About this Research Topic
Many health apps are designed to influence user behavior, be it engagement in certain app features or to assist users in achieving behavioral goals. Despite this objective, embedding of behavioral theory into the design of health apps is limited, but becoming a growing trend. Preliminary findings also suggest that the use of behavioral theory in the design of health apps increases effect sizes.
Taxonomies of ‘Behavior Change Techniques’ (BCTs; a list of ‘active ingredients’ originally designed to support traditional face to face interventions) are increasingly being used by digital health researchers to explore and document BCTs in health apps and have revealed that BCTs are commonly embedded in the functions and features of health apps. For example, physical activity apps often contain ‘goal-setting’ features to help increase step counts and gamification is used to enhance app engagement. Regarding the role of BCTs in health app effectiveness, findings from systematic reviews are equivocal. A systematic review of diabetes prevention mobile interventions focusing on weight loss found a positive correlation for number BCTs and app effectiveness. However, this conclusion wasn’t corroborated in other systematic reviews.
As part of this growing field, this Research Topic aims for researchers to share their findings in behavioral science in health app design which will lead to further guidance on which behavioral theories or BCTs are appropriate for different health needs, which perform best among different populations, and which impact clinical effectiveness.
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Dr. Simon Leigh is the partial owner of Prometheus Health Technologies. All other Topic Editors declare no conflicts of interest.
Taxonomies of ‘Behavior Change Techniques’ (BCTs; a list of ‘active ingredients’ originally designed to support traditional face to face interventions) are increasingly being used by digital health researchers to explore and document BCTs in health apps and have revealed that BCTs are commonly embedded in the functions and features of health apps. For example, physical activity apps often contain ‘goal-setting’ features to help increase step counts and gamification is used to enhance app engagement. Regarding the role of BCTs in health app effectiveness, findings from systematic reviews are equivocal. A systematic review of diabetes prevention mobile interventions focusing on weight loss found a positive correlation for number BCTs and app effectiveness. However, this conclusion wasn’t corroborated in other systematic reviews.
As part of this growing field, this Research Topic aims for researchers to share their findings in behavioral science in health app design which will lead to further guidance on which behavioral theories or BCTs are appropriate for different health needs, which perform best among different populations, and which impact clinical effectiveness.
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Dr. Simon Leigh is the partial owner of Prometheus Health Technologies. All other Topic Editors declare no conflicts of interest.
Keywords: behavior change theory, digital health, health apps, design
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