CONSORT-EHEALTH: Improving and Standardizing Evaluation Reports of Web-based and Mobile Health Interventions

By Gunther Eysenbach. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 2011

1,813 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Background Web-based and mobile health interventions (also called “Internet interventions” or "eHealth/mHealth interventions") are tools or treatments, typically behaviorally based, that are operationalized and transformed for delivery via the Internet or mobile platforms. These include electronic tools for patients, informal caregivers, healthy consumers, and health care providers. The Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) statement was developed to improve the suboptimal reporting of randomized controlled trials (RCTs). While the CONSORT statement can be applied to provide broad guidance on how eHealth and mHealth trials should be reported, RCTs of web-based interventions pose very specific issues and challenges, in particular related to reporting sufficient details of the intervention to allow replication and theory-building. Objective To develop a checklist, dubbed CONSORT-EHEALTH (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials of Electronic and Mobile HEalth Applications and onLine TeleHealth), as an extension of the CONSORT statement that provides guidance for authors of eHealth and mHealth interventions. Methods A literature review was conducted, followed by a survey among eHealth experts and a workshop. Results A checklist instrument was constructed as an extension of the CONSORT statement. The instrument has been adopted by the Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR) and authors of eHealth RCTs are required to submit an electronic checklist explaining how they addressed each subitem. Conclusions CONSORT-EHEALTH has the potential to improve reporting and provides a basis for evaluating the validity and applicability of eHealth trials. Subitems describing how the intervention should be reported can also be used for non-RCT evaluation reports. As part of the development process, an evaluation component is essential; therefore, feedback from authors will be solicited, and a before-after study will evaluate whether reporting has been improved.

Subfields: Applied Psychology, General Health Professions, Sociology and Political Science

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Citations in the corpus

Developing and Evaluating Digital Interventions to Promote Behavior Change in Health and Health Care: Recommendations Resulting From an International Workshop (2017, background): “The advice provided here is specific to DBCIs, but it should also build on the good practice of reporting general mHealth interventions published elsewhere to ensure adequate description of the technical components of the intervention [44,45].”
Adherence to a Smartphone Application for Weight Loss Compared to Website and Paper Diary: Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial (2013, methodology): “gov NCT01744535) and reported in accordance with the CONSORT-EHEALTH checklist [33].”
An overview of the features of chatbots in mental health: A scoping review (2019, background): “There are several reporting guidelines for researchers, such as the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials of electronic and mobile health applications and online telehealth (CONSORT-EHEALTH) [57] and the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) Statement [58”
Computer-Delivered and Web-Based Interventions to Improve Depression, Anxiety, and Psychological Well-Being of University Students: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (2014, methodology): “Authors should aim to provide a CONSORT-EHEALTH statement to help report their interventions [31] so the design and content of interventions can be viewed clearly.”
Using Psychological Artificial Intelligence (Tess) to Relieve Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety: Randomized Controlled Trial (2018, methodology): “Refer to the Multimedia Appendix 2 for this study’s Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials-eHealth checklist [18].”
Can Mobile Phone Apps Influence People’s Health Behavior Change? An Evidence Review (2016, methodology): “It might be possible to blind outcome assessors, those doing data analysis, or those administering co-interventions, which is one of the 22 essential items recommended in the CONSORT checklist [54].”
Guidelines for reporting of health interventions using mobile phones: mobile health (mHealth) evidence reporting and assessment (mERA) checklist (2016, background): “13 Although CONSORT-EHEALTH is aimed at web based intervention trials, several mHealth interventions, especially in low and middle income countries, do not have an active web based component.”
Conversational agents in healthcare: a systematic review (2018, background): “…such as the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials of electronic and mobile health applications and online telehealth (CONSORT-EHEALTH), 46 the Transparent Reporting of Evaluations with Nonrandomized Designs (TREND) statement, 47 and the Standards for Reporting Diagnostic accuracy…”
Annual Research Review: Digital health interventions for children and young people with mental health problems – a systematic and meta‐review (2017, background): “There have been attempts to standardise and improve reporting of trials in the field with an eHealth version of the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials statement (‘CONSORT eHealth’; Eysenbach, 2011).”