Population-Wide mHealth Interventions Promoting Healthy Movement Behaviors: Systematic Review of the Real-World...

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Digital Health
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• Mobile health (mHealth) interventions offer scalable solutions for promoting healthy movement behaviors.
• However, their real-world effectiveness and implementation at a population level require further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate scaled-up mHealth interventions for physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep.
• Utilize the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, Maintenance (RE-AIM) framework for assessment.

Main Methods:

• Conducted systematic searches across 5 major databases.
• Included studies targeting entire populations using mHealth for movement behaviors and reporting RE-AIM outcomes.
• Extracted and narratively synthesized study characteristics and RE-AIM indicators.

Main Results:

• Included 43 studies (24 interventions), primarily focused on physical activity.
• Median RE-AIM indicator reporting was 6.5/14, with Reach and Implementation most frequently reported.
• Most interventions positively impacted movement behaviors, but representativeness and cost-effectiveness reporting were limited.

Conclusions:

• mHealth interventions demonstrate potential for promoting movement behaviors.
• Significant gaps in evaluation and reporting hinder understanding of real-world impact.
• Future research must prioritize rigorous evaluation and comprehensive reporting for sustainable mHealth adoption.