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Table 1 The domain of main characteristics of good practice for interventions and policies aiming at dietary behavior and physical activity change

From: Good practice characteristics of diet and physical activity interventions and policies: an umbrella review

Good practice category

Systematic reviews, stakeholders’ documents, and position review papers endorsing respective characteristics

Good practice characteristics

The use of theory

 

Theory applied in the development of intervention/policy

Systematic reviews [6,23-42]; Stakeholders’ documents [14,43-46]; Position reviews [47-49].

Participants

 

Target audience well defined (including socio-demographic characteristics, risk factors, and susceptibility factors)

Systematic reviews [21,24-26,31,39,50-59]; Position reviews [60,61].

Needs of target group are identified (needs are assessed; they inform the content of intervention/policy; target group involved in policy/intervention development)

Systematic reviews [21]; Stakeholders’ documents [14,46,62,63].

Family involvement (parents participating in programs for children/adolescents)

Systematic reviews [24,30,37,50,55,64-69]; Stakeholders’ documents [43,70,71]; Position reviews [47,49,72].

Target behavior

 

Target behavior well defined, specified, and adjusted to target population (e.g., walking, not physical activity)

Systematic reviews [36,37,39,41,50,51,57,66,68,73-75]; Stakeholders’ documents [14,63,76]; Position reviews [49,77-79].

Multidimensional approach

 

Multidimensionality of the approach (e.g., addressing individual/personal factors, social, and physical environment)

Systematic reviews [3,29,56,68,80-82]; Stakeholders’ documents [14,62,70,71,76,83-85]; Position reviews [72,86-88].

Physical environment accounted for (environmental structures, transportation, land use, etc.)

Systematic reviews [3,34,50,64]; Stakeholders’ documents [71]; Position reviews [86,89].

Content development and content management

Individual contacts and its intensity specified (including intensity of individual contacts with practitioners delivering interventions)

Systematic reviews [23,27,28,36,50,52,80,90-93]; Stakeholders’ documents [43,84]; Position reviews [8].

Duration (number of sessions, their length, frequency)

Systematic reviews [24,27,28,31,36,37,51-53,55,69,73,74,92,94-98].

Form of delivery (short messages, web based, self-guided with or without human support)

Systematic reviews [25,27,28,31-33,39,42,50,52,56,73,74,96,99-103]; Stakeholders’ documents [46,72].

Number of components (distinguishable elements/strategies used to prompt healthy diet/physical activity)

Systematic reviews [34,42,58,68,74,81,82,90,98]; Stakeholders’ documents [76,84].

General use of behavior change techniques: The use of any theory-based behavior change techniques

Systematic reviews: [6,23-26,30,31,33-35,37,38,40-42,50,73,97,98,104,105]; Stakeholders’ documents [43,71,76,106]; Position reviews [47,61,77].

Clarity achieved (clear presentation of the content, aims, processes, relations between elements, objectives)

Systematic reviews [21]; Stakeholders’ documents [43,45,62].

Tailoring (the content or materials adjusted to key characteristics of a target group)

Systematic reviews [24,27,32,51,54,56,80,90,97,99,101,107]; Stakeholders’ documents [62,106]; Position reviews [77].

Manuals/exact protocols exist (exact descriptions of content, components, and schedule of intervention/policy)

Systematic reviews [52]; Stakeholders’ documents [44,45,62,63].

The use of specific behavior change techniques: Self-monitoring and self-management strategies

Systematic reviews [6,26,41,104,108,109].

Practitioner and setting contexts

 

Practitioners well defined (skills, training, and required characteristics specified)

Systematic reviews [25,26,29,31,52,59,73,98,102]; Stakeholders’ documents [83]; Position reviews [47,79].

Setting characteristics well defined

Systematic reviews: [23-25,31,32,34,39,50,52,55,56,58,59,64,65,68,98,103,110]; Stakeholders’ documents:[44,46,70]; Position reviews: [8,79,87].