Frontiers in Public Health (Oct 2015)
Theory content of digital interventions for reducing alcohol consumption: a systematic review
Abstract
Background: The use of theory in design and evaluation of interventions is likely to increase effectiveness and improve the evidence base from which future interventions are developed, though few interventions report this. Aim: To assess the extent to which digital interventions to reduce hazardous or harmful alcohol consumption have used theory in their design and evaluation. Method: Use of theory within the digital interventions evaluated in randomised controlled trials was investigated using an amended Theory Coding Scheme developed by Michie and Prestwich (2010). Composite scores were calculated for six different areas of theory use. Frequency counts and descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data. Results: Of 53 interventions reported in 55 trials, a theory or model was mentioned in 27 (51%), theory or theoretical predictors were used to select or develop intervention techniques in only 21 (40%), and targeted constructs were mentioned as a predictor of behaviour in 20 (36%). The two most commonly mentioned theories or models were the Transtheoretical model (8/27) and Social Norms theory (8/27). No studies used the results of the intervention to refine theory and only one study used theory to select recipients or tailor the intervention. Conclusions: There is very limited use of theory in the development or evaluation of current digital interventions to reduce hazardous or harmful alcohol consumption and its reporting is often unclear when it is present. Almost half of all interventions made no reference to any theories or models of behaviour and only a little over a third used them to develop the intervention.
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