Dascombe Elizabeth M, Morgan Philip J, Drew Ryan J, Regan Casey P, Turner-McGrievy Gabrielle M, Young Myles D
School of Psychological Sciences, College of Engineering, Science and Environment, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, Australia.
Centre for Active Living and Learning, The University of Newcastle, Newcastle, Australia.
J Med Internet Res. 2025 May 7;27:e63360. doi: 10.2196/63360.
The increasing prevalence of poor mental and physical health in adults is a global health concern. Given the scope of this problem, scalable and effective treatment interventions are needed. While podcasts (online digital audio files) are becoming more popular, the extent of podcast use in mental, physical, or combined health interventions has not been reviewed.
This scoping review primarily aims to summarize the available evidence regarding the use of podcasts in health promotion interventions. A series of 5 research questions was designed to systematically review and accurately represent podcast use in current research interventions.
We conducted a search of electronic databases (MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Embase, CINAHL, Scopus, and CENTRAL), gray literature articles, and relevant journals reported in the English language. Eligible studies targeted adults (aged ≥18 y), included a podcast in at least 1 intervention, and measured a mental or physical health outcome.
Overall, 51 articles (published studies: n=26, 51% and gray literature articles: n=25, 49%) were deemed eligible. In total, 58% (15/26) of the included peer-reviewed studies were published in the last 5 years, suggesting that the use of podcasts as an intervention approach is increasing. On average, 85.6% (n=2104) of the participants included in these research studies were women. In total, 31% (8/26) of the studies contained a female-only sample. In contrast, no research studies contained a male-only sample. Most peer-reviewed published studies (19/26, 73%) and gray literature sources (22/25, 88%) of the podcasts were used within multicomponent interventions, with most targeting physical health outcomes (peer-reviewed publications: 14/26, 54% and gray literature sources: 13/25, 52%). Results pertaining to podcast design, sources, theoretical principles, and thorough process evaluation indicators were heterogeneous.
The versatility that podcasts can offer as a medium for reaching and engaging with participants and end users was evident in this scoping review. While research using podcasts is growing, many (18/26, 69%) studies included in this scoping review were conducted in the United States and sampled female participants, highlighting the need to diversify the field. As expected, there was a high level of variation across the included studies in relation to how podcasts were used and designed within interventions. To address this, a standardized approach would be valuable in guiding researchers and practitioners through both the development and reporting phases of future podcast research, including aspects such as theoretical framework, a description of podcast development (eg, co-design and end-user engagement), objective podcast use, and process evaluation data.
成年人身心健康状况不佳的患病率不断上升，这是一个全球健康问题。鉴于该问题的范围，需要可扩展且有效的治疗干预措施。虽然播客（在线数字音频文件）越来越受欢迎，但播客在心理、身体或综合健康干预中的使用程度尚未得到综述。
本范围综述主要旨在总结关于播客在健康促进干预中使用的现有证据。设计了一系列5个研究问题，以系统地回顾并准确呈现当前研究干预中播客的使用情况。
我们对电子数据库（MEDLINE、PsycINFO、Embase、CINAHL、Scopus和CENTRAL）、灰色文献文章以及以英文报道的相关期刊进行了检索。符合条件的研究针对成年人（年龄≥18岁），在至少1项干预中包括一个播客，并测量了心理或身体健康结果。
总体而言，51篇文章（已发表研究：n = 26，51%；灰色文献文章：n = 25，49%）被认为符合条件。在纳入的同行评审研究中，总共58%（15/26）是在过去5年发表的，这表明将播客用作干预方法的情况正在增加。这些研究中的参与者平均85.6%（n = 2104）为女性。总共有31%（8/26）的研究仅包含女性样本。相比之下，没有研究仅包含男性样本。大多数同行评审的已发表研究（19/26，73%）和灰色文献来源（22/25，88%）中的播客是在多成分干预中使用的，大多数针对身体健康结果（同行评审出版物：14/26，54%；灰色文献来源：13/25，52%）。关于播客设计、来源、理论原则和全面过程评估指标的结果存在异质性。
在本范围综述中，播客作为一种接触参与者和最终用户并使其参与的媒介所具有的多功能性是显而易见的。虽然使用播客的研究在不断增加，但本范围综述中纳入的许多研究（18/26，69%）是在美国进行的，且样本为女性参与者，这突出了该领域多样化的必要性。正如预期的那样，在所纳入的研究中，关于播客在干预中如何使用和设计存在很大差异。为了解决这个问题，一种标准化方法对于指导研究人员和从业者完成未来播客研究的开发和报告阶段将是有价值的，包括理论框架、播客开发描述（如共同设计和最终用户参与）、播客的客观使用以及过程评估数据等方面。
