an internet/SMS weight loss intervention was inferior to regular clinic visits.
 Conclusion: Due to the small number of high quality studies, modest evidence was found for the effectiveness of cellular phones in the delivery of weight loss interventions for people who were overweight or obese.

https://www.longdom.org/open-access/effectiveness-of-cellular-phonebased-interventions-for-weight-loss-in-overweight-and-obese-adults-a-systematic-review-2161-0533-3-141.pdf

Effectiveness of Cellular Phone-Based Interventions for Weight Loss in Overweight and Obese Adults: A Systematic Review

Handle everyday research tasks with reliable, citation-backed results

Your personal Research Agent to handle research tasks with citation-backed results

Popular Tasks used by Researchers

How can I help with your research?

Meet SciSpace

Get more enhanced response by uploading the PDFs you want me to reference.

No relevant PDFs in your library

SciSpace is the AI research assistant for academics. Run systematic literature reviews on 280M+ papers, and write papers with cited sources. Trusted by 1M+ students, PhDs & researchers.

SciSpace | AI for Research

Analyze PDFs

Code & Manuscripts

Funding & Grants

Literature & Patents

Medical & Clinical Data

Systematic Review

Visualize & Present

Web & Data

Build a Google Scholar-like website for your research.

Build a website

Create charts and images for your research

Create a Chart

Write a paper for submission to a journal

Draft a manuscript

Patent Search

Design eye-catching scientific posters in minutes.

Scientific Poster Generation

Systematic Literature Review

One task is running at the moment. Your messages will be shown right after.

Drag and drop or click here to browse

Loved by <highlight>1 million+</highlight> researchers

Extract a list of specific topics and their sources from unstructured text

Topics

Compare and analyze relevant papers that matches with your search

Papers

Get insights from PDFs and bookmarked papers from your library

My library

Recent searches

Try searching for:

Catch AI-generated content in scholarly and non-scholarly content

{ai} Detector

Ai Writer

Get PDF Summaries, highlighted text explanations 

Chat with PDF

Effortlessly create in-text citations and bibliographies in APA and 2,500 other formats

Citation generator

Get explanations, summaries, and answers on academic papers

Ease up your research workflow with {scispace}'s cohort of exciting AI tools

Elevate your academic writing skills and convey your ideas the way you want

Paraphraser

Explore our range of reading and writing tools

Your file is being prepared and should be ready in a few minutes. If it's a large file, it might take a bit longer. You can close this window, and we'll email you the file when it's done.

You have reached a maximum limit of <strong>{limit}</strong> columns in the table. Remove at least <strong>1</strong> column to add or create another one.

Jennifer Chen

Author Tools

Chat about Author

Papers

Effectiveness of Cellular Phone-Based Interventions for Weight Loss in Overweight and Obese Adults: A Systematic Review