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Review
. 2024 Oct;22(4):417-428.
doi: 10.1016/j.jesf.2024.09.002. Epub 2024 Sep 11.

The effect of electronic health (eHealth) interventions for promoting physical activity self-efficacy in children: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Nike Lu  1 , Patrick W C Lau  1 , Huiqi Song  2 , Yuxin Zhang  3 , Ruhina Binta A Ghani  1 , Chenglong Wang  4
Affiliations
Review

The effect of electronic health (eHealth) interventions for promoting physical activity self-efficacy in children: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Nike Lu et al. J Exerc Sci Fit. 2024 Oct.

Abstract

Background/objective: Physical activity (PA) self-efficacy plays a crucial role in maintaining and enhancing PA behaviors in children. However, the effectiveness of eHealth interventions in boosting PA self-efficacy among children remains uncertain. Furthermore, which behavior change techniques (BCTs) used in eHealth interventions can positively influence children's PA self-efficacy needs further exploration for designing tailored eHealth interventions. Therefore, this systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to identify the effectiveness of eHealth interventions and BCTs in promoting children's PA self-efficacy.

Methods: Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, a comprehensive search was conducted across six databases (PubMed, Web of Science, EBSCOhost, Ovid, SPORTDiscus, PsycINFO) up to January 8, 2024. Inclusion criteria included randomized controlled trials (RCT), quasi-experimental, and two-group experiments that examined the effect of eHealth interventions on PA self-efficacy among healthy children aged 0-18 years. The Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) scale was utilized to assess the risk of bias. Random effects meta-analysis was performed to determine the effectiveness of eHealth interventions and BCTs in selected studies.

Results: Sixteen studies were screened, including 6020 participants with an average age of 11.58 years (SD = 2.87). The result showed small but significant intervention effects with high heterogeneity (I2 = 92.34 %) for postintervention PA self-efficacy (Hedges' g = 0.315; 95 % CI = 0.069, 0.562, p = .012). Two BCTs were significantly associated with enhanced PA self-efficacy: instruction on performing the behavior (p = .003) and behavior demonstration (p = .036). Additionally, studies that adopted social support (unspecified) a nd prompt/cues were significantly less effective than studies that did not use these BCTs (p = .001).

Conclusions: The findings showed that eHealth interventions positively affect children's PA self-efficacy. This review is the pioneer in focusing on BCTs in eHealth interventions for children. The insights gained provide valuable knowledge about tailored BCTs incorporated into eHealth interventions that promote children's PA self-efficacy.

Trial registration: International Prospective Register of Systematic Review (PROSPERO): CRD42024512058.

Keywords: Children; Physical activity; Self-efficacy; eHealth.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flow diagram of each stage of the study selection.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Forest plot showing PA self-efficacy effect sizes with 95 % CI.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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