Prescribing Behavior Change: Opportunities and Challenges for Clinicians to Embrace Digital and Mobile Health

Individual behaviors impact physical and mental health. Everyday behaviors such as physical activity, diet, sleep, and tobacco use have been associated with a range of acute and chronic medical conditions. Educating, motivating, and promoting sustained healthy behaviors can be challenging for clinical providers attempting to manage their patients’ health. The ubiquity and integration of mobile and digital health devices (eg, wearable step counters, smartphone-based apps) allow for individuals to generate and record enormous amounts of patient-generated health data. Research studies have begun to reveal how mobile and digital devices offer promise in motivating individual behavior change but they have not had consistent results. In this viewpoint, we discuss the potential synergy of digital health modalities and behavioral strategies as an approach for clinicians to prescribe, motivate, monitor, and sustain healthy behaviors. We discuss the strengths, challenges, and opportunities for the future of promoting health behaviors.