Effective techniques in healthy eating and physical activity interventions: A meta-regression.

ObjectiveMeta-analyses of behavior change (BC) interventions typically find large heterogeneity in effectiveness and small effects.This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of active BC interventions designed to promote physical activity and healthy eating and investigate whether theoretically-specified BC techniques improve outcome. DesignInterventions, evaluated in experimental or quasi-experimental studies, using behavioral and/or cognitive techniques to increase physical activity and healthy eating in adults were systematically reviewed.Intervention content was reliably classified into 26 BC techniques and the effects of individual techniques, and of a theoretically-derived combination of self-regulation techniques, were assessed using meta-regression. Main Outcome MeasuresValid outcomes of physical activity and healthy eating. ResultsThe 122 evaluations (N = 44,747) produced an overall pooled effect size of 0.31 (95% CI 0.26 to 0.36) (I 2 = 69%).The technique, "self-monitoring", explained the greatest amount of among-study heterogeneity (13%).Interventions that combined self-monitoring with at least one other technique derived from control theory were significantly more effective than the other interventions (0.42 versus 0.26). Conclusion Classifying interventions according to component techniques and theoretically-derivedtechnique combinations and conducting meta-regression enabled identification of effective components of interventions designed to increase physical activity and healthy eating.