We’re excited to announce a new paper published in Retos journal!

The article, titled “Applications for Promoting Physical Activity in Adolescents: A Narrative Review of Key Behaviour Change Techniques and Their Main Characteristics”, presents a narrative review examining mobile health (mHealth) applications designed to promote physical activity among adolescents.
The authors analysed existing literature to identify the theoretical underpinnings, key behaviour change techniques (BCTs), and central features of these apps. Furthermore, the review investigated the impact of these apps on physical activity adherence and maintenance, noting inconsistent outcomes and highlighting the need for methodologically rigorous future research in this area.

Through this research, the Move4Fun consortium identified that when it comes to behaviour change techniques (BCTs) and central features in physical activity (PA) promotion apps for adolescents:

  • Adolescents find goal setting, self-monitoring, and feedback to be attractive and motivating features.
  • Rewards and gamification have the potential to increase motivation and engagement.
  • Apps with a simple and modern design and easy-to-use interface are preferred by teenagers
  • Higher quality apps tend to incorporate a greater number of BCTs and features.
  • Effective BCTs for engaging teens include self-monitoring, rewards, feedback, social support, and action planning.
  • Customisation and personalisation are appreciated by adolescents in PA apps.

These findings offer valuable insights into the design of digital tools and apps aimed at encouraging regular physical activity among young people. Moreover, the article included recommendations for future app development, which were used for the design of the Move4Fun app, leveraging evidence-based strategies to create an engaging and effective solution.

Read the paper

https://recyt.fecyt.es/index.php/retos/article/view/110823

Authors: Hugo V. Pereira1, Diogo S. Teixeira1, Malgorzata Slawinska2, Paul A. Davis3, Marcos L. Flores4,5, Markus Nyström3, Marlene N. Silva1, António L. Palmeira1, Lúcia Gomes1
1. Universidade Lusófona, Portugal; 2. Institute of Sport—National Research Institute, Poland; 3. Umeå university, Sweden; 4. Sport Innovation Hub, Spain; 5. European Network for Innovation and Knowledge, The Netherlands;

Abstract. Introduction: Previous research has not explored features and behavior change techniques (BCTs) in physical activity (PA) promotion interventions among adolescents, including mobile health (mHealth) applications. Purpose: This study aims to conduct a narrative literature review of adolescent PA promotion apps, examining their theoretical foundations, key BCTs, primary features, and their influence on PA adherence and maintenance. Methods: The review includes peer-reviewed studies published from 2012 to December 2024, employing qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Included studies examined healthy adolescents, focusing on PA app features and their relationship to PA promotion. Results: A total of twenty-one studies were analyzed: ten reviews, eight qualitative studies, and three app quality assessments. Findings indicate that mHealth tools and wearable trackers yield variable impacts on PA engagement. Conclusion: Future research must adopt higher methodological standards. Comparative studies on PA interventions require caution due to limitations such as insufficient research, inadequate compliance assessment tools, potential biases, and the absence of randomized controlled trials. The inconsistent outcomes from current intervention studies highlight the necessity for developing PA programs guided by intervention mapping or the Behavior Change Wheel, emphasizing high-quality methodologies tailored to specific target demographic.

Keywords: Mobile adolescents; behavior change techniques (BCTs); health applications (mHealth); narrative review; physical activity.