Evaluating public health campaigns on health promotion, substance use prevention and physicalactivity: asystematicreview

Abstract

Public health campaigns on substance use and physical activity aid disease prevention. This review examines how process evaluations are conducted in substance use and physical activity campaigns, focusing on methodologies, theoretical frameworks, implementation quality, fidelity, reach, and delivery. Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, a comprehensive literature search was conducted across PubMed, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Scopus, ProQuest, and Google Scholar from 1990 up to April 2025. Eligible studies included randomized controlled trials, quasi-experimental, and observational designs involving adult human participants and reporting process or implementation evaluation components. Twenty-one studies met inclusion criteria. A one-step forward citation analysis was performed using the bibliometrix package in R. Findings revealed that 62% of studies reported process evaluation components, with 52% employing mixed-method approaches. Commonly cited theoretical frameworks included the Transtheoretical Model, Theor yofPlannedBehaviour,andSocialCognitiveTheory.Only20%ofstudiesexplicitlydefinedprocessevaluationobjectives,andfewtranslatedfindingsintoactionableimplementationadaptations.Bibliometricanalysisindicatedinfluenceacross373publications,primarilyfromtheUnitedStates,Australia,andCanada.Overall,processevaluationinpublichealthcampaignsremaininconsistent.Toenhancethequalityandutilityofsuchevaluations,greatertheoreticalintegration,improvedmethodologicaltransparency,andtheuseofstandardizedassessmenttoolsarerecommended.