Effects of habit formation interventions on physical activity habit strength: meta-analysis and meta-regression

Abstract

Background Interventions aimed at promoting physical activity (PA) behavior through habit formation pathways are gaining popularity, as they differ from conventional interventions that rely on intention pathways. Past research has established a positive correlation between PA habits and behavior. However, the efficacy of current interventions designed to form PA habits and improve PA automaticity is not yet fully ascertained. Additionally, the intervention components that significantly impact the effectiveness of these interventions are yet to be determined. Methods This systematic review was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. We conducted a search of three databases (PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library) from January 2000 to December 2022, with a focus on interventions for developing PA habits. Two independent authors conducted paper selection, quality assessment, data extraction, and coding of behavior change techniques (BCTs). The effect size of interventions was calculated using standardized mean difference. Subgroup analyses were carried out based on follow-up duration, delivery method, sample characteristics, and theory. Furthermore, we employed meta-regression to investigate the association between BCTs and PA habits. Results Ten eligible studies with relatively high quality were included in the final data set. Characteristics of studies varied in intervention sample and delivery way. The habit formation interventions significantly increased PA habit (SMD = 0.31, 95% CI 0.14—0.48, P < .001) compared to the control groups. Subgroup analysis demonstrated that the duration of follow-up ≤ 12 weeks have a higher effect size on PA habit than the duration > 12 weeks. Meta-regression revealed that problem solving has a significant positive association with effectiveness improvement (β = 0.36, 95% CI 0.17–0.55), while social reward is linked with a reduction in effectiveness (β = -0.40, 95% CI -0.74–0.06). Conclusions Our findings reveal that habit formation interventions are effective in fostering PA habit. Future studies could leverage the insights form this study to optimize the intervention design and achieve better effectiveness.

Adolescents’ attitudes, habits, identity and social support in relation to physical activity after the COVID-19 pandemic

“…The significant relationship found in previous studies 12 , 13 between habit and PA in adolescence is confirmed. In fact, in our research, habit appears to be the M-PAC indicator most significantly correlated to the amount of both moderate and vigorous physical activity.…”

“…Habit formation interventions and habit interruption have been demostrated to influence PA (fostering or reducing it) during adolescence 12 , 13 . Habit has been characterized as an important predictor of changes in MVPA in pandemic restrictions 14 , and it has been seen as salient predictor of adolescent PA 15 .…”

HabitWalk: A Micro-Randomized Trial to Understand and Promote Habit Formation in Physical Activity

“…Despite arguments in favor of using reminders as a strategy to support habit formation, a recent meta-regression of ten randomized controlled trials (RCTs) found no significant positive effect of the behavior change technique (BCT) prompts and cues (i.e., the broader category of environmental stimuli, including reminders, aiming at prompting or cueing the behavior; Michie et al, 2013) on habit formation in physical activity (Ma et al, 2023). These null findings might have theoretical and methodological explanations.…”

A Framework for Implementing Disease Prevention and Behavior Change Evidence at Scale

“…7) Assist I@R in developing healthy habits instead of behavior change. There is a small, but increasing literature demonstrating that habit formation, i.e., repeating the same behavior in the same context until it becomes automatic and effortless, may take longer to acquire but requires less ongoing effort to sustain [8]. 8) An experimentation framework that allows testing of potential interventions for efficacy and effectiveness for different segments/populations of patients.…”