Evaluation of Behavior Change Techniques in Mobile Health Apps

摘要

Use of mobile apps designed to support and reinforce health behaviors or decrease risk behaviors is expected to continue to increase, but the success rates of apps in enabling and sustaining desired health behaviors varies. Therefore, it is important for clinicians to be skilled in evaluating behavior change techniques (BCTs) in mobile health apps. In the last Technology Today column, we discussed the increasing challenges in health care involving behavior-related disease and mortality and the need to reverse this trend by changing individual behaviors. We focused on the evolution of patient education to mobile apps that use BCTs in order to improve health outcomes. Underlying theories of behavior change were included, along with a discussion of different types of BCTs. This column extends the discussion on BCTs in mobile health apps to include how to evaluate apps in order to select and use the best app to achieve the desired goals. Behavior change techniques are “observable, replicable, and irreducible component of an intervention designed to alter or redirect causal processes that regulate behavior.” Examples of BCTs in health apps include goal-setting, information, self-monitoring, feedback, prompts/cues, and reinforcement, among others.3 They can be used individually or in combinations. Mobile health apps that use BCTs as interventions to change behaviors benefit end users by providing convenience in minimizing distance, time, and costs associated with traditional health care. They also allow clinicians to evaluate compliance with treatment plans over time, identify any adverse events or areas for improvement, and intervene accordingly.