scholarly journals Design and Evaluation of a Just-in-Time Adaptive Intervention (JITAI) to Reduce Sedentary Behavior at Work: Experimental Study (Preprint)

10.2196/34309 ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tasnim Ismail ◽  
Dena Al Thani
Author(s):  
Shihan Wang ◽  
Karlijn Sporrel ◽  
Herke van Hoof ◽  
Monique Simons ◽  
Rémi D. D. de Boer ◽  
...  

Just-in-time adaptive intervention (JITAI) has gained attention recently and previous studies have indicated that it is an effective strategy in the field of mobile healthcare intervention. Identifying the right moment for the intervention is a crucial component. In this paper the reinforcement learning (RL) technique has been used in a smartphone exercise application to promote physical activity. This RL model determines the ‘right’ time to deliver a restricted number of notifications adaptively, with respect to users’ temporary context information (i.e., time and calendar). A four-week trial study was conducted to examine the feasibility of our model with real target users. JITAI reminders were sent by the RL model in the fourth week of the intervention, while the participants could only access the app’s other functionalities during the first 3 weeks. Eleven target users registered for this study, and the data from 7 participants using the application for 4 weeks and receiving the intervening reminders were analyzed. Not only were the reaction behaviors of users after receiving the reminders analyzed from the application data, but the user experience with the reminders was also explored in a questionnaire and exit interviews. The results show that 83.3% reminders sent at adaptive moments were able to elicit user reaction within 50 min, and 66.7% of physical activities in the intervention week were performed within 5 h of the delivery of a reminder. Our findings indicated the usability of the RL model, while the timing of the moments to deliver reminders can be further improved based on lessons learned.


2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 665-672 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Jules Cerrada ◽  
Eldin Dzubur ◽  
Kacie C. A. Blackman ◽  
Vickie Mays ◽  
Steven Shoptaw ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janis Fiedler ◽  
Tobias Eckert ◽  
Kathrin Wunsch ◽  
Alexander Woll

Abstract Background: Electronic (eHealth) and mobile (mHealth) health interventions can provide a large coverage, and are promising tools to change health behavior (i.e. physical activity, sedentary behavior and healthy eating). However, the determinants of intervention effectiveness in primary prevention has not been explored yet. Therefore, the objectives of this umbrella review were to evaluate intervention effectiveness, to explore the impact of pre-defined determinants of effectiveness (i.e. theoretical foundations, behavior change techniques, social contexts or just-in-time adaptive interventions), and to provide recommendations for future research and practice in the field of primary prevention delivered via e/mHealth technology.Methods: PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and the Cochrane Library were searched for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (reviews) published between January 1990 and May 2020. Reviews reporting on e/mHealth behavior change interventions in physical activity, sedentary behavior and/or healthy eating for healthy subjects (i.e. subjects without physical or physiological morbidities which would influence the realization of behaviors targeted by the respective interventions) were included if they also investigated respective theoretical foundations, behavior change techniques, social contexts or just-in-time adaptive interventions. Included studies were ranked concerning their methodological quality and qualitatively synthesized.Results: The systematic search reveled eleven systematic reviews and meta-analyses of moderate quality. The majority of original research studies within the reviews found e/mHealth interventions to be effective, but the results showed a high heterogeneity concerning assessment methods and outcomes, making them difficult to compare. Whereas theoretical foundation and behavior change techniques were suggested to be potential positive determinants of effective interventions, the impact of social context remains unclear. None of the reviews included just-in-time adaptive interventions.Conclusion: Findings of this umbrella review support the use of e/mHealth to enhance physical activity and healthy eating and reduce sedentary behavior. The general lack of precise reporting and comparison of confounding variables in reviews and original research studies as well as the limited number of reviews for each health behavior constrains the generalization and interpretation of results. Further research is needed on study-level to investigate effects of versatile determinants of e/mHealth efficiency, using a theoretical foundation and additionally explore the impact of social contexts and more sophisticated approaches like just-in-time adaptive interventions.Trial registration: The protocol for this umbrella review was a priori registered with PROSPERO: CRD42020147902.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Janis Fiedler ◽  
Tobias Eckert ◽  
Kathrin Wunsch ◽  
Alexander Woll

Abstract Background Electronic (eHealth) and mobile (mHealth) health interventions can provide a large coverage, and are promising tools to change health behavior (i.e. physical activity, sedentary behavior and healthy eating). However, the determinants of intervention effectiveness in primary prevention has not been explored yet. Therefore, the objectives of this umbrella review were to evaluate intervention effectiveness, to explore the impact of pre-defined determinants of effectiveness (i.e. theoretical foundations, behavior change techniques, social contexts or just-in-time adaptive interventions), and to provide recommendations for future research and practice in the field of primary prevention delivered via e/mHealth technology. Methods PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and the Cochrane Library were searched for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (reviews) published between January 1990 and May 2020. Reviews reporting on e/mHealth behavior change interventions in physical activity, sedentary behavior and/or healthy eating for healthy subjects (i.e. subjects without physical or physiological morbidities which would influence the realization of behaviors targeted by the respective interventions) were included if they also investigated respective theoretical foundations, behavior change techniques, social contexts or just-in-time adaptive interventions. Included studies were ranked concerning their methodological quality and qualitatively synthesized. Results The systematic search revealed 11 systematic reviews and meta-analyses of moderate quality. The majority of original research studies within the reviews found e/mHealth interventions to be effective, but the results showed a high heterogeneity concerning assessment methods and outcomes, making them difficult to compare. Whereas theoretical foundation and behavior change techniques were suggested to be potential positive determinants of effective interventions, the impact of social context remains unclear. None of the reviews included just-in-time adaptive interventions. Conclusion Findings of this umbrella review support the use of e/mHealth to enhance physical activity and healthy eating and reduce sedentary behavior. The general lack of precise reporting and comparison of confounding variables in reviews and original research studies as well as the limited number of reviews for each health behavior constrains the generalization and interpretation of results. Further research is needed on study-level to investigate effects of versatile determinants of e/mHealth efficiency, using a theoretical foundation and additionally explore the impact of social contexts and more sophisticated approaches like just-in-time adaptive interventions. Trial registration The protocol for this umbrella review was a priori registered with PROSPERO: CRD42020147902.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gisbert Wilhelm Teepe ◽  
Ashish Da Fonseca ◽  
Birgit Kleim ◽  
Nicholas C. Jacobson ◽  
Alicia Salamanca Sanabria ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND There is an increasing number of smartphone applications (apps) focusing on prevention, treatment, and diagnosis of depression. A promising approach to increase the effectiveness while reducing the individual’s burden is the use of just-in-time adaptive intervention (JITAI) mechanisms. OBJECTIVE With this work, we systematically assess the use of JITAI mechanisms in apps for individuals with depression. METHODS We systematically searched for apps addressing depression in the Apple App Store, the Google Play Store, and in curated lists from the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, the United Kingdom National Health Service, and the American Psychological Association in August 2020. Relevant apps were ranked according to the number of reviews (Apple App Store) or downloads (Google Play Store). For each app, two authors separately reviewed all publications concerning the app found within scientific databases (PubMed, Cochrane Register of Controlled Trials, PsycINFO, and Google Scholar), publications cited on the app’s website, information on the app’s website, and the app itself. RESULTS None of the 28 reviewed apps used JITAI mechanisms to tailor content to situations or individuals. Three apps did not use any measurements, 20 apps exclusively used self-reports that are insufficient to leverage the full potential of JITAIs, and the five apps employing self-reports and passive measurements used them as progress or task indicators only. While 23 of the 68 reviewed publications investigated the effectiveness and 14 publications investigated the efficacy of the apps, not one publication mentioned or evaluated JITAI mechanisms. CONCLUSIONS Promising JITAI mechanisms have not yet been translated into mainstream depression apps. The lack of publications investigating whether JITAI mechanisms lead to an increase of the apps’ effectiveness or efficacy highlights the need for further research, especially in real-world apps.


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