Interventions for improving treatment adherence in young people with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD): A systematic review of behaviour change theory and behaviour change techniques.

Only seven interventions and 217 young people were included, with sample sizes ranging from 9 to 76, so the review is small and heterogeneous. Meta-analysis was not possible because of sample size and heterogeneity, so findings were synthesised narratively. Significant adherence effects were often subgroup-only, and some studies were not sufficiently powered for subgroup analyses. Outcome assessors were not blinded in the randomised trials. Intervention content, participant characteristics, parent involvement, ethnicity, prescribed medications and statistical details were poorly reported. No included intervention reported using behaviour change theory, and interventions were not described using the behaviour change technique taxonomy. The interventions addressed oral medication adherence only, not non-oral medications or lifestyle recommendations. Six of seven interventions were conducted in the USA, mainly by the same research team, limiting generalisability. Because interventions contained multiple components, the contribution of any single component cannot be separated.

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest. The work was funded by Crohn's and Colitis UK and Aston University, with funding awarded to Dr Gemma Heath.

Do not conclude that family-based programmes or specific techniques reliably improve medication taking for all adolescents with IBD. Benefits were inconsistent, often limited to small subgroups or specific medications, and because interventions included multiple components, the contribution of any single component cannot be separated.