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mHealth

Audio vs text produce-app RCT

Elbert SP, Dijkstra A, Oenema A · Journal of medical Internet research · 2016

Open access · cc by · source: Europe PMC

A tailored mobile app’s audio messages raised fruit intake more than text or control, while vegetable intake showed no overall main effect.

Study at a glance

Design
RCT — Three-arm RCT: text-tailored vs audio-tailored vs questionnaire control
N
N=146 · Final analytic sample
Population
Adults using a fruit-and-vegetable mobile app intervention
Outcome
Fruit and vegetable intake at 6 months

Structured fields used in claim comparison tables when every cited study has a complete layer.

Key findings

Audio coaching increased fruit intake by about three pieces per week versus text and control; vegetable intake had no significant main effect of condition (literacy interactions noted).

Methodology

Adults were randomized to text-based tailored app content, audio-based tailored content, or control questionnaires only; fruit and vegetable intake were assessed at 6 months.

Limitations

Effects were modest, sample attrition was high, and findings may not generalize beyond motivated app users.

How this study connects

Role on claims

Each row is a claim on a concept or method page where this paper supports, challenges, or qualifies the statement. Roles are hand-checked — not a model guess.

  • SupportsmHealthconcept

    Multiple studies in this library examine mhealth with empirical patient or population outcomes rather than opinion alone.

    Evidence for the claim as stated.

  • SupportsmHealthconcept

    Audio coaching increased fruit intake by about three pieces per week versus text and control; vegetable intake had no significant main effect of condition (literacy interactions noted).

    Evidence for the claim as stated.

  • SupportsmHealthconcept

    Effect sizes and settings differ across mhealth studies — digital vs clinic, trial vs observational — so results should not be pooled casually.

    Evidence for the claim as stated.

  • ITT does not require individual randomisation. A 12-week open-label cluster-randomised pilot at 13 US primary-care sites found digital-medicine users had about 9 mm Hg greater SBP reduction by week 4, with more patients at BP goal by week 12. That is an effect of site-level assignment, unblinded, and not a hard cardiovascular-event result. A produce-app RCT that increased fruit intake by about three pieces per week also reported high attrition — another ITT-with-missing-data problem.

    Evidence for the claim as stated.

Open questions

Tensions this paper is part of

From concept pages' “where studies disagree.” Disagreement means the same question; scope means different assays, populations, or outcomes.

Related papers in this topic

Same topic cluster — not a recommendation engine.