Do E-health interventions improve physical activity in young people: a systematic review

Abstract

E-health interventions are a very successful way to increase PA. More research is required to look at what theoretical principles are best to underpin interventions and also to assess the length of intervention required for optimal results after intervention. Ideas surrounding implementation and the mediums used require more studies to evidence base these interventions for schools, colleges and university via intracurriculum or extracurriculum.

Key facets to build up eHealth and mHealth interventions to enhance physical activity, sedentary behavior and nutrition in healthy subjects – An umbrella review

“…The use of more BCTs enhanced intervention effectiveness for HE, whereas the impact of speci c BCTs or combinations of BCTs remains unknown [54], which has been a common nding in reviews on HE interventions [60]he meta-analyses concerning PA and SB did not report the impact of BCTs on effectiveness which should be addressed by future research. Support for the use of a theoretical foundation for effective e/mHealth interventions concerning PA was found in three reviews [48,49,55], and there were indications that social cognitive theory might be especially effective [49]. The overall higher effectiveness for theoretical founded interventions supported the ndings of a previous review about internet interventions (not focused on primary prevention) [22] but in contrast to our results, the theory of planned behavior was found to be more effective than social cognitive theory.…”

“…Sixty-four of these articles were excluded due to above mentioned exclusion criteria. This resulted in a total of 11 systematic reviews and meta-analyses which were included in this umbrella review [46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56] (for more details see Flow-Chart in Figure 1). The updated search located 472 additional articles which were all excluded after title and abstract screening.…”

“…*** please insert Table 1 about here *** Two reviews focused on children and adolescents [46,55], four focused adults [47,48,52,53] and ve included participants of all ages [49-51, 54, 56]. Five systematic reviews focused on PA outcomes [46,[48][49][50]55], one meta-analysis focused on SB outcomes [47], and one meta-analysis and one systematic review included both PA and SB outcomes [51,52]. HE was the main outcome in two meta-analyses [53,54], and one systematic review included PA, SB and HE as main outcomes [56].…”

“…*** please insert Table 2 about here *** Theoretical foundation and BCTs were mentioned in all the included reviews [46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56]. One review [49] related to PA noted that 5/5 (100%) studies based on social cognitive theory led to signi cant differences over time or vs. control compared to 1/2 (50%) for theory of planned behavior and 1/1 (100%) showing a temporary signi cant difference directly after the intervention for transtheoretical model. Another review concerning PA [48] also found theory-based interventions more effective than those without a theoretical foundation.…”

The effectiveness of eHealth interventions on physical activity and measures of obesity among working‐age women: a systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…eHealth interventions have shown beneficial effects on several health behaviours and outcomes, including PA (14,15), dietary intake (15) weight (16), chronic disease management (17) and medication adherence (18). Few reviews have focused on PA levels, measured as MVPA, but instead measure steps/day or leisure time PA (19); none have specifically reported on the effects of eHealth on MVPA among working-age women in high income 'organisation for economic co-operation and development' (OECD) countries. Therefore, the objective of this study was to systematically review and report on the evidence examining the effectiveness of eHealth interventions designed to increase MVPA among working-age women in high income OECD countries (Table S1).…”