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Health behaviour change interventions for couples: A systematic review
Emily Arden-Close1, Nuala McGrath2,3,4
1Department of Psychology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Research Centre for Behaviour Change, Bournemouth University, Poole, UK.
British Journal of Health Psychology
|February 3, 2017
Summary
Couple-focused health behavior interventions show promise, with some studies indicating greater effectiveness than individual approaches. More research using specific study designs is needed to confirm these benefits for chronic illness prevention.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Behavioral Science
- Chronic Disease Management
Background:
- Partners significantly influence individual health behaviors.
- Health behaviors tend to become more similar over time within couples.
- Theories suggest couple-focused interventions may outperform individual ones for behavior change.
Purpose of the Study:
- To systematically review existing research on couple-focused health behavior change interventions.
- To assess the effectiveness of interventions targeting couples compared to individual or usual care approaches.
- To identify gaps in the literature regarding study design and specific intervention components.
Main Methods:
- Conducted a systematic review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and non-randomized interventions.
- Searched for studies published between 1990-2014.
- Included interventions for couples where at least one partner was at risk for a chronic physical illness.
Main Results:
- Reviewed 14 studies targeting diverse health behaviors like cancer prevention, obesity, diet, smoking in pregnancy, and physical activity.
- Couple-focused interventions were more effective than usual care in 4 out of 7 trials.
- Two out of four RCTs comparing couple-focused to individual interventions found the couple-focused approach superior.
Conclusions:
- Couple-focused interventions show potential for improving health behaviors, particularly in chronic disease risk contexts.
- Heterogeneity in study designs and comparison groups limits definitive conclusions.
- Further research with three-arm study designs is recommended to isolate the benefits of partner involvement versus specific couple-focused content.
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