The Effectiveness of Web-Based Interventions to Promote Health Behaviour Change in Adolescents: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Although web-based interventions are attractive to researchers and users, the evidence about their effectiveness in the promotion of health behaviour change is still limited. Our aim was to review the effectiveness of web-based interventions used in health behavioural change in adolescents regarding physical activity, eating habits, tobacco and alcohol use, sexual behaviour, and quality of sleep. Studies published from 2016 till the search was run (May-to-June 2021) were included if they were experimental or quasi-experimental studies, pre-post-test studies, clinical trials, or randomized controlled trials evaluating the effectiveness of web-based intervention in promoting behaviour change in adolescents regarding those health behaviours. The risk of bias assessment was performed by using the Effective Public Health Practice Project (EPHPP)—Quality Assessment Tool for Quantitative Studies. Fourteen studies were included. Most were in a school setting, non-probabilistic and relatively small samples. All had a short length of follow-up and were theory driven. Thirteen showed significant positive findings to support web-based interventions’ effectiveness in promoting health behaviour change among adolescents but were classified as low evidence quality. Although this review shows that web-based interventions may contribute to health behaviour change among adolescents, these findings rely on low-quality evidence, so it is urgent to test these interventions in larger controlled trials with long-term maintenance.

The Be-Home Kids Program: An Integrated Approach for Delivering Behavioral Therapies to Adolescents with Episodic and Chronic Migraine

“…Among adolescents, these treatment delivery modalities have been shown, in a recent review, to be effective in managing depression, anxiety, stress, and insomnia and improving quality of life when compared with control conditions [ 26 ]. Another review, which addressed the effectiveness of web-based interventions used to promote health and behavioral changes in adolescents regarding physical activity, eating habits, tobacco and alcohol use, sexual behavior, and quality of sleep, produced less consistent results [ 27 ]. As concluded by the authors, web-based interventions may contribute to health behavior changes among adolescents, but the findings relied on low-quality evidence: thus, large controlled trials with long-term maintenance are needed.…”

“…In addition, much of the previous literature is on cognitive behavioral therapy [ 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 ], whereas mindfulness-based interventions constituted a minority of the published literature. To the best of our knowledge, the present single-arm study constitutes the first 12 month trial in which a mindfulness-based program was delivered via smartphone to adolescents with CM or high-frequency EM.…”

American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) International Multidisciplinary Roundtable report on physical activity and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

“… 115 Lifestyle intervention based on social-cognitive theory, which explains how an individual’s motivation derives from the reciprocal interactions between a person, their behavior, and their environment that shape a person’s beliefs and goals, has also been applied to promote physical activity in patients with NAFLD. 116 , 117 Print and web-based patient education materials have been successful modes for promoting health behavior change in patients without NAFLD, 118 however, in patients with NAFLD, including those from the ACSM EIM initiative, there is a lack of evidence about the effectiveness of providing these materials. Critically, these modes are just vehicles for delivering intervention content.…”

Physical Activity and Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: A Roundtable Statement from the American College of Sports Medicine

“…Another tool available to the busy clinician comes from widely available print and web-based educational materials, which can be provided to reinforce the knowledge delivered as a part of an in-person conversation. When elected, these education materials, including that available from the ACSM Exercise is Medicine initiative, may lead to success in promoting health behavior change in patients with NAFLD (63), and should be provided to all patients with NAFLD.…”