Learning from community-led and co-designed m-health interventions

In The Lancet Digital Health, Cliona Ni Mhurchu and colleagues evaluate their co-designed intervention (the OL@-OR@ mHealth intervention) to improve adherence to health-related guidelines relating to smoking, nutrition, alcohol, and physical activity behaviours. The study used a cluster-randomised controlled trial (RCT) design with 69 communities, in which 1451 adults were randomly assigned to either the intervention or the control group. At 12 weeks, the two study groups did not differ in the proportions of participants adhering to the behavioural guidelines, but both groups showed increased adherence to the guidelines. Although, at first glance, this null finding is disappointing, it highlights and reinforces the many challenges facing research in the mHealth field. Notably, the published null findings will help to reduce publication bias.