Efficacy of Digital Interventions: Investigate the effectiveness of digital interventions in promoting health behavior change
Additional information
Type of assignment: BSc. Thesis
Internal/external: Internal
How many students? 2
Supervision: Individually / in (sub)groups
Includes data collection? Yes
Type of research: Quantitative and/or qualitative research
Number of ECTS? 15 ECTS
Research assignment
From apps to wearables, nowadays there is an abundance of digital interventions suggesting that they can improve one’s quality of life. Yet how many of them are actually effective? This research study aims to explore the effectiveness of a digital intervention of your choice, such as a mobile app, wearable device, or an online platform, in promoting health behavior change.
Health behaviour change focuses on putting effort into changing attitudes and habits to improve both physical and mental health and prevent consequences of unhealthy habits and the development of diseases (Gillison et al., 2019). By examining the impact of these digital interventions on individuals' health behaviors, the study seeks to provide insights into their efficacy and better understand what one should consider when choosing a digital intervention.
For this study, example research questions could be:
What is the effectiveness of mobile apps in promoting physical activity and healthy lifestyle behaviors among university students?
To what extent do digital interventions improve mental health outcomes, such as reducing symptoms of anxiety or depression?
How do user characteristics, such as age, gender, or technological literacy, influence the effectiveness of digital interventions in promoting health behavior change?
References
Gillison, F. B., Rouse, P., Standage, M., Sebire, S. J., & Ryan, R. M. (2019). A meta-analysis of techniques to promote motivation for health behaviour change from a self-determination theory perspective. Health psychology review, 13(1), 110-130. https://doi.org/10.1080/17437199.2018.1534071
McKay, F. H., Cheng, C., Wright, A., Shill, J., Stephens, H., & Uccellini, M. (2018). Evaluating mobile phone applications for health behaviour change: A systematic review. Journal of telemedicine and telecare, 24(1), 22-30. https://doi.org/10.1177/1357633X16673538
Thomas Craig, K. J., Morgan, L. C., Chen, C. H., Michie, S., Fusco, N., Snowdon, J. L., Scheufele, E., Gagliardi, T., & Sill, S. (2021). Systematic review of context-aware digital behavior change interventions to improve health. Translational behavioral medicine, 11(5), 1037-1048. https://doi.org/10.1093/tbm/ibaa099