Hurley Lex, Nezami Brooke T, Sciamanna Christopher, Tate Deborah F
Department of Health Behavior, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
Department of Nutrition, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
Digit Health. 2024 Aug 28;10:20552076241277351. doi: 10.1177/20552076241277351. eCollection 2024 Jan-Dec.
Goal setting is a behavior change technique associated with improved change in outcomes. Digital (eHealth, mHealth) behavior change interventions often prescribe all goals with no opportunity for participants to create and track their own; thus, little is known about the types of goals participants create for themselves and their impacts on behavioral outcomes. This analysis describes the goals created by participants using an optional personal goal-setting component and evaluates the association between participant goal creation and weight loss in an eHealth adult weight loss intervention.
This represents a mixed methods QUANT-qual design to understand the types of goals users create for themselves and their impacts on behavior change outcomes. Qualitative codes were applied for the topic, behavior/outcome focus, adherence to SMART criteria, and repetition with count summaries. Quantitative analyses applied regression modeling to determine if the number of goals set was associated with the 6-month weight change, controlling for covariates.
Participants (n = 363) set an average of 23.4 goals (SD = 22.7) over 6 months. Those who reached at least 5% weight loss set significantly more goals than those who lost between 1% and 4.99% or who lost <1% or gained weight ('s < 0.0001). Setting more personal goals was associated with significant weight loss reduction at 6 months, controlling for covariates ('s < 0.05).
Greater use of a personal goal-setting feature was associated with improved weight loss outcomes among active users. This can be a low-investment addition to digital behavior change interventions to contribute to improved outcomes.
目标设定是一种与改善结果变化相关的行为改变技术。数字（电子健康、移动健康）行为改变干预措施通常会规定所有目标，而参与者没有机会制定和跟踪自己的目标；因此，对于参与者为自己设定的目标类型及其对行为结果的影响知之甚少。本分析描述了参与者使用可选的个人目标设定组件所设定的目标，并评估了在一项电子健康成人减肥干预中参与者目标设定与体重减轻之间的关联。
这是一项混合方法的定量-定性设计，旨在了解用户为自己设定的目标类型及其对行为改变结果的影响。对主题、行为/结果重点、是否符合SMART标准以及重复情况进行了定性编码，并进行计数总结。定量分析应用回归模型来确定设定的目标数量是否与6个月的体重变化相关，并对协变量进行控制。
参与者（n = 363）在6个月内平均设定了23.4个目标（标准差 = 22.7）。体重减轻至少5%的参与者设定的目标明显多于体重减轻1%至4.99%或体重减轻<1%或体重增加的参与者（P < 0.0001）。在控制协变量的情况下，设定更多个人目标与6个月时显著的体重减轻相关（P < 0.05）。
在活跃用户中，更多地使用个人目标设定功能与改善减肥效果相关。这可以作为数字行为改变干预措施的一项低投入补充，有助于改善结果。
