Background:It is unclear why some physical activity (PA) mobile health (mHealth) interventions successfully promote PA whereas others do not. One possible explanation is the variety in PA mHealth interventions—not only do interventions differ in the selection of persuasive strategies but also the design and implementation of persuasive strategies can vary. However, limited studies have examined the different designs and technical implementations of strategies or explored if they indeed influenced the effectiveness of the intervention.Objective:This scoping review sets out to explore the different technical implementations and design characteristics of common and likely most effective persuasive strategies, namely, goal setting, monitoring, reminders, rewards, sharing, and social comparison. Furthermore, this review aims to explore whether previous mHealth studies examined the influence of the different design characteristics and technical operationalizations of common persuasive strategies on the effectiveness of the intervention to persuade the user to engage in PA.Methods:An unsystematic snowball and gray literature search was performed to identify the literature that evaluated the persuasive strategies in experimental trials (eg, randomized controlled trial, pre-post test). Studies were included if they targeted adults, if they were (partly) delivered by a mobile system, if they reported PA outcomes, if they used an experimental trial, and when they specifically compared the effect of different designs or implementations of persuasive strategies. The study methods, implementations, and designs of persuasive strategies, and the study results were systematically extracted from the literature by the reviewers.Results:A total of 29 experimental trials were identified. We found a heterogeneity in how the strategies are being implemented and designed. Moreover, the findings indicated that the implementation and design of the strategy has an influence on the effectiveness of the PA intervention. For instance, the effectiveness of rewarding was shown to vary between types of rewards; rewarding goal achievement seems to be more effective than rewarding each step taken. Furthermore, studies comparing different ways of goal setting suggested that assigning a goal to users might appear to be more effective than letting the user set their own goal, similar to using adaptively tailored goals as opposed to static generic goals. This study further demonstrates that only a few studies have examined the influence of different technical implementations on PA behavior.Conclusions:The different implementations and designs of persuasive strategies in mHealth interventions should be critically considered when developing such interventions and before drawing conclusions on the effectiveness of the strategy as a whole. Future efforts are needed to examine which implementations and designs are most effective to improve the translation of theory-based persuasive strategies into practical delivery forms.
Background:It is unclear why some physical activity (PA) mobile health (mHealth) interventions successfully promote PA whereas others do not. One possible explanation is the variety in PA mHealth interventions—not only do interventions differ in the selection of persuasive strategies but also the design and implementation of persuasive strategies can vary. However, limited studies have examined the different designs and technical implementations of strategies or explored if they indeed influenced the effectiveness of the intervention.Objective:This scoping review sets out to explore the different technical implementations and design characteristics of common and likely most effective persuasive strategies, namely, goal setting, monitoring, reminders, rewards, sharing, and social comparison. Furthermore, this review aims to explore whether previous mHealth studies examined the influence of the different design characteristics and technical operationalizations of common persuasive strategies on the effectiveness of the intervention to persuade the user to engage in PA.Methods:An unsystematic snowball and gray literature search was performed to identify the literature that evaluated the persuasive strategies in experimental trials (eg, randomized controlled trial, pre-post test). Studies were included if they targeted adults, if they were (partly) delivered by a mobile system, if they reported PA outcomes, if they used an experimental trial, and when they specifically compared the effect of different designs or implementations of persuasive strategies. The study methods, implementations, and designs of persuasive strategies, and the study results were systematically extracted from the literature by the reviewers.Results:A total of 29 experimental trials were identified. We found a heterogeneity in how the strategies are being implemented and designed. Moreover, the findings indicated that the implementation and design of the strategy has an influence on the effectiveness of the PA intervention. For instance, the effectiveness of rewarding was shown to vary between types of rewards; rewarding goal achievement seems to be more effective than rewarding each step taken. Furthermore, studies comparing different ways of goal setting suggested that assigning a goal to users might appear to be more effective than letting the user set their own goal, similar to using adaptively tailored goals as opposed to static generic goals. This study further demonstrates that only a few studies have examined the influence of different technical implementations on PA behavior.Conclusions:The different implementations and designs of persuasive strategies in mHealth interventions should be critically considered when developing such interventions and before drawing conclusions on the effectiveness of the strategy as a whole. Future efforts are needed to examine which implementations and designs are most effective to improve the translation of theory-based persuasive strategies into practical delivery forms.
Background: Treatment of temporomandibular disorder (TMD) currently consists of a combination of noninvasive therapies and may be supported by e-Health. It is, however, unclear if physical therapists and patients are positive towards the use of e-Health. Purpose: To assess the needs, facilitators and barriers of the use of an e-Health application from the perspective of both orofacial physical therapists and patients with TMD. Methods: A descriptive qualitative study was performed. Eleven physical therapists and nine patients with TMD were interviewed using a topic guide. Thematic analysis was applied, and findings were ordered according to four themes: acceptance of e-Health, expected utility, usability and convenience. Results: Physical therapists identified the need for e-Health as a supporting application to send questionnaires, animated exercises and evaluation tools. Key facilitators for both physical therapists and patients for implementing e-Health included the increase in self-efficacy, support of data collection and personalization of the application. Key barriers are the increase of screen time, the loss of personal contact, not up-to-date information and poor design of the application. Conclusions: Physical therapists and patients with TMD are positive towards the use of e-Health, in a blended form with the usual rehabilitation care process for TMD complaints.Implications for rehabilitation The rehabilitation process of temporomandibular complaints may be supported by the use of e-Health applications. Physical therapists and patients with temporomandibular disorders are positive towards the use of e-Health as an addition to the usual care. Especially during the treatment process, there is a need for clear animated videos and reminders for the patients.
De beroepsgroep van diëtisten staat voor de uitdaging om de bijdrage van diëtistische zorg in de behandeling transparanter te maken. Het aantonen van (kosten)effectiviteit van de behandeling wordt door de beroepsgroep gezien als een urgente en noodzakelijke voorwaarde voor de continuïteit van de bedrijfsvoering en als wapen tegen dreigende bezuinigingen door overheid en zorgverzekeraars. Diëtisten hebben bovendien te maken met de toegenomen marktwerking in de zorg. De afgelopen jaren hebben steeds meer organisaties voor Thuiszorg afdelingen diëtetiek afgestoten en zijn diëtisten als zelfstandig ondernemer verder gegaan. Meer dan ooit wordt de noodzaak gevoeld om de toegevoegde waarde van de diëtist inzichtelijk te kunnen maken in onderhandelingen met zorgverzekeraars en zorggroepen. Zoals een diëtist het verwoordt: ?Zorgverzekeraars zullen in toenemende mate eisen stellen aan het aantonen van meerwaarde van dieet-behandeling en willen resultaat zien.? Van daaruit ontstaat vanuit de beroepspraktijk de vraag: ?Hoe kunnen we de meerwaarde van de diëtist aantonen op het niveau van de eigen praktijk én als beroepsgroep als geheel?? Eenduidige registratie en evaluatie van doelen van dieetbehandeling is een voorwaarde om uiteindelijk de (kosten)effectiviteit van de dieetbehandeling te kunnen aantonen. Op dit moment wordt binnen diëtistenpraktijken niet eenduidig geregistreerd, gemeten en geëvalueerd. Diëtisten zijn zich hiervan bewust en hebben de wens geuit op niveau van eigen praktijk, groepspraktijk en zelfs landelijk te willen komen tot een afstemming over registratie van data (welke data, op welk meetmoment en op welke manier). In diverse kleine voortrajecten hebben diëtisten uit het werkveld, samen met het lectoraat Voeding in relatie tot Sport en Gezondheid (VSG) van de HAN, toegewerkt naar een keuze voor doelen, meetinstrumenten en meetmomenten voor dieetbegeleiding bij cardiovasculair risicomanagement (CVRM). Een belangrijke en nog te beantwoorden vraag is of de gekozen methoden werkbaar en inpasbaar zijn in de dagelijkse praktijkvoering.
