Abstract
We know much too little about how to design effective digital interventions to support sustained behavior change and improved well-being. The purpose of the present paper was to contribute in two ways. First, we want to contribute to current practice in designing such interventions. Second, we try to identify key research questions that could be a point of departure for a more detailed and comprehensive future research program. The propositions we suggest reflect that the construction of digital interventions should be seen as an iterative process which should take into account both "content" and "design" factors. However, we argue that intervention research and practical design experience is not just something that follows basic research at a polite distance, but rather is its inherent complement.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Fogg, T.J.: Persuasive Technology. Using Computers to Change What We Think and Do. Morgan Kaufman Publishers, Boston (2003)
Hughes, J.R., Keely, J., Naud, S.: Shape of the relapse curve and long-term abstinence among untreated smokers. Addiction 99, 29–38 (2004)
Albert, M., Spanos, C., Shikora, S.: Morbid Obesity: the value of surgical intervention. Clinical Family Practice 4, 2 (2002)
O’Donohue, W.T., Levensky, E.R.: Promoting treatment adherence: A practical handbook for health care providers. Sage Publications, Inc., New York (2006)
West, R.: Theory of addiction. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford (2006)
Vohs, K.D., Schmeichel, B.J.: Self-regulation and the extended now: Controllong the self alters the subjective experiene of time. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2, 217–230 (2003)
Baumeister, R.F., Heatherton, T.F., Tice, D.: Losing control: How and why people fail at self-regulation. Academic Press, London (1994)
Webb, T.L., Sheeran, P.: Integrating concepts from goal theories to understand the achievement of personal goals. European Journal of Social Psychology 35, 69–96 (2003)
Baumeister, R.F., Heatherton, T.F.: Self-regulation failure: An overview. Psychological Inquiry 1, 1–15 (1996)
Vohs, K.D., Heatherton, T.F.: Self-regulatory failure: A resource-depletion approach. Psychological Science 11, 249–254 (2000)
Piasecki, T.M., Fiore, M.C., McCarthy, D.E., Baker, T.B.: Have we lost our way? The need for dynamic formulations of smoking relapse proneness. Addiction 97, 1093–1108 (2002)
Metcalfe, J., Mischel, W.: A hot/cool-system analysis of delay of gratification: Dynamics of willpower. Psychological Review 1, 3–19 (1999)
Gollwitzer, P.M.: Implementation intentions: Strong effects of simple plans. American Psychologist 7, 493–503 (1999)
Shiffman, S., Paty, J.A., Gnys, M., Kassel, J.D., Hickcox, M.: First lapses to smoking: Within-subjects analyses of real-time reports. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 64, 366–379 (1996)
Piasecki, T.M., Fiore, M.C., Baker, T.B.: Profiles in discouragement: Two studies of variability in the time-course of smoking withdrawal symptoms. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 107, 238–251 (1998)
Muraven, M., Collins, R.L., Shiffman, S., Paty, J.A.: Daily fluctuations in self-control demands and alcohol intake. Psychology of Addictiive Behaviors 2, 140–147 (2005)
Kenford, S.L., Wetter, D.W., Jorenby, D.E., Fiore, M.C., Smith, S.S., Baker, T.B.: Predicting relapse back to smoking: Contrasting affective and pharmacological models of dependence. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 70, 216–227 (2002)
Shiffman, S., Waters, A.J.: Negative affect and smoking lapses: A prospective analysis. Relapse following smoking cessation: A situational analysis. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 50, 71–86 (2004)
Tice, D., Baumeister, R.F., Shmueli, D., Muraven, M.: Restoring the self: Positive affect helps improve self-regulation following ego depletion. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 43, 379–384 (2007)
Fredrickson, B.L., Levenson, R.W.: Positive emotions speed recovery from the cardiovascular sequelae of negative emotions. Cognition & Emotion 12, 191–220 (1998)
Snyder, C.R., Lopez, S.J.: Handbook of positive psychology. Oxford University Press, New York (2002)
Bless, H., Forgas, J.P.: The message within: The role of subjective experience in social cognition and behavior. Psychology Press, Philadelphia (2000)
Larsen, R.J.: Toward a science of mood regulation. Psychological Inquiry 11, 129–141 (2000)
Baumeister, R.F., Bratslavsky, E., Finkenauer, C., Vohs, K.D.: Bad is stronger than good. Review of General Psychology 5, 323–370 (2001)
Lenert, L., Munoz, R.F., Stoddard, J., Delucchi, K., Bansod, A., Skoczen, S.: Desig and pilot evaluation of an internet smoking cessation program. Journal of the American Medical mInformatics Association 10, 16–20 (2003)
Matano, R., Koopman, C., Wanat, S., Winzelberg, A., Whitsell, S., Westrup, D., Futa, K., Clayton, J., Mussman, L., Taylor, C.: A pilot study of an interactive web site in the workplace for reducing alcohol consumption. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment 1, 71–80 (2007)
Rayburn, J.: Uses and Gratifications: An Integrated approach to communication theory and research. Lawerence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Mahwah (1996)
Ferguson, D., Perse, E.: The World Wide Web as a functional alternative to television. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 2, 155–174 (2000)
DeLeone, W.H., McLean, E.R.: The DeLeone and McLean model of information systems success: A ten-year update. Journal of Management Information Systems 19, 9–30 (2003)
Norman, D.A.: Emotional design: Why we love (or hate) everyday things. Basic Books, New York (2003)
Baumeister, R.F., Heatherton, T.F.: Self-regulation failure: An overview. Psychological Inquiry 1, 1–15 (1996)
Brug, J., Glanz, K., van Assema, P., Kok, G., van Breukelen, G.: The impact of computer-tailored fedback and iterative feedback on fat, fruit, and vegetable intake. Health Education and Behavior 25, 517–531 (1998)
Brug, J., Campbell, M., van Assema, P.: The application and impact of coputer-generated personalized nutrition education: A review of the literature. Patient Education and Counseling 36, 145–156 (1999)
Hurling, R., Fairley, B.W., Dias, M.B.: Internet-based exercise intervention systems: Are more interactive designs better? Psychology & Health 6, 757–772 (2006)
Lewin, K.: Field theory in social science: Selected theoretical papers. Harper & Row, New York (1951)
Lewin, K.: Frontiers in group mechanics. In: Cartwright, D. (ed.) Field theory. Harper, New York (1947)
Rothman, A.J.: Is there nothing more practical than a good theory? Why innovations and advances in health behavior theory change will arise if interventions are used to test and refine theory. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Acitivity 1, 1–17 (2004)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Kraft, P., Drozd, F., Olsen, E. (2008). Digital Therapy: Addressing Willpower as Part of the Cognitive-Affective Processing System in the Service of Habit Change. In: Oinas-Kukkonen, H., Hasle, P., Harjumaa, M., Segerståhl, K., Øhrstrøm, P. (eds) Persuasive Technology. PERSUASIVE 2008. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 5033. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-68504-3_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-68504-3_16
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-68500-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-68504-3
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)