Challenges and solutions for N-of-1 design studies in health psychology
© 2019, © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Theories of behaviour change and health behaviour change interventions are most often evaluated in between-person designs. However, behaviour change theories apply to individuals not groups and behavioural interventions ulti...
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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Routledge
2019
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/74043 |
| _version_ | 1848763164834922496 |
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| author | Kwasnicka, Dominika Inauen, J. Nieuwenboom, W. Nurmi, J. Schneider, A. Short, C. Dekkers, T. Williams, A. Bierbauer, W. Haukkala, A. Picariello, F. Naughton, F. |
| author_facet | Kwasnicka, Dominika Inauen, J. Nieuwenboom, W. Nurmi, J. Schneider, A. Short, C. Dekkers, T. Williams, A. Bierbauer, W. Haukkala, A. Picariello, F. Naughton, F. |
| author_sort | Kwasnicka, Dominika |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | © 2019, © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Theories of behaviour change and health behaviour change interventions are most often evaluated in between-person designs. However, behaviour change theories apply to individuals not groups and behavioural interventions ultimately aim to achieve within-person rather than between-group change. Within-person methodology, such as N-of-1 (also known as single case design), can circumvent this issue, though has multiple design-specific challenges. This paper provides a conceptual review of the challenges and potential solutions for undertaking N-of-1 studies in health psychology. Key challenges identified include participant adherence to within-person protocols, carry-over and slow onset effects, suitability of behaviour change techniques for evaluation in N-of-1 experimental studies, optimal allocation sequencing and blinding, calculating power/sample size, and choosing the most suitable analysis approach. Key solutions include involving users in study design, employing recent technologies for unobtrusive data collection and problem solving by design. Within-person designs share common methodological requirements with conventional between-person designs but require specific methodological considerations. N-of-1 evaluation designs are appropriate for many though not all types of interventions. A greater understanding of patterns of behaviours and factors influencing behaviour change at the within-person level is required to progress health psychology into a precision science. Video abstract: Supplementary Material 1. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T10:59:07Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-74043 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T10:59:07Z |
| publishDate | 2019 |
| publisher | Routledge |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-740432019-02-19T04:28:12Z Challenges and solutions for N-of-1 design studies in health psychology Kwasnicka, Dominika Inauen, J. Nieuwenboom, W. Nurmi, J. Schneider, A. Short, C. Dekkers, T. Williams, A. Bierbauer, W. Haukkala, A. Picariello, F. Naughton, F. © 2019, © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Theories of behaviour change and health behaviour change interventions are most often evaluated in between-person designs. However, behaviour change theories apply to individuals not groups and behavioural interventions ultimately aim to achieve within-person rather than between-group change. Within-person methodology, such as N-of-1 (also known as single case design), can circumvent this issue, though has multiple design-specific challenges. This paper provides a conceptual review of the challenges and potential solutions for undertaking N-of-1 studies in health psychology. Key challenges identified include participant adherence to within-person protocols, carry-over and slow onset effects, suitability of behaviour change techniques for evaluation in N-of-1 experimental studies, optimal allocation sequencing and blinding, calculating power/sample size, and choosing the most suitable analysis approach. Key solutions include involving users in study design, employing recent technologies for unobtrusive data collection and problem solving by design. Within-person designs share common methodological requirements with conventional between-person designs but require specific methodological considerations. N-of-1 evaluation designs are appropriate for many though not all types of interventions. A greater understanding of patterns of behaviours and factors influencing behaviour change at the within-person level is required to progress health psychology into a precision science. Video abstract: Supplementary Material 1. 2019 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/74043 10.1080/17437199.2018.1564627 Routledge restricted |
| spellingShingle | Kwasnicka, Dominika Inauen, J. Nieuwenboom, W. Nurmi, J. Schneider, A. Short, C. Dekkers, T. Williams, A. Bierbauer, W. Haukkala, A. Picariello, F. Naughton, F. Challenges and solutions for N-of-1 design studies in health psychology |
| title | Challenges and solutions for N-of-1 design studies in health psychology |
| title_full | Challenges and solutions for N-of-1 design studies in health psychology |
| title_fullStr | Challenges and solutions for N-of-1 design studies in health psychology |
| title_full_unstemmed | Challenges and solutions for N-of-1 design studies in health psychology |
| title_short | Challenges and solutions for N-of-1 design studies in health psychology |
| title_sort | challenges and solutions for n-of-1 design studies in health psychology |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/74043 |