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Table 1 Vegethon mobile app intervention mapped to behavior change techniques (BCTs)
| Behavior Change Techniquea | Definitionb | Intervention component and description |
|---|---|---|
| 1.1. Goal setting (behavior) | Set or agree on a goal defined in terms of the behavior to be achieved | Goals: select daily goals for number of servings and types of vegetables to consume |
| 1.6. Discrepancy between current behavior and goal | Draw attention to discrepancies between current behavior and previously set behavioral goals | Progress & points; progress: bar graphs showing the discrepancy between goals and recorded consumption |
| 1.9. Commitment | Ask the person to affirm or reaffirm statements indicating commitment to change the behavior | Surprise challenges: users are prompted to select “I’m in!” to affirm their commitment to undertake a surprise challenge |
| 2.2. Feedback on behavior | Monitor and provide informative or evaluative feedback on performance of the behavior | In-app notifications: notifications when users reach 100 % of their daily goal or a 3-day or 7-day vegetable logging streak |
| 2.3. Self-monitoring of behavior | Establish a method for the person to monitor and record their behavior | Select veggies: self-monitoring of vegetable servings and kinds consumed |
| 4.1. Instruction on how to perform a behavior | Advise or agree on how to perform the behavior | Advice & tips: information on how to cook or prepare different vegetable types, and ideas for completing challenges |
| 5.1. Information about health consequences | Provide information about health consequences of performing behavior | Advice & tips: information on health benefits of consuming vegetables |
| 6.2. Social comparison | Draw attention to others’ performance to allow comparison with the person’s own performance | Leaderboard; weekly reports: comparing users’ consumption with others similar to them |
| 6.3. Information about others’ approval | Provide information about what other people think about the behavior. | Weekly reports: great, good, or below average labels corresponding to participant performance |
| 7.1. Prompts/cues | Introduce or define environmental or social stimulus to cue behavior | Push notifications: notifications to prompt self-monitoring of vegetable consumption |
| 7.2. Reduce prompts/cues | Withdraw gradually prompts to perform the behavior | Push notifications: reduction in frequency if user has stopped logging, to reduce likelihood of annoyance |
| 9.1. Credible source | Present verbal or visual communication from a credible source in favor of or against behavior | Goals: indicate the ‘recommended’ daily veg intake from the USDA |
| 10.4 Social reward | Arrange verbal/non-verbal reward if and only if effort/progress is made | In-app notifications: messages to notify the user that a goal or challenge was met |
| 10.5. Social incentive | Inform that verbal or non-verbal reward will be delivered if and only if effort/progress is made | Challenges: challenges with point-based rewards that will be delivered if met |
| 13.1. Identification of self as role model | Inform that one’s own behavior may be an example to others | Push notifications: messages that label users as role models (e.g. You’re setting an impressive example in the Vegethon community.) |
| 13.2. Framing/reframing | Suggest adoption of new perspective on a behavior to change cognitions/emotions about it | Name, tutorial: overall intervention framed as a race to eat as many vegetables as possible (rather than meeting a minimum necessary threshold) |
| 13.5. Identity associated with changed behavior | Advise the person to construct a new self-identity | Push notifications; in-app notifications: messaging to help users begin to identify themselves as vegetable eaters (e.g., calling users ‘Vegethoners’) |
| 15.1. Verbal persuasion about capability | Tell the person they can successfully perform the wanted behavior | Push notifications: positivity even when participants haven’t met goals or interacted with app recently |
