Table 3.

Details of interventions, adherence assessments, theory and behaviour change techniques from included studies (n = 19)

Reference	Intervention	Adherence measurement	Measure validated	Type of outcome	Associated behaviour change techniques	Theory involved
[33]	Online programme consisting of three e-Health applications, including a chat section, home exercises and a discussion board	Adherence to the programme was measured after completing the programmes by describing how many people had completed the whole course. Also, each participant’s presence during the chats on the discussion board and finishing the exercises of the online programme were measured (frequencies reported)	No	Secondary outcome	Goal setting (unspecified)	No
[34]a	Three-month physiotherapist-supervised high-intensity exercise programme	Exercise adherence was recorded by the physiotherapist as attendance at the supervised sessions and as accomplishment of the individual session of personal choice by inspection of the pulse watch. Exercise adherence was also self-reported by the participants in a personal exercise diary to enhance motivation. Reported as the percentage who followed ≥80% of the prescribed exercise protocol	No	Secondary outcome	No	Health beliefs model, because exercise health beliefs were the primary outcome
[35]a	Three-month physiotherapy supervised high-intensity exercise programme	Reported as the percentage who followed ≥80% of the prescribed exercise protocol	No	Secondary outcome	No	No
[36]	Exercise programme delivered by a single physiotherapist, with leaflets to facilitate correct performance of the exercises	Self-reported rates of adherence to a home-based programme of exercises (percentage)	No	Feasibility outcome	No	No
[37]	Two-year supervised high-intensity exercise programme	At 18 months of follow-up, all participants completed a 10-item questionnaire comprising questions on frequency, intensity and compliance with exercises, and the reasons for not continuing the participation in the RAPIT group and choice of an alternative if applicable. Patients reporting participation in extended RAPIT groups or other classes were asked to give the name of their supervisor, and their participation was checked with the lists of participants available from the providers	No	Primary outcome	No	No
[38]a	The JP group education programme consisted of four weekly 2-h sessions, plus an optional home visit within 2 weeks of the end of the programme. It was led by an experienced rheumatology occupational therapist covering RA, drug treatments, diet, exercise, pain management, relaxation and joint protection	Joint protection behaviour assessment: performances of 20 tasks when making a hot drink and snack meal were assessed as incorrect, partly correct or correct joint protection methods, with scores converted to percentages. A higher score indicates increased adherence	Yes	Primary outcome	No	Educational, behavioural, motor learning and self-efficacy enhancing strategies to increase adherence
[39]a	The JP group education programme consisted of four weekly 2-h sessions, plus an optional home visit within 2 weeks of the end of the programme. It was led by an experienced rheumatology occupational therapist covering RA, drug treatments, diet, exercise, pain management, relaxation and joint protection	Joint protection behaviour assessment: performances of 20 tasks when making a hot drink and snack meal were assessed as incorrect, partly correct or correct joint protection methods, with scores converted to percentages. A higher score indicates increased adherence	Yes	Primary outcome	Instruction on how to perform the behaviour, demonstration of the behaviour, feedback on behaviour, problem-solving, habit formation, goal setting (behaviour), behavioural contract and social support (unspecified), credible source (an experienced rheumatology therapist delivered intervention), information about health consequences, verbal persuasion about capability, behaviour practice/rehearsal, self-monitoring of behaviour	Group education programme was developed using the health belief model and self-efficacy theory
[40]a	The JP group education programme consisted of four weekly 2-h sessions, plus an optional home visit within 2 weeks of the end of the programme. It was led by an experienced rheumatology occupational therapist covering RA, drug treatments, diet, exercise, pain management, relaxation and joint protection	Joint protection behaviour assessment: performances of 20 tasks when making a hot drink and snack meal were assessed as incorrect, partly correct or correct joint protection methods, with scores converted to percentages. A higher score indicates increased adherence	Yes	Primary outcome	Instruction on how to perform the behaviour, demonstration of the behaviour, feedback on behaviour and problem-solving, behaviour practice/rehearsal, habit formation, information about health consequences	No
[41]	The active group received a multidisciplinary education programme, including training in home-based exercises and guidelines for leisure physical activity. The control group received a booklet added to usual medical care	Compliance with home-based exercises was defined as a practice rate ≥30% of the prescribed training. Compliance with leisure physical activity was defined as ≥20% increase in Baecke questionnaire score. Additional assessments involved possible predictors of compliance and changes with regard to the compliance Exercise compliance assessment at a given visit. The compliance rate for home-based exercise was measured as described [33]. The mean weekly practice was calculated as the proportion of self-reported mean weekly number of exercises to total number of exercises included in the home-based programme. To be compliant, each participant had to have a compliance rate ≥30%, meaning at least a daily mean practice of a set of three different exercises whatever the exercises performed and have disrupted training for <1 month before the 6-month follow-up visit and <2 months before the 12-month follow-up visit Leisure physical activity compliance was measured by comparing the baseline and follow-up (6- or 12-month) level of leisure physical activity as assessed by the Baecke questionnaire. Given that identification of a minimal clinically important difference is lacking for the Baecke score, we decided that compliant participants had to have increased their score by ≥20% over that at baseline. This threshold was chosen because of its clinical relevance and out of respect to the five-point scale of the Baecke questionnaire	No	Primary outcome	No	No
[42]	Eight-week group hatha yoga programme	Number completing intervention (not necessarily attending all sessions)	No	Feasibility outcome	No	No
[43]	The dance-based exercise programme was developed and led by a physical fitness instructor in collaboration with an occupational therapist and a physical therapist. Each training session included four phases, all taking place to musical arrangements: warm-up, aerobic exercise, recovery and cool-down. The dance-based exercise period was made up of slow movements, creating a rhythmic pattern that involved all joints	Compliance measured as rate of participation in sessions (descriptive)	No	Feasibility outcome	No	No
[44]a	Individually tailored moderate- to high-intensity strengthening and stretching exercises over five sessions with an occupational therapist or physiotherapist	Interview schedule questions: Was there anything that helped you to do the exercises regularly? Was there anything that made it difficult for you to do the exercises regularly? Did the exercise programme work for you? Why do you think that the exercise programme would work for some and not others? Themes/subthemes linked to adherence	No	Secondary outcome	Goal setting (unspecified) and behavioural contract	Educational behavioural model based on the health beliefs model
[45]	The training group performed a 12-week supervised Nordic walking training for 30 min twice a week using individually monitored, moderate-intensity heart rate levels	Based on the physiotherapists’ protocols for group adherence and on the participants’ diaries, the percentage who performed at least three training units per week (i.e. two Nordic walking training sessions and one additional unsupervised cardiovascular training unit)	No	Feasibility outcome	No	No
[46]	Three main components constituted the intervention programme: (i) at least moderate-intensity physical activity for ≥30 min on most days of the week; (ii) at least two weekly 45 min circuit training sessions, including both muscle strength training (50–80% of one repetition maximum, 3–10 repetitions) and aerobic exercises (60–85% of maximal heart rate); and (iii) biweekly support group meetings	Two text messages were sent once each week to collect data on the number of days during the past week that participants performed circuit training sessions and on how many additional days of the past week they performed at least moderate-intensity physical activity for ≥30 min. Support group meeting attendance was registered by the coaches. Participants were categorized into adherers and non-adherers based on 50, 70 and 90% participation in circuit training sessions, total HEPA and support group meetings, respectively	Yes (EMA)	Secondary outcome	No	No
[47]	Educated with the types of back exercise and the importance of adhering to standard exercise therapy by rheumatologists	Exercising for ≥30 min per day and performing back exercise on ≥5 days per week were defined as adherence to the standard exercise therapy	Yes	Secondary outcome	No	No
[48]	Twelve-session group programme covering pain coping skills, lifestyle behavioural weight loss plus supervised exercise sessions three times per week	Descriptive statistics (percentage)	No	Feasibility outcome	No	No
[49]	An 8‐week programme of group and home yoga practice. Group practice consisted of once‐weekly 75‐min yoga classes, conducted by a qualified yoga instructor and class assistant. Home practice consisted of a 20‐min guided relaxation, based on the relaxation technique practised in the group sessions. A CD, recorded by the yoga instructor, was provided. Participants were asked to practise three times per week, at a time and day of their choice	Protocol adherence (a priori level of 6/8 group classes and 16/24 home classes acceptable). Adherence to home practice in the previous week was reported verbally to the yoga instructor at the beginning of each session, and barriers and adherers to home practice were discussed among the group	No	Feasibility outcome	No	No
[50]a	Individually tailored moderate- to high-intensity strengthening and stretching exercises over five sessions with an occupational therapist or physiotherapist	To assess adherence to the exercise programme, all participants were asked to report how often they performed hand exercises for their RA (frequency, percentage)	No	Secondary outcome	No	Educational behavioural model based on the health beliefs model

^aSame research group/study but difference in samples and reporting.