Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) involves repeated, real-time assessments of phenomena (eg, cognitions, emotions, behaviours) over a period of time in naturalistic settings. EMA is increasingly used to study both within-person and between-person processes. We will review EMA studies investigating key health behaviours and synthesise: (1) study characteristics (eg, frequency of assessments, adherence, incentives), (2) associations between psychological predictors and behaviours and (3) moderators of adherence to EMA protocols.
METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This review will focus on EMA studies conducted across five public health behaviours in adult, non-clinical populations: movement behaviour (including physical activity and sedentary behaviour), dietary behaviour, alcohol consumption, tobacco smoking and preventive sexual health behaviours. Studies need to have assessed at least one psychological or contextual predictor of these behaviours. Studies reporting exclusively on physiological outcomes (eg, cortisol) or those not conducted under free-living conditions will be excluded. We will search OVID MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO and Web of Science using terms relevant to EMA and the selected health behaviours. Reference lists of existing systematic reviews of EMA studies will be hand searched. Identified articles will be screened by two reviewers. This review is expected to provide a comprehensive summary of EMA studies assessing psychological or contextual predictors of five public health behaviours.
ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: The results will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and presentations. Data from included studies will be made available to other researchers. No ethics are required.
PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42020168314.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e046435 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | BMJ Open |
| Volume | 11 |
| Issue number | 7 |
| Early online date | 16 Jul 2021 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 16 Jul 2021 |
Bibliographical note
FundingDominika Kwasnicka’s work is carried out within the HOMING program of the Foundation for Polish Science co-financed by the European Union under the European Regional Development Fund; grant number POIR.04.04.00-00-5CF3/18-00; HOMING 5/2018. Dimitra Kale and Olga Perski receive salary support from Cancer Research UK (C1417/A22962). Daniel Powell is funded by the Scottish Government’s Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services (RESAS) and by the School of Medicine, Medical Sciences, and Nutrition (SMMSN) at the University of Aberdeen. Felix Naughton’s salary is covered by the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of East Anglia.
Acknowledgments
The review team would like to thank Dr Marta Marques for comments and suggestions on the
initial version of the review protocol. The authors would like to thank the patient and public
involvement representative who commented on the lay summary of our proposed plan, for their
contribution to this research.
Keywords
- Adult
- Ecological Momentary Assessment
- Exercise
- Health Behavior
- Humans
- Sedentary Behavior
- Sexual Behavior
- Systematic Reviews as Topic
Access to Document
- Kwasnicka_etal_BMJO_Systematic_Review_Ecological_VoR
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