| 1. |
- Bendtsen, Marcus, 1982-, et al.
(författare)
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mHealth intervention for multiple lifestyle behaviour change among high school students in Sweden (LIFE4YOUth) : Protocol for a randomised controlled trial
- 2021
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Ingår i: Public Health Nursing. - : BMC. - 0737-1209 .- 1525-1446 .- 1471-2458. ; 21:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BackgroundNational surveys in Sweden demonstrate that the majority of young people do not engage in health promoting behaviours at levels recommended by the Public Health Agency of Sweden. The objective of this study is to estimate the effectiveness of a novel mHealth intervention named LIFE4YOUth, which targets multiple lifestyle behaviours (alcohol, diet, physical activity, and smoking) among high school students in Sweden.MethodsA 2-arm parallel groups single blind randomised controlled trial (1:1) will be employed to estimate the effectiveness of the novel mHealth intervention. Students will be recruited at high schools throughout Sweden, and will be included if they fulfil one of six criteria relating to unhealthy behaviours with respect to alcohol, diet, physical activity and smoking. Eligible participants will be randomised to either receive the novel intervention immediately, or to be placed on a waiting list for 4 months. The intervention consists of a combination of recurring screening, text messages, and an interactive platform which is adaptable to individual preferences. Outcome measures with respect to alcohol, diet, physical activity and smoking will be assessed through questionnaires at 2 and 4 months post randomisation.DiscussionThe findings of this trial could be generalised to a diverse high-school student population as our recruitment encompass a large proportion of schools throughout Sweden with various educational profiles. Furthermore, if effective, the mHealth intervention has good potential to be able to be scaled up and disseminated at high schools nationally.Trial registrationRegistered prospectively on 2020-05-20 in ISRCTN (ISRCTN34468623).
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| 2. |
- Bendtsen, Marcus, et al.
(författare)
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Six-Month Outcomes from the NEXit Junior Trial of a Text Messaging Smoking Cessation Intervention for High School Students : Randomized Controlled Trial With Bayesian Analysis
- 2021
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Ingår i: JMIR mhealth and uhealth. - : JMIR Publications Inc. - 2291-5222. ; 9:10
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: The prevalence of daily or occasional smoking among high school students in Sweden was approximately 20% in 2019, which is problematic since lifestyle behaviors are established in adolescence and track into adulthood. The Nicotine Exit (NEXit) Junior trial was conducted in response to a lack of evidence for the effects of text message smoking cessation interventions among high school students in Sweden. Objective: The aim of this study was to estimate the 3-and 6-month effects of a text messaging intervention among high school students in Sweden on smoking cessation outcomes. Methods: A 2-arm, single-blind randomized controlled trial was employed to estimate the effects of the intervention on smoking cessation in comparison to treatment as usual. Participants were recruited from high schools in Sweden using advertising and promotion by school staff from January 10, 2018, to January 10, 2019. Weekly or daily smokers who were willing to make a quit attempt were eligible for inclusion. Prolonged abstinence and point prevalence of smoking cessation were measured at 3 and 6 months after randomization. Results: Complete case analysis was possible on 57.9% (310/535) of the participants at 6 months, with no observed statistically significant effect on 5-month prolonged abstinence (odds ratio [OR] 1.27, 95% CI 0.73-2.20; P=.39) or 4-week smoking cessation (OR 1.42; 95% CI 0.83-2.46; P=.20). Sensitivity analyses using imputation yielded similar findings. Unplanned Bayesian analyses showed that the effects of the intervention were in the anticipated direction. The findings were limited by the risk of bias induced by high attrition (42.1%). The trial recruited high school students in a pragmatic setting and included both weekly and daily smokers; thus, generalization to the target population is more direct compared with findings obtained under more strict study procedures. Conclusions: Higher than expected attrition rates to follow-up 6 months after randomization led to null hypothesis tests being underpowered; however, unplanned Bayesian analyses found that the effects of the intervention were in the anticipated direction. Future trials of smoking cessation interventions targeting high school students should aim to prepare strategies for increasing retention to mid-and long-term follow-up. Trial Registration: IRCTN Registry ISRCTN15396225; https://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN15396225 International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID): RR2-10.1186/s13063-018-3028-2
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| 3. |
- Bendtsen, Marcus, 1982-, et al.
(författare)
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The Mobile Health Multiple Lifestyle Behavior Interventions Across the Lifespan (MoBILE) Research Program : Protocol for Development, Evaluation, and Implementation
- 2020
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Ingår i: JMIR Research Protocols. - Toronto, Canada : JMIR Publications Inc. - 1929-0748. ; 9:4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Clustering of multiple lifestyle risk behaviors has been associated with a greater risk of noncommunicable diseases and mortality than one lifestyle risk behavior or no lifestyle risk behaviors. The National Board of Health and Welfare in Sweden reported in 2018 that it is important to provide additional support to individuals with multiple lifestyle risk behaviors, as risks from these behaviors are multiplicative rather than additive. However, the same report emphasized that there is a lack of knowledge regarding interventions that support changes to unhealthy lifestyle behaviors.Objective: The MoBILE (Mobile health Multiple lifestyle Behavior Interventions across the LifEspan) research program has brought together two Swedish research groups supported by international collaborators. Through this collaboration, we aim to design and evaluate a number of novel and tailored mobile health (mHealth) multiple lifestyle behavior interventions across the life span of different health care populations. In addition, the MoBILE research program will extend ongoing research to include mHealth interventions for migrant pregnant women and children.Methods: Each project within the MoBILE program will focus on a specific group: pregnant women, preschool children, high school and university students, and adults in primary and clinical care. All the projects will follow the same 4 phases: requirements, development, evaluation, and implementation. During the requirements phase, implementers and end users will aid the design of content and functionality of the interventions. In the development phase, findings from the first phase will be synthesized with expert domain knowledge and theoretical constructs to create interventions tailored to the target groups. The third phase, evaluation, will comprise randomized controlled trials conducted to estimate the effects of the interventions on multiple lifestyle risk behaviors (eg, alcohol, nutrition, physical activity, and smoking). The final phase will investigate how the interventions, if found effective, can be disseminated into different health care contexts.Results: The research program commenced in 2019, and the first results will be available in 2020. Projects involving pregnant women, preschool children, and high school and university students will be completed in the first 3 years, with the remaining projects being planned for the program’s final 3 years.Conclusions:The development of evidence-based digital tools is complex, as they should be guided by theoretical frameworks, and requires large interdisciplinary teams with competence in technology, behavioral science, and lifestyle-specific areas. Individual researchers or smaller research groups developing their own tools is not the way forward, as it means reinventing the wheel over and over again. The MoBILE research program therefore aims to join forces and learn from the past 10 years of mHealth research to maximize scientific outcomes, as well as the use of financial resources to expand the growing body of evidence for mHealth lifestyle behavior interventions.
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| 4. |
- Müssener, Ulrika, et al.
(författare)
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Effectiveness of Short Message Service Text-Based Smoking Cessation Intervention Among University Students A Randomized Clinical Trial
- 2016
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Ingår i: JAMA Internal Medicine. - : AMER MEDICAL ASSOC. - 2168-6106 .- 2168-6114. ; 176:3, s. 321-328
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- IMPORTANCE Smoking is globally the most important preventable cause of ill health and death. Mobile telephone interventions and, in particular, short message service (SMS) text messaging, have the potential to overcome access barriers to traditional health services, not least among young people. OBJECTIVE To determine the effectiveness of a text-based smoking cessation intervention among young people. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS A single-blind, 2-arm, randomized clinical trial (Nicotine Exit [NEXit]) was conducted from October 23, 2014, to April 17, 2015; data analysis was performed from April 23, 2014, to May 22, 2015. Participants included daily or weekly smokers willing to set a quit date within 1 month of enrollment. The study used email to invite all college and university students throughout Sweden to participate. INTERVENTIONS The NEXit core program is initiated with a 1- to 4-week motivational phase during which participants can choose to set a stop date. The intervention group then received 157 text messages based on components of effective smoking cessation interventions for 12 weeks. The control group received 1 text every 2 weeks thanking them for participating in the study, with delayed access to the intervention. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcomes were self-reported prolonged abstinence (not having smoked >5 cigarettes over the past 8 weeks) and 4-week point prevalence of complete smoking cessation shortly after the completion of the intervention (approximately 4 months after the quit date). RESULTS A total of 1590 participants, mainly between 21 and 30 years of age, were randomized into the study; 827 (573 [69.3%] women) were allocated to the intervention group and 763 (522 [68.4%] women) were included in the control group. Primary outcome data were available for 783 (94.7%) of the intervention group and 719 (94.2%) of the control group. At baseline, participants were smoking a median (range) of 63 (1-238) and 70 (2-280) cigarettes per week, respectively. Eight-week prolonged abstinence was reported by 203 participants (25.9%) in the intervention group and 105 (14.6%) in the control group; 4-week point prevalence of complete cessation was reported by 161 (20.6%) and 102 (14.2%) participants, respectively, a mean (SD) of 3.9 (0.37) months after the quit date. The adjusted odds ratios (95% CIs) for these findings were 2.05 (1.57-2.67) and 1.56 (1.19-2.05), respectively. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE With the limitation of assessing only the short-term effect of the intervention, the effects observed in this trial are comparable with those for traditional smoking cessation interventions. The simple NEXit intervention has the potential to improve the uptake of effective smoking cessation interventions.
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| 5. |
- Müssener, Ulrika, 1974-, et al.
(författare)
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High School Students’ Preferences and Design Recommendations for a Mobile Phone–Based Intervention to Improve Psychological Well-Being: Mixed Methods Study
- 2020
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Ingår i: JMIR Pediatrics and Parenting. - Toronto, ON, Canada : J M I R Publications, Inc.. - 2561-6722. ; 3:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background:Young adults’ mental health is characterized by relatively high rates of stress and anxiety and low levels of help-seeking behavior. Mobile health (mHealth) interventions could offer a cost-effective and readily available avenue to provide personalized support to young adults. More research needs to be directed at the development of mHealth interventions targeting youths specifically, as well as at determining how to reach young people and how to effectively intervene to improve psychological well-being.Objective:The objective was to gather perceptions from high school students to inform the development of a prototype mHealth intervention aiming to promote psychological well-being.Methods:A mixed methods design was used to (1) investigate high school students’ perceptions about stress and its consequences in daily life, as well as their ability to cope with stress, and (2) explore their preferences and design recommendations for an mHealth intervention to improve psychological well-being. Students from two high schools in the southeast of Sweden were invited to take part in the study. Recruitment of high school students was completed over a 6-week period, between October 25 and December 7, 2018. Recruitment entailed inviting students to complete a stress test (ie, screening and feedback) on their mobile phones. After completing the stress test, all participants were invited to complete a follow-up questionnaire and take part in telephone interviews.Results:A total of 149 high school students completed the stress test, of which 68 completed the questionnaire. There were 67 free-text comments distributed across the items. The majority of participants (55/68, 81%) stated that they coped with stress better or in the same way after engaging in the stress test, due to time management, dialogue with others, and self-refection. A total of 4 out of 68 participants (6%)—3 female students (75%) and 1 male student (25%)—took part in telephone interviews. Three main themes were identified from the interview data: perceptions about stress, design features, and intervention features.Conclusions:Stress was described by the students as a condition caused by high demands set by oneself and the social environment that impacted their physical health, personal relationships, school performance, and emotional well-being. Participants claimed that mHealth interventions need to be clearly tailored to a young age group, be evidence based, and offer varied types of support, such as information about stress, exercises to help organize tasks, self-assessment, coping tools, and recommendations of other useful websites, literature, blogs, self-help books, or role models. Mobile phones seemed to be a feasible and acceptable platform for the delivery of an intervention.
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| 6. |
- Müssener, Ulrika, et al.
(författare)
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SMS-based smoking cessation intervention among university students: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial (NEXit trial)
- 2015
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Ingår i: Trials. - : BioMed Central. - 1745-6215. ; 16
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Most smoking efforts targeting young people have so far been focused on prevention of initiation, whereas smoking cessation interventions have largely been targeted towards adult populations. Thus, there is limited evidence for effective smoking cessation interventions in young people, even though many young people want to quit smoking. Mobile communication technology has the potential to reach large numbers of young people and recent text-based smoking cessation interventions using phones have shown promising results. Methods/design: The study aims to evaluate a newly developed text-based smoking cessation intervention for students in colleges and universities in Sweden. The design is a randomised controlled trial (RCT) with a delayed/waiting list intervention control condition. The trial will be performed simultaneously in all colleges and universities served by 25 student health care centres in Sweden. Outcomes will be evaluated after 4 months, with 2 cessation primary outcomes and 4 secondary outcomes. After outcome evaluation the control group will be given access to the intervention. Discussion: The study will examine the effectiveness of a stand-alone SMS text-based intervention. The intervention starts with a motivational phase in which the participants are given an opportunity to set a quit date within 4 weeks of randomisation. This first phase and the subsequent core intervention phase of 12 weeks are totally automated in order to easily integrate the intervention into the daily routines of student and other health care settings. As well as providing data for the effectiveness of the intervention, the study will also provide data for methodological analyses addressing a number issues commonly challenging in Internet-based RCTs. For example, an extensive follow-up strategy will be used in order to evaluate the use of repeated attempts in the analysis, and in particular to explore the validity of a possible missing not at random assumption that the odds ratio between the primary outcome and response is the same at every attempt.
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| 7. |
- Müssener, Ulrika, et al.
(författare)
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User satisfaction with the structure and content of the NEXit intervention, a text messaging-based smoking cessation programme
- 2016
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Ingår i: BMC Public Health. - : BIOMED CENTRAL LTD. - 1471-2458. ; 16
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Smoking is still the leading cause of preventable ill health and death. There is a limited amount of evidence for effective smoking cessation interventions among young people. To address this, a text messaging-based smoking cessation programme, the NEXit intervention, was developed. Short-term effectiveness, measured immediately after the 12-week intervention revealed that 26% of smokers in the intervention group had prolonged abstinence compared with 15% in the control group. The present study was performed to explore the users experiences of the structure and content of the intervention in order to further develop the intervention. Methods: Students participating in the main NEXit randomized controlled trial were invited to grade their experiences of the structure and content of the intervention after having completed follow-up. The participants received an e-mail with an electronic link to a short questionnaire. Descriptive analysis of the distribution of the responses to the questionnaire was performed. Free-text comments to 14 questions were analysed. Results: The response rate for the user feedback questionnaire was 35% (n = 289/827) and 428 free-text comments were collected. The first motivational phase of the intervention was appreciated by 55% (158/289) of the participants. Most participants wanted to quit smoking immediately and only 124/289 (43%) agreed to have to decide a quit-date in the future. Most participants 199/289 (69%) found the content of the messages in the core programme to be very good or good, and the variability between content types was appreciated by 78% (224/289). Only 34% (97/289) of the participants thought that all or nearly all messages were valuable, and some mentioned that it was not really the content that mattered, but that the messages served as a reminder about the decision to quit smoking. Conclusions: The programme was largely perceived satisfactory in most aspects concerning structure and content by young people and most participants stated that they would recommend it to a friend who wants to quit smoking. The motivational phase might be worth shortening and the number of messages around the quit date itself reduced. Shorter messages seemed to be more acceptable.
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| 8. |
- Müssener, Ulrika, 1974-, et al.
(författare)
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Using Mobile Devices to Deliver Lifestyle Interventions Targeting At-Risk High School Students : Protocol for a Participatory Design Study
- 2020
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Ingår i: JMIR Research Protocols. - Toronto, Canada : J M I R Publications, Inc.. - 1929-0748. ; 1:9
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Unhealthy lifestyle behaviors such as insufficient physical activity, unhealthy diet, smoking, and harmful use of alcohol tend to cluster (ie, individuals may be at risk from more than one lifestyle behavior that can be established in early childhood and adolescence and track into adulthood). Previous research has underlined the potential of lifestyle interventions delivered via mobile phones. However, there is a need for deepened knowledge on how to design mobile health (mHealth) interventions taking end user views into consideration in order to optimize the overall usability of such interventions. Adolescents are early adopters of technology and frequent users of mobile phones, yet research on interventions that use mobile devices to deliver multiple lifestyle behavior changes targeting at-risk high school students is lacking.Objective: This protocol describes a participatory design study with the aim of developing an mHealth lifestyle behavior intervention to promote healthy lifestyles among high school students.Methods: Through an iterative process using participatory design, user requirements are investigated in terms of technical features and content. The procedures around the design and development of the intervention, including heuristic evaluations, focus group interviews, and usability tests, are described.Results: Recruitment started in May 2019. Data collection, analysis, and scientific reporting from heuristic evaluations and usability tests are expected to be completed in November 2019. Focus group interviews were being undertaken with high school students from October through December, and full results are expected to be published in Spring 2020. A planned clinical trial will commence in Summer 2020. The study was funded by a grant from the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life, and Welfare.Conclusions: The study is expected to add knowledge on how to design an mHealth intervention taking end users’ views into consideration in order to develop a novel, evidence-based, low-cost, and scalable intervention that high school students want to use in order to achieve a healthier lifestyle.
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| 9. |
- Thomas, Kristin, 1978-, et al.
(författare)
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Effectiveness of a Text Messaging-Based Intervention Targeting Alcohol Consumption Among University Students: Randomized Controlled Trial
- 2018
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Ingår i: JMIR mhealth and uhealth. - : JMIR PUBLICATIONS, INC. - 2291-5222. ; 6:6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Excessive drinking among university students is a global challenge, leading to significant health risks. However, heavy drinking among students is widely accepted and socially normalized. Mobile phone interventions have attempted to reach students who engage in excessive drinking. A growing number of studies suggest that text message-based interventions could potentially reach many students and, if effective, such an intervention might help reduce heavy drinking in the student community. Objective: The objective of this study was to test the effectiveness of a behavior change theory-based 6-week text message intervention among university students. Methods: This study was a two-arm, randomized controlled trial with an intervention group receiving a 6-week text message intervention and a control group that was referred to treatment as usual at the local student health care center. Outcome measures were collected at baseline and at 3 months after the initial invitation to participate in the intervention. The primary outcome was total weekly alcohol consumption. Secondary outcomes were frequency of heavy episodic drinking, highest estimated blood alcohol concentration, and number of negative consequences attributable to excessive drinking. Results: A total of 896 students were randomized to either the intervention or control group. The primary outcome analysis included 92.0% of the participants in the intervention group and 90.1% of the control group. At follow-up, total weekly alcohol consumption decreased in both groups, but no significant between-group difference was seen. Data on the secondary outcomes included 49.1% of the participants in the intervention group and 41.3% of the control group. No significant between-group difference was seen for any of the secondary outcomes. Conclusions: The present study was under-powered, which could partly explain the lack of significance. However, the intervention, although theory-based, needs to be re-assessed and refined to better support the target group. Apart from establishing which content forms an effective intervention, the optimal length of an alcohol intervention targeting students also needs to be addressed in future studies.
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| 10. |
- Thomas, Kristin, et al.
(författare)
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Short message service (SMS)-based intervention targeting alcohol consumption among university students: study protocol of a randomized controlled trial
- 2017
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Ingår i: Trials. - : BIOMED CENTRAL LTD. - 1745-6215. ; 18
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Despite significant health risks, heavy drinking of alcohol among university students is a widespread problem; excessive drinking is part of the social norm. A growing number of studies indicate that short message service (SMS)-based interventions are cost-effective, accessible, require limited effort by users, and can enable continuous, real-time, brief support in real-world settings. Although there is emerging evidence for the effect of SMS-based interventions in reducing alcohol consumption, more research is needed. This study aims to test the effectiveness of a newly developed SMS-based intervention targeting excessive alcohol consumption among university and college students in Sweden. Methods: The study is a two-arm randomized controlled trial with an intervention (SMS programme) and a control (treatment as usual) group. Outcome measures will be investigated at baseline and at 3-month follow up. The primary outcome is total weekly alcohol consumption. Secondary outcomes are frequency of heavy episodic drinking, highest estimated blood alcohol concentration and number of negative consequences due to excessive drinking. Discussion: This study contributes knowledge on the effect of automatized SMS support to reduce excessive drinking among students compared with existing support such as Student Health Centres.
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