Methods: Mind the Gap webinar—Using Micro-Randomized Trials To Optimize the Design of Mobile Health Interventions

Mobile Health (mHealth) interventions often include theory-based components, such as goal-setting, self-monitoring, planning, etc. To implement these components in a concrete technology, such as an app, researchers and designers must make many decisions about how exactly the intervention components should work (for example, the timing of delivery of each component, the specifics of user interaction)—decisions that go beyond the guidance provided by the theories on which the components are based.

In this presentation, Dr. Klasnja will describe how micro-randomized trials can be used to make data-driven decisions about how exactly individual components of mHealth interventions should work to optimize their effectiveness. He will argue that a key value of micro-randomized trials during intervention development is their ability to generate data for informing decisions about the many specifics—from the design of the interface to the adaptation algorithms—that must be determined to implement an mHealth intervention. Data from micro-randomized trials enable such decisions to be made in ways that maximize intervention effectiveness while minimizing user burden.