Young adults' motivation and engagement in digital lifestyle change interventions: a systematic review

Despite increased awareness and understanding of healthy lifestyles, interventions typically have only short-term effects on behavior. Limitations of traditional behavior change theories and the lack of theory integration hinder theory-driven behavior change applications. The aim of this systematic review is to synthesize existing evidence on strategies for enhancing motivation and engagement in lifestyle change within digital health promotion interventions. This review was conducted according to the guidelines of the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) and a Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews (PRISMA) statement. All studies were searched in online databases PubMed, ProQuest, ScienceDirect, and CINAHL. The search period was from inception to May 17th, 2025. The selection of the studies was carried out jointly by two independent reviewers. The research quality was evaluated using the JBI critical appraisal tools. 1404 studies were screened, and 19 were included. The interventions included mobile-based, web-based, and multi-component interventions. Population ranged from 47 to 4591 participants. Interventions targeted diet quality, calcium intake, physical activity, weight gain prevention and weight-related behaviors, metabolic syndrome (MetS) prevention, substance use, gambling, digital media use, sexual health, preconception care, and self-selected health behaviors. Many interventions were developed using health behavior change techniques and theoretical frameworks. Interventions used multiple different methods supporting motivation and engagement. To achieve behavior change through lifestyle interventions, it is essential to design interventions that foster motivation and sustain user engagement. Modern digital solutions could help improve the usability and engaging elements in interventions. Future studies should aim to investigate post intervention effects on behavior change to determine the long-term effects of digital lifestyle change interventions.