CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 138Behavioral Health and InterventionsAnxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive ProcessesBehavioral and Psychological Studies

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 123 of the 124 references it cites were found in a registry or an index, and 1 are not checked yet.

Does forming implementation intentions help people with mental health problems to achieve goals? A meta‐analysis of experimental studies with clinical and analogue samples

Toli, Agoro, Webb, Thomas L., Hardy, Gillian E.·2016·British Journal of Clinical Psychology
DOI 10.1111/bjc.12086
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Objective: People struggle to act on the goals that they set themselves, and this gap between intention and action is likely to be exacerbated by mental health problems. Evidence suggests that forming specific if‐then plans (or ‘implementation intentions’) can promote goal attainment and a number of studies have applied such techniques in clinical contexts. However, to date, the extent to which planning can help people with mental health problems has not been systematically examined. Method: The present review used meta‐analysis to investigate the effect of if‐then planning on goal attainment among people with a DSM ‐ IV / ICD ‐10 diagnosis (i.e., clinical samples) or scores above a relevant cut‐off on clinical measures (i.e., analogue samples). In total, 29 experimental studies, from 18 records, met the inclusion criteria. Results: Excluding one outlying (very large) effect, forming implementation intentions had a large‐sized effect on goal attainment ( d + = 0.99, k = 28, N = 1,636). Implementation intentions proved effective across different mental health problems and goals, and in studies with different methodological approaches. Conclusions: Taken together, the findings suggest that forming implementation intentions can be a useful strategy for helping people with mental health problems to achieve various goals and might be usefully integrated into existing treatment approaches. However, further studies are needed addressing a wider range of mental health problems. Practitioner points: This meta‐analysis suggests that prompting people with mental health problems to form if‐then plans (known as ‘implementation intentions’) specifying when, where, and how they will achieve their goals can be beneficial. The findings proved robust across a range of methodologies, samples, and focal goals, suggesting that forming implementation intentions can help people with a range of mental health problems to achieve a range of different goals. We provide guidance to researchers and practitioners in how to promote the formation of implementation intentions.

Overview

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1111/bjc.12086

Cites

123 of 124 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Verification

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Citations

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Show all 124 references

Research works printed but not linked: 23

  1. 10.1037/0022‐3514.78.1.1.53 · DOI
  2. 10.1037//0033‐2909.120.3.338 · DOI · Paper page
  3. *Bandura J.(2007).Implementation intentions/secondary behavioural initiation reinforcement among ADHD adults(Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertation and Theses database (UMI no. 3278531).
  4. 10.1037/0022‐3514.74.5.1252 · DOI · Paper page
  5. 10.1037/0033‐2909.112.1.115 · DOI
  6. Cooper H. M., 1986, Integrating research: A guide for literature reviews
  7. Doran G. T., 1981, There's a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management's goals and objectives, Management Review, 70, 35
  8. *Garrett C.(2010).Using implementation intentions as an intervention for negative and disorganised signs of schizophrenia(Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database (UMI no U558032).
  9. 10.1037//0003‐066X.54.7.493 · DOI · Paper page
  10. 10.1037//0022‐3514.73.1.186 · DOI · Paper page
  11. Gollwitzer P. M., 2010, Then a miracle occurs: Focusing on behavior in social psychological theory and research, 137
  12. 10.1037/0735‐7028.7.3.403 · DOI
  13. Heckhausen H., 1987, Jenseits des Rubikon: Der wille in den humanwissenschaften [Beyond the Rubicon: The will in the human sciences], 3
  14. Heckhausen H., 1986, In memoriam Hermann Ebbinghaus: Symposium on the structure and function of human memory, 1071
  15. Hedges L., 1985, Statistical methods for meta‐analysis
  16. 10.1037//0022‐3514.83.1.231 · DOI · Paper page
  17. 10.1037//0894‐4105.15.1.80 · DOI · Paper page
  18. Prestwich A., Predicting and changing health behaviour: Research and practice with social cognition models
  19. 10.1037/0021‐843X.101.4.728 · DOI · Paper page
  20. 10.1037//0022‐3514.83.6.1261 · DOI
  21. Sheeran P., 2011, Frontiers in social psychology: Goal‐directed behavior, 175
  22. Triandis H. C., 1980, Nebraska symposium of motivation, 195
  23. *Wood A.(2011).Rehabilitation of executive function deficits following acquired brain injury: An RCT of goal management and implementation intentions for the improvement of prospective memory(Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database (UMI no. U575195).

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

See all

Metadata

Authors
Toli, A., Webb, T. L., & Hardy, G. E.
Affiliations
University of Sheffield (GB)
Corresponding author
Webb, Thomas L.
ORCID
Venue
British Journal of Clinical Psychology
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2015-05-12
Volume
55
Issue
1
Pages
69-90
ISSN
  • 0144-6657 (ISSN-L)
  • 2044-8260
DOI
10.1111/bjc.12086
OpenAlex
W1538005095
Cited by
137
References
124
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 59 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 1
FWCI
0.88
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor (vor)
Locations
  • British Journal of Clinical Psychology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • White Rose Research Online (University of Leeds, The University of Sheffield, University of York) (acceptedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Behavioral Health and Interventions
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Behavioral and Psychological Studies
Keywords
implementation intentions, if-then planning, goal achievement, mental illness, intention-behavior gap, goal setting, clinical samples, treatment integration
MeSH terms
Achievement, Mental Disorders, Goals, Humans, Mental Health, Intention

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review