Use of behaviour change techniques in lifestyle change interventions for people with intellectual disabilities: A systematic review.
BACKGROUND
People with intellectual disabilities (ID) experience more health problems and have different lifestyle change needs, compared with the general population.


OBJECTIVE
To improve lifestyle change interventions for people with ID, this review examined how behaviour change techniques (BCTs) were applied in interventions aimed at physical activity, nutrition or physical activity and nutrition, and described their quality.


METHODS
After a broad search and detailed selection process, 45 studies were included in the review. For coding BCTs, the CALO-RE taxonomy was used. To assess the quality of the interventions, the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) scale was used. Extracted data included general study characteristics and intervention characteristics.


RESULTS
All interventions used BCTs, although theory-driven BCTs were rarely used. The most frequently used BCTs were 'provide information on consequences of behaviour in general' and 'plan social support/social change'. Most studies were of low quality and a theoretical framework was often missing.


CONCLUSIONS
This review shows that BCTs are frequently applied in lifestyle change interventions. To further improve effectiveness, these lifestyle change interventions could benefit from using a theoretical framework, a detailed intervention description and an appropriate and reliable intervention design which is tailored to people with ID.
Research Group Healthy Ageing, Allied Health Care and Nursing, Hanzehogeschool Groningen, P.O. Box 3109, 9701 DC Groningen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: m.willems@pl.hanze.nl.
Mariël
M
Willems
Intellectual Disability Medicine, Department of General Practice, Erasmus MC, University Medical Center Rotterdam, P.O. Box 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Thessa I M
TI
Hilgenkamp
Research Group Healthy Ageing, Allied Health Care and Nursing, Hanzehogeschool Groningen, P.O. Box 3109, 9701 DC Groningen, The Netherlands.
Else
E
Havik
Research Group Healthy Ageing, Allied Health Care and Nursing, Hanzehogeschool Groningen, P.O. Box 3109, 9701 DC Groningen, The Netherlands.
Aly
A
Waninge
Institute of Health and Wellbeing, College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Gartnavel Royal Hospital, 1055 Great Western Road, Glasgow G12 0XH, United Kingdom.
Craig A
CA
Melville
D001521:Behavior Therapy; D000072001:Diet, Healthy; D015444:Exercise; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D000070497:Healthy Lifestyle; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000534:rehabilitation*
Behaviour change technique; Health promotion; Intellectual disability; Lifestyle change intervention; Nutrition; Physical activity; Physiotherapy evidence database (PEDro) scale