Research

Adherence

Automated indexing of personal health behavior change stories significantly increases self-efficacy for weight loss compared to randomly selected stories.

To boost your confidence in losing weight, seek out personal stories that specifically match your background and current mindset. Instead of reading random advice, look for narratives from people who are at the same stage of change as you and share your demographic traits. This tailored approach is more likely to increase your belief that you can succeed.

ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
Participants who read indexed stories exhibited a significantly greater increase in self-efficacy for weight loss compared to the control group (F1,107=5.5, P=.02).
Ramesh Manuvinakurike et al. · Journal of Medical Internet Research · 2014

Why this rating

Pilot study with a small, biased sample (crowdsourcing, US-based, educated) and short duration.

Source

Automated Indexing of Internet Stories for Health Behavior Change: Weight Loss Attitude Pilot Study

Ramesh Manuvinakurike et al. · Journal of Medical Internet Research · 2014

DOI 10.2196/jmir.3702

rct · n=103Cited 42×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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