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Systematic review of Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) studies of five public health-related behaviours: review protocol

Systematic review of Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) studies of five public health-related behaviours: review protocol
Systematic review of Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) studies of five public health-related behaviours: review protocol
Introduction: ecological momentary assessment (EMA) involves repeated, real-time assessments of phenomena (eg, cognitions, emotions, behaviours) over a period of time in naturalistic settings. EMA is increasingly used to study both within-person and between-person processes. We will review EMA studies investigating key health behaviours and synthesise: (1) study characteristics (eg, frequency of assessments, adherence, incentives), (2) associations between psychological predictors and behaviours and (3) moderators of adherence to EMA protocols.

Methods and analysis: this review will focus on EMA studies conducted across five public health behaviours in adult, non-clinical populations: movement behaviour (including physical activity and sedentary behaviour), dietary behaviour, alcohol consumption, tobacco smoking and preventive sexual health behaviours. Studies need to have assessed at least one psychological or contextual predictor of these behaviours. Studies reporting exclusively on physiological outcomes (eg, cortisol) or those not conducted under free-living conditions will be excluded. We will search OVID MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO and Web of Science using terms relevant to EMA and the selected health behaviours. Reference lists of existing systematic reviews of EMA studies will be hand searched. Identified articles will be screened by two reviewers. This review is expected to provide a comprehensive summary of EMA studies assessing psychological or contextual predictors of five public health behaviours.

Ethics and dissemination: the results will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and presentations. Data from included studies will be made available to other researchers. No ethics are required.PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42020168314.
2044-6055
Kwasnicka, Dominika
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Kale, Dimitra
93446f12-1cb5-41f2-9592-efa44a826470
Schneider, Verena
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Keller, Jan
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Asare, Bernard Yeboah-Asiamah
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Powell, Daniel
e1e53a46-a37b-425b-ac15-e82f99033f46
Naughton, Felix
31fe7ac9-9faa-4033-ac89-cf7dd6a947e4
Hoor, Gill A. Ten
ed989dc0-0e5b-4c72-ade3-61d5fd63ef7c
Verboon, Peter
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Perski, Olga
bdeb2b83-2e93-4b3e-ad52-fda6007b8228
Kwasnicka, Dominika
967b4afc-0d59-467f-aa76-44cc15011f4c
Kale, Dimitra
93446f12-1cb5-41f2-9592-efa44a826470
Schneider, Verena
1c079db1-e01d-4403-9e16-92ff4b96f59f
Keller, Jan
1280a92d-b0fe-4687-8d3a-8ba4e8e63251
Asare, Bernard Yeboah-Asiamah
c7d96058-74f4-4f2f-a58b-7e62f226f3fa
Powell, Daniel
e1e53a46-a37b-425b-ac15-e82f99033f46
Naughton, Felix
31fe7ac9-9faa-4033-ac89-cf7dd6a947e4
Hoor, Gill A. Ten
ed989dc0-0e5b-4c72-ade3-61d5fd63ef7c
Verboon, Peter
cb7454b6-d8bb-49dd-a747-bcc020676a63
Perski, Olga
bdeb2b83-2e93-4b3e-ad52-fda6007b8228

Kwasnicka, Dominika, Kale, Dimitra, Schneider, Verena, Keller, Jan, Asare, Bernard Yeboah-Asiamah, Powell, Daniel, Naughton, Felix, Hoor, Gill A. Ten, Verboon, Peter and Perski, Olga (2021) Systematic review of Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) studies of five public health-related behaviours: review protocol. BMJ Open, 11 (7). (doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2020-046435).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Introduction: ecological momentary assessment (EMA) involves repeated, real-time assessments of phenomena (eg, cognitions, emotions, behaviours) over a period of time in naturalistic settings. EMA is increasingly used to study both within-person and between-person processes. We will review EMA studies investigating key health behaviours and synthesise: (1) study characteristics (eg, frequency of assessments, adherence, incentives), (2) associations between psychological predictors and behaviours and (3) moderators of adherence to EMA protocols.

Methods and analysis: this review will focus on EMA studies conducted across five public health behaviours in adult, non-clinical populations: movement behaviour (including physical activity and sedentary behaviour), dietary behaviour, alcohol consumption, tobacco smoking and preventive sexual health behaviours. Studies need to have assessed at least one psychological or contextual predictor of these behaviours. Studies reporting exclusively on physiological outcomes (eg, cortisol) or those not conducted under free-living conditions will be excluded. We will search OVID MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO and Web of Science using terms relevant to EMA and the selected health behaviours. Reference lists of existing systematic reviews of EMA studies will be hand searched. Identified articles will be screened by two reviewers. This review is expected to provide a comprehensive summary of EMA studies assessing psychological or contextual predictors of five public health behaviours.

Ethics and dissemination: the results will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and presentations. Data from included studies will be made available to other researchers. No ethics are required.PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42020168314.

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e-pub ahead of print date: 16 July 2021

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 511492
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/511492
ISSN: 2044-6055
PURE UUID: 788710da-cb02-4aa3-8f95-c377c1ca6098
ORCID for Daniel Powell: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-4995-6057

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Date deposited: 18 May 2026 16:34
Last modified: 19 May 2026 02:13

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Contributors

Author: Dominika Kwasnicka
Author: Dimitra Kale
Author: Verena Schneider
Author: Jan Keller
Author: Bernard Yeboah-Asiamah Asare
Author: Daniel Powell ORCID iD
Author: Felix Naughton
Author: Gill A. Ten Hoor
Author: Peter Verboon
Author: Olga Perski

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