Reinwand DA, Schulz DN, Crutzen R, Kremers SP, de Vries. (2015). Who follows eHealth interventions as recommended? A study of participants’ personal characteristics from the experimental arm of a randomized controlled trial. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 17(5), e115. PMID: 25963607.
The authors used data from a randomized controlled trial of an eHealth intervention to investigate whether specific personal or socioeconomic characteristics predicted adherence to the eHealth intervention. This analysis only examined data from the participants assigned to receive the eHealth intervention (n=1,638). These participants completed online questionnaires asking about five health behaviors, including fruit consumption, vegetable consumption, alcohol use, smoking, and physical activity. Based on the screening questionnaires, participants were given recommendations to complete between one and five online modules developed to improve health behaviors. Compliance with the recommendation was tracked. Age, gender, and quality of life were significant predictors for adherence to the recommendations. Participants who were older, female and had lower quality of life were more likely to follow recommendations. Other socioeconomic and personal characteristics, such as income and education level, had no significant impact on program completion. Results suggest that eHealth interventions should be designed to also engage younger, male, and healthy individuals.