Summary Digital Health Communication
Lecture 1 – persuasive health technology pt.1 and lecture 2 pt.2
Persuasive health technology → any technology purposely designed to influence, reinforce,
change or shape health-related attitudes or behaviors
Also defined as…
- eHealth (= health applications) → the use of information communication technologies
(ICT: computers of any kind) to deliver (or support the delivery) of health services
- mHealth → the use of mobile wireless technologies for public health
so eHealth is the main thing; with mHealth & persuasive health tech in it (can overlap)
Behavior change – COM-B model:
There are 3 main determinants/sources of behavior
1. Capability → whether a person has the knowledge, skills and abilities
to engage in a behavior
2. Motivation → all the internal processes that trigger or inhibit a
behavior, and that ultimately result in us performing a particular
behavior instead of any other possible behavior
3. Opportunity → external factors that make execution of a behavior
possible
There are interactions between the 3 determinants (and behavior). There’s a tool to identify
barriers to behavior change and to plan interventions
, Behaviour change techniques (BCT) taxonomy:
- BCT: component of an intervention designed to alter or redirect causal processes that
regulate behaviour; that is, a technique proposed to be an ‘active ingredient’
- For each intervention function, several BCTs have been identified that contribute to this
function
Persuasive technology:
- Features of health applications (e.g. implemented BCTs)
- Determinants of behavior (constructs from behavior change
theories)
- Behavior change
Potential impact:
- lots of mHealth apps in Appstore and continued to be uploaded (however a decline since
’21. Now a lot of disease-specific apps that grow a lot)
o almost 1/3 currently use 1(+) health app. Insurance companies make their own
and there are contracts between governments and health app companies
Study – Villenger et al. about effectiveness of smartphone apps on changing nutrition behaviors
- Most apps included 4 different Behavior Change Techniques
Results:
- A small significant effect of app-based mobile interventions on nutrition behaviors and
nutrition-related outcomes
- Only studies targeting short term (<3 months) and/or intermediate term (3-6 months)
follow-up intervals yielded significant (small) effect sizes; effects of long term follow up
were not significant
Lecture 1 – persuasive health technology pt.1 and lecture 2 pt.2
Persuasive health technology → any technology purposely designed to influence, reinforce,
change or shape health-related attitudes or behaviors
Also defined as…
- eHealth (= health applications) → the use of information communication technologies
(ICT: computers of any kind) to deliver (or support the delivery) of health services
- mHealth → the use of mobile wireless technologies for public health
so eHealth is the main thing; with mHealth & persuasive health tech in it (can overlap)
Behavior change – COM-B model:
There are 3 main determinants/sources of behavior
1. Capability → whether a person has the knowledge, skills and abilities
to engage in a behavior
2. Motivation → all the internal processes that trigger or inhibit a
behavior, and that ultimately result in us performing a particular
behavior instead of any other possible behavior
3. Opportunity → external factors that make execution of a behavior
possible
There are interactions between the 3 determinants (and behavior). There’s a tool to identify
barriers to behavior change and to plan interventions
, Behaviour change techniques (BCT) taxonomy:
- BCT: component of an intervention designed to alter or redirect causal processes that
regulate behaviour; that is, a technique proposed to be an ‘active ingredient’
- For each intervention function, several BCTs have been identified that contribute to this
function
Persuasive technology:
- Features of health applications (e.g. implemented BCTs)
- Determinants of behavior (constructs from behavior change
theories)
- Behavior change
Potential impact:
- lots of mHealth apps in Appstore and continued to be uploaded (however a decline since
’21. Now a lot of disease-specific apps that grow a lot)
o almost 1/3 currently use 1(+) health app. Insurance companies make their own
and there are contracts between governments and health app companies
Study – Villenger et al. about effectiveness of smartphone apps on changing nutrition behaviors
- Most apps included 4 different Behavior Change Techniques
Results:
- A small significant effect of app-based mobile interventions on nutrition behaviors and
nutrition-related outcomes
- Only studies targeting short term (<3 months) and/or intermediate term (3-6 months)
follow-up intervals yielded significant (small) effect sizes; effects of long term follow up
were not significant
