Promoting behavioral change in mobile health interventions for older adults: A scoping review

Abstract

© SLACK Incorporated. The current study reviewed the effectiveness of mobile health interventions in eliciting behavioral change across a range of health conditions and examined integration of behavioral change theory, tech-niques, and agents in interventions among people age ≥60. The initial search returned 1,929 articles: 779 in PubMed, 522 in CINAHL, 633 in PsycINFO, and 131 in EMBASE. The final sample included 20 articles. Most interventions targeted and reported increases in physical activity and disease and medication man-agement. Some studies were informed by behavioral change theories and included behavioral change agents. The most commonly used behavior change techniques were in the form of self-or external-monitoring and receiving tailored feedback on a person’s progress. As the National Institutes of Health currently calls for an increased focus on mechanisms of change, future studies should specify features promoting behavioral change and consider whether interventions worked by engaging the hypothe-sized change mechanisms.