Abstract
The Change4Life Food Scanner app is a UK Government dietary app designed to provide feedback on the nutritional content of packaged foods to parents and their children. To understand its intended mechanism of behavior change and how Behavior Change Technique (BCT) content evolves with app updates, this research aimed to map out the BCTs of two versions of the Change4Life Food Scanner app. Two coders undertook a descriptive comparative analysis of the use of BCTs in the Food Scanner app using the Behavior Change Technique Taxonomy [both the outdated (v1.6) and updated (v2.0) versions of the app were coded]. Results showed that both versions encompass the BCTs “goal setting (behavior)”, “feedback on behavior”, “social support (unspecified)”, “instruction on how to perform behavior”, “salience of consequences”, “prompts/cues” and “credible source”. The outdated version contained the BCT “behavior substitution” which had been dropped in the updated version. The updated version featured the additional BCTs “information about social and environmental consequences”, “information about emotional consequences”, “social reward” and “social incentive” and was comparatively more BCT intensive in terms of content and occurrence. The BCT content of the Food Scanner app resembles that of existing dietary apps and incorporates several BCTs which have previously been found to be effective. Future work to evaluate the effectiveness of the app is recommended. This will provide insight into whether the combination of BCTs used in the Change4Life Food Scanner app are effective in improving dietary choices.
Highlights
In the UK, one in three children in the final year of primary school are with overweight or obesity [1]
Research suggests that interventions with a theoretical basis are more effective in targeting determinants of behavior change [8] and The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance advises that behavior change interventions ought to include Behavior Change Technique (BCT) which have been found to be effective in changing behavior [9]
Two coders undertook an online training program affiliated with the Behavior Change Technique Taxonomy Version 1 (BCTTv1) which consisted of six training sessions and two assessments [21]
Summary
In the UK, one in three children in the final year of primary school are with overweight or obesity [1]. Smartphone use is popular and provides access to downloadable applications (“apps”). Smartphone applications are self-contained programs that can be accessed and are far-reaching, making them a cost-effective and useful method of delivery for behavioral interventions [3]. There has been a rise in the development and feasibility testing of app-based interventions targeting childhood obesity prevention through parental behavior change. Given this area of research is still growing, data on app-effectiveness is limited [4,5,6], and the majority of app-based interventions are not evidence based [7].
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