Health Education Research Advance Access originally published online on March 13, 2009
Health Education Research 2009 24(4):699-720; doi:10.1093/her/cyp006
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Computer-tailored dietary behaviour change interventions: a systematic review
Centre for Health Advancement, New South Wales Department of Health, 73 Miller Street, North Sydney New South Wales 2060, Australia
* Correspondence to: L. M. Neville. E-mail: neville_leonie{at}bigpond.com
Improving dietary behaviours such as increasing fruit and vegetable consumption and reducing saturated fat intake are important in the promotion of better health. Computer tailoring has shown promise as a strategy to promote such behaviours. A narrative systematic review was conducted to describe the available evidence on second-generation computer-tailored primary prevention interventions for dietary behaviour change and to determine their effectiveness and key characteristics of success. Systematic literature searches were conducted through five databases: Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, CINAHL and All EBM Reviews and by examining the reference lists of relevant articles to identify studies published in English from January 1996 to 2008. Randomized controlled trials or quasi-experimental designs with pre-test and post-test behavioural outcome data were included. A total of 13 articles were reviewed, describing the evaluation of 12 interventions, seven of which found significant positive effects of the computer-tailored interventions for dietary behaviour outcomes, one also for weight reduction outcomes. Although the evidence of short-term efficacy for computer-tailored dietary behaviour change interventions is fairly strong, the uncertainty lies in whether the reported effects are generalizable and sustained long term. Further research is required to address these limitations of the evidence.
Received on October 16, 2008; accepted on January 15, 2009