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Theories to Inform Superior Health Informatics Research and Practice pp 163–184Cite as

Persuasive Technologies and Behavior Modification Through Technology: Design of a Mobile Application for Behavior Change

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Part of the book series: Healthcare Delivery in the Information Age ((Healthcare Delivery Inform. Age))

Abstract

Even though there are numerous health and fitness applications at the app stores and the majority of people have downloaded at least one of them, they have a limited effect, or people stop using them after a short period of time. This work tries to solve these problems by tailoring behavioral interventions to individual users with the aim to achieve a long-term behavior change.

By influencing motivational factors and most relevant processes of change, there is an abstraction that allows tailoring these interventions to a limited number of target groups instead of every single user. Additionally, the motivational factors, as well as the processes of change, can be translated into functional and nonfunctional requirements, which are the link between the theoretical framework and the practical implementation.

The result of this work is a ready-to-use Android application that demonstrates the theoretic model behind the tailored interventions by leading the user to a long-term behavior change, like being more physically active. Furthermore, one specific service, that is necessary for some target groups, has been developed to complete this model as well as to showcase the details of tailored interventions.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Institute of Information Systems, Nuremberg, Germany

    Andreas Hamper, Isabella Eigner & Alexander Popp

Authors
  1. Andreas Hamper
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  2. Isabella Eigner
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  3. Alexander Popp
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andreas Hamper .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Epworth HealthCare, Richmond, Victoria, Australia

    Nilmini Wickramasinghe

  2. Deakin University, Burwood, Australia

    Jonathan L. Schaffer

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Hamper, A., Eigner, I., Popp, A. (2018). Persuasive Technologies and Behavior Modification Through Technology: Design of a Mobile Application for Behavior Change. In: Wickramasinghe, N., Schaffer, J. (eds) Theories to Inform Superior Health Informatics Research and Practice. Healthcare Delivery in the Information Age. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72287-0_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72287-0_11

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-72286-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-72287-0

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