Abstract
Mobile health applications (mHealth apps) are widely used tools that provide support for people seeking help managing their health in a particular behavioral domain (e.g., physical activity). Despite their popularity, evidence for the effectiveness of mHealth apps as stand-alone behavioral interventions is limited. Psychological and behavioral scientists can play a critical role in addressing this gap by pursuing programs of research that leverage basic behavioral science principles to test links between key features of mHealth apps (e.g., goal setting, feedback) and behavior change. To demonstrate this approach to evaluating mHealth apps, we systematically examine five key features of popular calorie-tracking and activity-tracking apps, explain how these features align with established behavior change techniques, discuss the evidence base for the effectiveness of these techniques within each behavioral domain, and situate predictions about how individual app features may promote behavior change in a conceptual model. Through this work, researchers can guide the design of mHealth apps and optimize them for facilitating sustained health behavior change.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | e12731 |
Journal | Social and Personality Psychology Compass |
Volume | 17 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Mar 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We would like to express our gratitude to Dr. Traci Mann, Dr. Jennifer L. Howell, and to the members of our research group for their thoughtful feedback on an earlier version of this manuscript. This project was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship awarded to ECS (CON‐75851).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Keywords
- activity-tracking applications
- app-based interventions
- behavioral interventions
- calorie-tracking applications
- digital health
- health behavior change
- mobile health applications