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Lookup NU author(s): Dr James Newham, Dr Ryc AquinoORCiD, Dr Anna Boath, Dr Louise HayesORCiD, Catherine McParlin, Dr Shona HastonORCiD, Professor Nicola HeslehurstORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© The Author(s) 2026. Systematic reviews of smoking, alcohol, diet and physical activity (PA) behaviour change interventions in pregnancy have high heterogeneity in effectiveness estimates for maternal behaviours and pregnancy outcomes, and it is unclear which features of interventions are integral to promoting effectiveness. This systematic review of reviews aimed to compare findings to identify any shared behaviour change techniques (BCTs), content, or delivery of interventions that may be associated with effectiveness across diet, physical activity, smoking and alcohol behaviours, and to identify intervention features showing promise in targeting one behaviour but have yet to be tested in addressing other behaviours. The search strategy covered reviews published between 2013 and 2025 and identified 66 reviews (9 smoking, 6 alcohol, 50 diet/PA, 1 smoking, diet, and/or PA). Diet/PA interventions should begin in the first trimester, run for a longer duration, and entail frequent engagement via a range of modalities in a supervised format (ideally from a specialist provider). Smoking intervention effectiveness was consistently associated with incentives and counselling. Brief interventions were consistently reported as effective interventions for alcohol use but there was a lack of standardisation in delivery. BCTs from the "goals and planning" and "feedback and monitoring" domains were routinely associated with effectiveness. Further research is required to explore intervention features that have shown promise in one behaviour but have yet to be tested for other behaviours, such as incentives in alcohol interventions.
Author(s): Newham JJ, Aquino MRJ, Jones D, Kingston L, Azevedo L, Boath A, Hayes L, McParlin C, Haston S, Heslehurst N
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Journal of Behavioral Medicine
Year: 2026
Pages: Epub ahead of print
Online publication date: 06/08/2026
Acceptance date: 18/07/2026
Date deposited: 18/08/2026
ISSN (print): 0160-7715
ISSN (electronic): 1573-3521
Publisher: Springer Nature
URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-026-00702-1
DOI: 10.1007/s10865-026-00702-1
Data Access Statement: All data are reported within the manuscript and supplementary materials.
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