SynthesisBMC public health2019
The effect of commitment-making on weight loss and behaviour change in adults with obesity/overweight; a systematic review.
Synthesis in BMC public health, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Enhancing Weight Loss Programs: A Meta-Analysis of Financial Incentives and Behavior Change Techniques.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2026Pooled it
- Impact on step count by commitment-based health application.PloS one · 2024Trial
- Results of an African American-targeted norm-based colorectal cancer screening intervention: a pilot study.Journal of behavioral medicine · 2023Trial
- Validation of the most cost-effective nudge to promote workers' regular self-weighing: a cluster randomized controlled trial.Scientific reports · 2022Trial
- Trial
- Article
- Adherence to Behavioral Weight Management: A Scoping Review of Definitions, Measurement, and Components.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2026Article
- Behavioural public policy should take the psychology of poverty into account.Communications psychology · 2025Review
- Article
- Insights from older adults' lived experience of physical activity and exercise during the COVID-19 lockdown in England.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2024Article
- Temporary abstinence challenges: What do we need to know?Drug and alcohol review · 2023Article
- Enhancing community weight loss groups in a low socioeconomic status area: Application of the COM-B model and Behaviour Change Wheel.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2022Article
- Education of the primary health care staff based on acceptance and commitment therapy is associated with reduced sick leave in a prospective controlled trial.BMC family practice · 2021Article
- Article
- Mobile health apps: An exploration of user-generated reviews in Google Play Store on a physical activity application.Digital healthArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAdherence to weight loss interventions is crucial to successful outcomes, yet little is known about how best to improve it. This suggests a need for developing and improving adherence strategies, such as formal commitments. This review aims to identify the effect of including a commitment device alongside lifestyle interventions on weight loss, and identify the most appropriate delivery mechanisms and target behaviours.
methodsWe searched five databases and hand-searched reference lists for trials of behavioural interventions to achieve weight loss among adults with excess weight or obesity. Interventions incorporating commitment devices were included in a narrative review and meta-analysis where appropriate. Commitment devices with financial incentives were excluded.
resultsOf 2675 unique studies, ten met the inclusion criteria. Data from three randomised trials including 409 participants suggests that commitment interventions increases short-term weight loss by a mean of 1.5 kg (95% CI: 0.7, 2.4). Data from two randomised trials including 302 patients suggests that benefits were sustained at 12 months (mean difference 1.7 kg; 95% CI: 0.0, 3.4). Commitment devices appeared most successful when made publicly, and targeting diet rather than physical activity.
conclusionsUsing commitment devices, such as behavioural contracts, as part of a weight loss intervention may be useful in improving weight loss outcomes and dietary changes, at least in the short-term. However, evidence is limited and of variable quality so results must be interpreted with caution. Poor reporting of intervention details may have limited the number of identified studies. More rigorous methodology and longer term follow-ups are required to determine the effectiveness of behavioural contracts given their potential for use in public health interventions.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.