Systematic review of digital interventions to support refusal self-efficacy in child and adolescent health promotion

Refusal self-efficacy protects against risky health behavior. Digital interventions have the potential to support self-efficacy due to the enactive experience provided by digital technologies. The aim of this systematic literature review was to evaluate the evidence of digital interventions to support refusal self-efficacy in child and adolescent health promotion. Following the Cochrane Collaboration guidelines, five electronic databases were searched from 2009 to 2020. The studies were assessed by two independent reviewers according to the eligibility criteria. Eligible studies were included in the review, assessed for risk of bias, synthesized narratively and assessed for evidence quality with the GRADE approach. Twenty-three studies, that examined 18 different interventions, were included in the review. The interventions included various digital elements as means to support the child and adolescent refusal self-efficacy (e.g. games, videos, feedback and activities for regulating feelings). The interventions improving refusal self-efficacy were more often used at home setting and addressed the four sources of self-efficacy with different digital elements regardless of intervention duration and intensity. Although the results on intervention effects varied and the evidence quality remained low, the overall evidence concerning these interventions was encouraging. Based on the subgroup analysis, the results were mainly encouraging among girls. When these interventions are implemented in health promotion, their benefits and weaknesses need to be considered comprehensively. The results provide information for designing and developing digital interventions to support child and adolescent refusal self-efficacy. Further research with larger sample sizes and more rigorous study designs is needed to strengthen the evidence of these interventions.