Table 2.
Moderators of the effectiveness of mobile technology–delivered interventions for youth: higher-quality studies onlya.
| Characteristics | kb | Effect sizes, n | B0 (intercept), g (95% CI) | B1 (slope), g (95% CI) | F test (df1, df2) | P value | ||||
| Methodological characteristics | ||||||||||
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Study quality | 38 | 428 | 0.20 (0.11 to 0.29)*** | –0.0005 (–0.03 to 0.03) | 0.001 (1, 426) | .97 | |||
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Comparison group type | 3.25 (2, 425) | .04 | |||||||
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No intervention (RCc; eg, wait-list) | 21 | 215 | 0.26 (0.18 to 0.35)*** | N/Ad |
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Inert (eg, placebo or information-only) | 15 | 112 | 0.14 (0.05 to 0.23)** | –0.13 (–0.23 to –0.03)* |
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Clinical (eg, established intervention) | 7 | 101 | 0.12 (–0.01 to 0.26)e | –0.14 (–0.29 to 0.01)e |
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| Youth Characteristics | ||||||||||
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Mean age (years) | 36 | 407 | 0.19 (0.11 to 0.26)*** | 0.01 (–0.0002 to 0.03)e | 3.75 (1, 405) | .05 | |||
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Risk level and type | 1.18 (3, 424) | .32 | |||||||
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General sample not selected for risk (RC) | 17 | 175 | 0.13 (0.03 to 0.24)** | N/A |
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Nonmental health (ie, medical) risks | 1 | 2 | 0.11 (–0.50 to 0.72) | –0.03 (–0.64 to 0.59) |
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Psychological or mental health at-risk sample | 16 | 229 | 0.25 (0.15 to 0.36)*** | 0.12 (–0.03 to 0.27) |
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Psychological clinical sample (diagnosis) | 4 | 22 | 0.31 (0.07 to 0.55)* | 0.18 (–0.09 to 0.44) |
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| Intervention characteristics | ||||||||||
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Prescribed frequency of use | 1.79 (4, 423) | .13 | |||||||
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As much as feasible; ≥4 days per week (RC) | 22 | 306 | 0.23 (0.14 to 0.32)*** | N/A |
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Some days, or more than once a week | 5 | 27 | 0.22 (0.02 to 0.42)* | –0.01 (–0.22 to 0.21) |
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About once a week | 3 | 36 | 0.40 (0.15 to 0.66)*** | 0.18 (–0.09 to 0.44) |
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One-time session | 2 | 15 | 0.13 (–0.20 to 0.46) | –0.10 (–0.44 to 0.25) |
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Not stated, when needed, or at user discretion | 6 | 44 | 0.03 (–0.14 to 0.20) | –0.20 (–0.39 to –0.01)* |
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aThis table presents moderation results for higher-quality studies (k=38) only in cases where the statistical significance of the moderation effect differs from the full-sample (k=80) results presented in Table 1. The right columns list the omnibus F test and P value for each moderation test. The middle columns list the intercept (B0), or mean effect size, and slope (B1), an estimated unstandardized regression coefficient, of the relevant Hedges g statistics, with CIs around each. Effects and slopes that differ significantly from 0 are denoted with asterisks in the intercept (B0) and slope (B1) columns, respectively. For categorical moderators, each intercept represents the mean effect of a category, whereas each slope represents the difference in the mean effect between the category and reference category. Depending on its sign, the slope of a continuous moderator represents an increase or decrease in the effect size with each unit increase in the variable.
bNumber of studies with relevant ES data for a given row. In cases of multiple interventions or comparisons, some studies were counted in multiple rows; thus, these numbers sometimes exceeded 38. Owing to missing data, some counts fell short of 38. Further details on what was included in different categories of the included moderators are provided in the Methods section.
cRC: reference category.
dN/A: not applicable (as the slope represents a comparison with the reference category).
eP<.10.
*P<.05.
**P<.01.
***P<.001.