Positive changes in daily life? A meta-analysis of positive psychological ecological momentary interventions

Abstract

Positive psychological interventions (PPI) hold promise for boosting well-being and quality of life in diverse populations, but not much is known about their efficacy as ecological momentary interventions (EMIs, e.g. via mobile applications) in daily life. This meta-analysis uses random-effects models to examine the efficacy of PPI-EMIs compared to control groups (active or passive) and exploring study region, age, gender, and risk of bias as moderators. Overall, 16 studies were included (N = 3397, 69.1% female, M_age = 21.87, SD = 13.02). We observed clinically significant effects in favor of the intervention for positive affect at posttest (k = 6; g = 0.29; p = 0.05) and well-being at follow-up (k = 5; g = 0.21; p = 0.13). No significant moderator effects were found. The number of studies was small for each outcome, risk of bias was mixed, and heterogeneity of effects was moderate to high for most outcomes.