Students used digital goals, but clear behavior-change benefits did not follow
An analysis of the Buddy intervention explored how students set goals and chose challenges after the trial found no strong, consistent effect of goal-setting alone.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
Students used Buddy's goal-setting component to express personal priorities, especially around physical activity and diet. Yet the parent trial found no strong, consistent evidence that goal-setting alone changed the targeted health behaviors. The engagement analysis helps explain how the component was used, but does not establish that setting a goal produced a health benefit.
This abstract-based account does not provide follow-up duration or numerical behavior-change effects. Associations between participant characteristics and component use cannot establish why some students engaged or whether engagement caused behavior change.
Personal goals went beyond the program's targets
Although Buddy targeted alcohol, diet, physical activity, and smoking, students also wrote about studying, mental health, sleep, and phone use. Their entries show how participants adapted the component to concerns that mattered to them.
Use and effectiveness are separate questions
Goal entries and challenge selections document interaction with the program. They do not themselves demonstrate changes in behavior. The authors found useful information in the self-authored content despite the absence of clear, consistent effects from goal-setting alone.
The original publication
Setting Goals and Accepting Challenges for Behavior Change-Analysis of Participants' Interactions With a Digital Multiple Health Behavior Intervention: Mixed Methods Study.
Åsberg K, Löf M, Bendtsen M
JMIR Hum Factors · 2025
- PubMed ID
- 40882186
- Record checked
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