Ahmadyar Khaleda, Szypula Joanna, Bogosian Angeliki, Tapper Katy
School of Health and Medical Sciences, City St George's, University of London, Northampton Square, London, EC1V 0HB, United Kingdom, 44 020 7040 5060.
JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2025 Aug 8;13:e65260. doi: 10.2196/65260.
Adherence to weight management strategies may be undermined where lengthy strategy explanations limit engagement and understanding, weakening intervention efficacy. By contrast, implementation intentions have been shown to promote adherence across various health behaviors.
This study aimed to investigate the impact of explanation length and implementation intentions on adherence to brief weight management strategies.
Participants (N=200) with a BMI above 25 and an interest in losing weight were recruited from a commercial digital weight management service provider. Participants received information about 1 of 4 weight management strategies on a smartphone app in either a brief or detailed format and were asked to plan their use of the strategy with implementation intentions or were given tips on strategy use. Participants received daily prompts over a 2-week period to report whether they used their assigned strategy. Proposed moderators (need for cognition and planning skills) were measured at baseline.
Strategy adherence was greater with brief information (mean 74%, SD 23%) compared with detailed information (mean 69%, SD 23%); however, this small effect size (Cohen d=0.24) was not statistically significant (P=.13). There was no moderation by need for cognition (P=.25). Adherence did not differ significantly between implementation intentions (mean 71%, SD 27%) and tips (mean 72%, SD 21%; P=.73); however, there was moderation by planning skills (P=.04). As predicted, adherence was greater with implementation intentions compared with tips among those with poorer planning skills.
Shorter explanation length and implementation intentions (in poorer planners) may enhance adherence to brief weight management strategies, and further investigation is required to confirm these effects.
如果冗长的策略解释限制了参与度和理解，可能会削弱体重管理策略的依从性，进而降低干预效果。相比之下，实施意图已被证明能促进各种健康行为的依从性。
本研究旨在调查解释长度和实施意图对简短体重管理策略依从性的影响。
从一家商业数字体重管理服务提供商招募了200名体重指数（BMI）高于25且有减肥意愿的参与者。参与者通过智能手机应用程序以简短或详细的形式接收4种体重管理策略之一的信息，并被要求用实施意图来规划他们对该策略的使用，或者获得关于策略使用的提示。在为期2周的时间里，参与者每天都会收到提示，以报告他们是否使用了分配给他们的策略。在基线时测量了拟议的调节变量（认知需求和规划技能）。
与详细信息（平均69%，标准差23%）相比，简短信息的策略依从性更高（平均74%，标准差23%）；然而，这种小效应量（科恩d=0.24）在统计学上并不显著（P=0.13）。认知需求没有起到调节作用（P=0.25）。实施意图组（平均71%，标准差27%）和提示组（平均72%，标准差21%）的依从性没有显著差异（P=0.73）；然而，规划技能起到了调节作用（P=0.04）。正如预期的那样，在规划技能较差的人群中，与提示相比，实施意图组的依从性更高。
较短的解释长度和实施意图（在规划能力较差的人群中）可能会提高对简短体重管理策略的依从性，需要进一步研究来证实这些效果。
