{"title":"Effectiveness of recommendations in promoting the use of Mobile health applications in health guidance: a randomized controlled trial.","authors":"Takeshi Onoue, Kazuki Nishida, Yoshio Nakata, Fumi Hayashi, Miki Marutani, Naoki Sakane, Jiro Moriguchi, Shigeki Muto, Kiminori Kato, Izuru Masuda, Tomonori Okamura, Keiichi Matsuzaki, Takashi Kawamura, Kazuyo Tsushita","doi":"10.1093/joccuh/uiaf036","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>Use of commercially available mobile health (mHealth) applications in supporting lifestyle improvements has become popular in recent years. However, the effectiveness of advice promoting the use of such applications based on individual behavioral goals in a health guidance setting remains unclear. This study explored how guiding participants of the Specific Health Guidance (SHG) program, a Japanese public health initiative to prevent cardiovascular disease, to use commercially available mHealth applications impacted their application usage, lifestyle habits, and cardiovascular risk factors.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>In this multicenter, randomized, open-label, parallel-group comparison study, 156 individuals with a history of SHG participation and were engaged in the Motivational Health Guidance program (a type of SHG) in 2021 were assigned to intervention (n = 76) or control (n = 80) groups. While both groups received standard guidance, the intervention group also received recommendations for mHealth applications based on their individual behavioral goals. The participants' application usage, behavioral changes, and body weight were assessed after 3 months, with health checkup data evaluated after 1 year.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The proportion of mHealth application users after 3 months was significantly higher in the intervention group (68.4%) than in the control group (40.0%). The intervention group also reported a significantly greater weekly frequency of mHealth application usage. Moreover, the intervention group reported a significantly decreased change in triglyceride levels after 1 year compared with the control group.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Recommending commercially available mHealth applications in a health guidance setting significantly increased the number of mHealth application users and their frequency of use.</p><p><strong>Trial registration: </strong>Japanese University Hospital Medical Information Network Clinical Trials Registry (UMIN-CTR: UMIN000042986).</p>","PeriodicalId":16632,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Occupational Health","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.0000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Occupational Health","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1093/joccuh/uiaf036","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Objectives: Use of commercially available mobile health (mHealth) applications in supporting lifestyle improvements has become popular in recent years. However, the effectiveness of advice promoting the use of such applications based on individual behavioral goals in a health guidance setting remains unclear. This study explored how guiding participants of the Specific Health Guidance (SHG) program, a Japanese public health initiative to prevent cardiovascular disease, to use commercially available mHealth applications impacted their application usage, lifestyle habits, and cardiovascular risk factors.
Methods: In this multicenter, randomized, open-label, parallel-group comparison study, 156 individuals with a history of SHG participation and were engaged in the Motivational Health Guidance program (a type of SHG) in 2021 were assigned to intervention (n = 76) or control (n = 80) groups. While both groups received standard guidance, the intervention group also received recommendations for mHealth applications based on their individual behavioral goals. The participants' application usage, behavioral changes, and body weight were assessed after 3 months, with health checkup data evaluated after 1 year.
Results: The proportion of mHealth application users after 3 months was significantly higher in the intervention group (68.4%) than in the control group (40.0%). The intervention group also reported a significantly greater weekly frequency of mHealth application usage. Moreover, the intervention group reported a significantly decreased change in triglyceride levels after 1 year compared with the control group.
Conclusions: Recommending commercially available mHealth applications in a health guidance setting significantly increased the number of mHealth application users and their frequency of use.
Trial registration: Japanese University Hospital Medical Information Network Clinical Trials Registry (UMIN-CTR: UMIN000042986).
期刊介绍：
The scope of the journal is broad, covering toxicology, ergonomics, psychosocial factors and other relevant health issues of workers, with special emphasis on the current developments in occupational health. The JOH also accepts various methodologies that are relevant to investigation of occupational health risk factors and exposures, such as large-scale epidemiological studies, human studies employing biological techniques and fundamental experiments on animals, and also welcomes submissions concerning occupational health practices and related issues.
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