How persuasive are serious games, social media and mHealth technologies for vulnerable young adults? Design factors for health behavior and lifestyle change support: Sexual health case

Olga Kulyk, Chantal Den Daas, Silke David, Lisette Van Gemert-Pijnen

Research output: Contribution to journalConference articlepeer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Modern eHealth technologies, such as serious games, social media and mobile applications addressing health behavior support are evolving rapidly. High-risk young adults with low educational background and of foreign origin could especially benefit from personalized health technologies, designed for their special needs. Sexual health is a delicate subject and well-designed and tailored health technologies are needed to meet the needs of the target group and enhance uptake. The aim of this exploratory user study is to identify the persuasive features and design factors that contribute to the use and uptake of existing and new health technologies. Four focus groups were conducted with 37 young adults to gain insights into their needs and attitudes, with sexual health case used in the study. Qualitative data analysis was performed based on Persuasive Design model to identify stimulating, blocking and neutral persuasive features, specific for high-risk young adults, as well as generic design factors. Five generic design factors are formulated based on our findings: (1) anonymity, (2) interactivity, (3) portability (4) source and (5) comprehensibility. These findings aim at informing the design of health technologies for lifestyle and sexual health behavior change support of high-risk young adults, and could be applicable for young adults in general and other health topics.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)28-42
Number of pages15
JournalCEUR Workshop Proceedings
Volume1369
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2015
Event3rd International Workshop on Behavior Change Support Systems, BCSS 2015 - co-located with the 10th International Conference on Persuasive Technology, PERSUASIVE 2015 - Chicago, United States
Duration: 3 Jun 20153 Jun 2015

Keywords

  • eHealth
  • Focus groups
  • mHealth
  • Persuasive systems design model
  • Serious gaming
  • Social media
  • Young adults

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