Systematic Review of Health App Gamification for Lifestyle Intervention Adherence

NCT04633070 | Unknown

• 1 other identifier: CCS-Health Apps 2020
• Study Type: observational
• Target: 100
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Health behaviour applications (also referred to as "apps") have the potential to provide several advantages for motivating behaviour change for health and well-being. Finding ways to increase and sustain health promoting behaviour changes has been a challenge during health app development. Gamification, which is the use of game elements in a non-game situation, shows promise and has proven effective in many fields. However, key questions remain concerning how to use gamification in apps to modify health behaviour, especially to support adherence to dietary pattern recommendations. To investigate and summarize the current evidence, a systematic review of the totality of evidence from clinical trials and observational studies will be conducted to capture and distinguish the types of gamification strategies that may be most effective in improving and sustaining health promoting behaviours to inform future health behaviour app development.

Conditions

Mobile Applications; Diet, Healthy; Behavior, Health

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Adherence to the intervention

  Percentage change

  At least 2 months

Secondary Outcomes (14)

• Participant app engagement

  At least 2 months

• Health outcome - body weight

  At least 2 months

• Health outcome - BMI

  At least 2 months

• Health outcome - body fat

  At least 2 months

• Health outcome - waist circumference

  At least 2 months

Interventions

Gamification BEHAVIORAL

Gamification (including, but not limited to a ranking system, badges and achievements, points, social media interaction, and leveling up) within mobile and web-based applications (also referred to as 'apps') for lifestyle modification (diet, physical activity, smoking cessation etc).

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)
• Sampling Method: Probability Sample

Study Population

All adults (\>=18 years), regardless of health status.

You may qualify if:

• Randomized and non-randomized controlled intervention studies in humans
• Gamification intervention
• Presence of an adequate comparator, such as standard of care or an application without gamification components
• Intervention duration \>=2 months
• Viable outcome data
• Prospective cohort studies
• Duration \>= 2-months
• Assessment of the exposure of gamification used in a health behaviour application
• Ascertainment of viable outcome data by level of exposure

You may not qualify if:

• Lack of an adequate comparator
• Non-health behaviour application
• Ecological, cross-sectional, or retrospective observational studies
• Intervention studies

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Toronto: lead

Study Sites (1)

Clinical Nutrition and Risk Factor Modification Centre, St. Michael's Hospital

Toronto, Ontario, M5C 2T2, Canada

Location

Related Publications (13)

• Alam S, Lang JJ, Drucker AM, Gotay C, Kozloff N, Mate K, Patten SB, Orpana HM, Afshin A, Cahill LE. Assessment of the burden of diseases and injuries attributable to risk factors in Canada from 1990 to 2016: an analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study. CMAJ Open. 2019 Feb 28;7(1):E140-E148. doi: 10.9778/cmajo.20180137. Print 2019 Jan-Mar.

  PMID: 30819694 BACKGROUND

• El-Hilly AA, Iqbal SS, Ahmed M, Sherwani Y, Muntasir M, Siddiqui S, Al-Fagih Z, Usmani O, Eisingerich AB. Game On? Smoking Cessation Through the Gamification of mHealth: A Longitudinal Qualitative Study. JMIR Serious Games. 2016 Oct 24;4(2):e18. doi: 10.2196/games.5678.

  PMID: 27777216 BACKGROUND

• GBD 2017 Risk Factor Collaborators. Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks for 195 countries and territories, 1990-2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. Lancet. 2018 Nov 10;392(10159):1923-1994. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)32225-6. Epub 2018 Nov 8.

  PMID: 30496105 BACKGROUND

• Johnson D, Deterding S, Kuhn KA, Staneva A, Stoyanov S, Hides L. Gamification for health and wellbeing: A systematic review of the literature. Internet Interv. 2016 Nov 2;6:89-106. doi: 10.1016/j.invent.2016.10.002. eCollection 2016 Nov.

  PMID: 30135818 BACKGROUND

• Cumpston M, Li T, Page MJ, Chandler J, Welch VA, Higgins JP, Thomas J. Updated guidance for trusted systematic reviews: a new edition of the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2019 Oct 3;10(10):ED000142. doi: 10.1002/14651858.ED000142. No abstract available.

  PMID: 31643080 BACKGROUND

• Lally P, van Jaarsveld CHM, Potts HWW, Wardle J. How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world. Eur J Soc Psychology. 2010; 40:998-1009.

  BACKGROUND

• Litvin S, Saunders R, Maier MA, Luttke S. Gamification as an approach to improve resilience and reduce attrition in mobile mental health interventions: A randomized controlled trial. PLoS One. 2020 Sep 2;15(9):e0237220. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0237220. eCollection 2020.

  PMID: 32877425 BACKGROUND

• Marin-Gomez FX, Garcia-Moreno Marchan R, Mayos-Fernandez A, Flores-Mateo G, Granado-Font E, Barrera Uriarte ML, Duch J, Rey-Renones C. Exploring Efficacy of a Serious Game (Tobbstop) for Smoking Cessation During Pregnancy: Randomized Controlled Trial. JMIR Serious Games. 2019 Mar 27;7(1):e12835. doi: 10.2196/12835.

  PMID: 30916655 BACKGROUND

• Moher D, Shamseer L, Clarke M, Ghersi D, Liberati A, Petticrew M, Shekelle P, Stewart LA; PRISMA-P Group. Preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta-analysis protocols (PRISMA-P) 2015 statement. Syst Rev. 2015 Jan 1;4(1):1. doi: 10.1186/2046-4053-4-1.

  PMID: 25554246 BACKGROUND

• Patel MS, Small DS, Harrison JD, Fortunato MP, Oon AL, Rareshide CAL, Reh G, Szwartz G, Guszcza J, Steier D, Kalra P, Hilbert V. Effectiveness of Behaviorally Designed Gamification Interventions With Social Incentives for Increasing Physical Activity Among Overweight and Obese Adults Across the United States: The STEP UP Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Intern Med. 2019 Dec 1;179(12):1624-1632. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2019.3505.

  PMID: 31498375 BACKGROUND

• Statistics Canada. Canadian Internet Use Survey. Last modified: 29 October 2019. Retrieved: 20 October 2020. Available from: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/dailyquotidien/191029/dq191029a-eng.htm

  BACKGROUND

• Villinger K, Wahl DR, Boeing H, Schupp HT, Renner B. The effectiveness of app-based mobile interventions on nutrition behaviours and nutrition-related health outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Obes Rev. 2019 Oct;20(10):1465-1484. doi: 10.1111/obr.12903. Epub 2019 Jul 28.

  PMID: 31353783 BACKGROUND

• Nishi SK, Kavanagh ME, Ramboanga K, Ayoub-Charette S, Modol S, Dias GM, Kendall CWC, Sievenpiper JL, Chiavaroli L. Effect of digital health applications with or without gamification on physical activity and cardiometabolic risk factors: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. EClinicalMedicine. 2024 Sep 25;76:102798. doi: 10.1016/j.eclinm.2024.102798. eCollection 2024 Oct.

  PMID: 39764571 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Health Behavior

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavior

Study Officials

• John L Sievenpiper, MD,PhD,FRCPC

  University of Toronto

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: observational
• Observational Model: OTHER
• Time Perspective: PROSPECTIVE
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Associate Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: November 9, 2020
• First Posted: November 18, 2020
• Study Start: November 5, 2020
• Primary Completion: November 1, 2021
• Study Completion: November 1, 2022
• Last Updated: November 19, 2020

Record last verified: 2020-11

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

CA (1)