Skip to main content
Springer Nature Link
Log in

Designing for App Usage Motivation to Support a Gluten-Free Diet by Comparing Various Persuasive Feedback Elements

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Human-Computer Interaction. Interaction Techniques and Novel Applications (HCII 2021)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 12763))

Included in the following conference series:

  • 1777 Accesses

Abstract

A gluten-free diet (GFD) is critical for people who are affected by celiac disease. To understand how to support people affected by celiac disease through persuasive technology, two apps called Snackfinder and CeliApp were designed within the EU-funded Erasmus + project DESQOL. While Snackfinder is based on the persuasive principle of social support and the CeliApp on self-monitoring, both applications require user entries to be effective. Therefore, various persuasive design elements were implemented in both applications to motivate users to make entries. The extent to which these persuasive design elements contributed to app usage motivation was evaluated in two comparative quasi-experimental user studies.

A significant difference in the motivation to make further entries in the Snackfinder App was found for positive versus negative feedback. No significant difference was found for the comparison of the two rating systems (Star rating versus Like rating) or the comparison of the two variants of color-based feedback in the CeliGear (a physical computing object) connected to the CeliApp. The evaluation of the social feedback in two rating systems and of two variants of the color-based feedback showed a high variance in the respondents’ answers. To increase the persuasiveness of the apps presented, user- and context-adaptive design elements seem to be more promising compared to a one-size-fits-all approach.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Burke, L.E., et al.: Current science on consumer use of mobile health for cardiovascular disease prevention: a scientific statement from the American Heart Association. Circulation 132, 1157–1213 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1161/CIR.0000000000000232

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Zhang, X., Deng, Z., Parvinzamir, F., Dong, F.: MyHealthAvatar lifestyle management support for cancer patients. Ecancermedicalscience 12 (2018).https://doi.org/10.3332/ecancer.2018.849

  3. Haskins, B.L., Lesperance, D., Gibbons, P., Boudreaux, E.D.: A systematic review of smartphone applications for smoking cessation. Transl. Behav. Med. 7(2), 292–299 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13142-017-0492-2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Gal, R., May, A.M., van Overmeeren, E.J., Simons, M., Monninkhof, E.M.: The effect of physical activity interventions comprising wearables and smartphone applications on physical activity: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Sports Med. Open 4(1), 1–15 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40798-018-0157-9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Coughlin, S.S., Whitehead, M., Sheats, J.Q., Mastromonico, J., Smith, S.: A review of smartphone applications for promoting physical activity. Jacobs J. Commun. Med. 2(1) (2016). http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27034992

  6. Shin, J.C., Kim, J., Grigsby-Toussaint, D.: Mobile phone interventions for sleep disorders and sleep quality: Systematic review. JMIR mHealth uHealth 5(9), e131 (2017). https://doi.org/10.2196/mhealth.7244

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Coughlin, S.S., Whitehead, M., Sheats, J.Q., Mastromonico, J., Hardy, D., Smith, S.A.: Smartphone applications for promoting healthy diet and nutrition: a literature review. Jacobs J. Food Nutr. 2(3), 021 (2015). http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26819969

  8. Torning, K., Oinas-Kukkonen, H.: Persuasive system design: state of the art and future directions. ACM Int. Conf. Proc. Ser. 350, 1–8 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1145/1541948.1541989

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Justine Dowd, A., Jackson, C., Tang, K.T.Y., Nielsen, D., Clarkin, D.H., Nicole Culos-Reed, S.: MyHealthyGut: development of a theory-based self-regulatory app to effectively manage Celiac disease. mHealth 4, 19–19 (2018). https://doi.org/10.21037/mhealth.2018.05.05

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Nikniaz, Z., Shirmohammadi, M., Akbari Namvar, Z.: Development and effectiveness assessment of a Persian-language smartphone application for celiac patients: a randomized controlled clinical trial. Patient Educ. Couns. (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2020.08.014

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Lindemann, P., Koelle, M., Kranz, M.: Persuasive technologies and applications. Adv. Embed. Interact. Syst. 3(2), 46 (2015). http://www.eislab.fim.uni-passau.de/files/publications/2015/TR2015-PersuasiveTechnologies.pdf

  12. Cialdini, R.: Harnessing the science of persuasion. Harv. Bus. Rev. 79(9), 72–81 (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  13. King, P., Tester, J.: The landscape of persuasive technologies. Commun. ACM 42(5), 31–38 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1145/301353.301398

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Halko, S., Kientz, J.A.: Personality and persuasive technology: an exploratory study on health-promoting mobile applications. In: Ploug, T., Hasle, P., Oinas-Kukkonen, H. (eds.) PERSUASIVE 2010. LNCS, vol. 6137, pp. 150–161. Springer, Heidelberg (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-13226-1_16

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  15. Orji, R., Moffatt, K.: Persuasive technology for health and wellness: state-of-the-art and emerging trends. Health Inf. J. 24(1), 66–91 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1177/1460458216650979

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Fogg, B.J.: Persuasive Technology: Using Computers to Change What We Think and Do. Morgan Kaufmann Publishers Inc., San Francisco (2003)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  17. Oinas-Kukkonen, H., Harjumaa, M.: A systematic framework for designing and evaluating persuasive systems. In: Oinas-Kukkonen, H., Hasle, P., Harjumaa, M., Segerståhl, K., Øhrstrøm, P. (eds.) PERSUASIVE 2008. LNCS, vol. 5033, pp. 164–176. Springer, Heidelberg (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-68504-3_15

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  18. de Graaf, M.M.A., Allouch, S.B., van Dijk, J.A.G.M.: Long-term evaluation of a social robot in real homes. Interaction Studies. Social Behaviour and Communication in Biological and Artificial Systems 17(3), 461–490 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1075/is.17.3.08deg

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Saksono, H., Castaneda-Sceppa, C., Hoffman, J., Morris, V., Seif El-Nasr, M., Parker, A. G.: Storywell: designing for family fitness app motivation by using social rewards and reflection. In: Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 1–13 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1145/3313831.3376686.

  20. Kim, Y.H., Kim, D.J., Wachter, K.: A study of mobile user engagement (MoEN): engagement motivations, perceived value, satisfaction, and continued engagement intention. Decis. Support Syst. 56(1), 361–370 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dss.2013.07.002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Itzlinger, A., Branchi, F., Elli, L., Schumann, M.: Gluten-free diet in celiac disease—forever and for all? Nutrients 10, 1796 (2018). https://doi.org/10.3390/nu10111796

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Olsson, C., Hrnell, A., Ivarsson, A., Sydner, Y.M.: The everyday life of adolescent coeliacs: issues of importance for compliance with the gluten-free diet. J. Hum. Nutr. Diet. 21(4), 359–367 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-277X.2008.00867.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Berkovsky, S., Freyne, J., Oinas-Kukkonen, H.: Influencing individually: fusing personalization and persuasion. ACM Trans. Interact. Intell. Syst. 2(2), 1–8 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1145/2209310.2209312

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Lu, S., Ham, J., Midden, C.: Red radiators versus red tulips: the influence of context on the interpretation and effectiveness of color-based ambient persuasive technology. In: Meschtscherjakov, A., De. Ruyter, B., Fuchsberger, V., Murer, M., Tscheligi, M. (eds.) PERSUASIVE 2016. LNCS, vol. 9638, pp. 303–314. Springer, Cham (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31510-2_26

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  25. Kensing, F., Blomberg, J.: Participatory design: issues and concerns. Comput. Support. Coop. Work 7(3–4), 167–185 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008689307411

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Davis, J.: Design methods for ethical persuasive computing. ACM Int. Conf. Proc. Ser. 350, 1 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1145/1541948.1541957

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Karppinen, P., Oinas-Kukkonen, H.: Three approaches to ethical considerations in the design of behavior change support systems. In: Berkovsky, S., Freyne, J. (eds.) PERSUASIVE 2013. LNCS, vol. 7822, pp. 87–98. Springer, Heidelberg (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-37157-8_12

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  28. Cheng, J., Danescu-Niculescu-Mizil, C., Leskovec, J.: How community feedback shapes user behavior. In: Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Weblogs and Social Media, ICWSM 2014, pp. 41–50 (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  29. Midden, C., Ham, J.: Using negative and positive social feedback from a robotic agent to save energy. In: Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Persuasive Technology (2009). https://doi.org/10.1145/1541948.1541966.

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was carried out as part of the DESQOL project. The DESQOL project was co-funded by the Erasmus + programme of the European Union (2018-1-IE02-KA203-000613).

We thank all the project partners in the DESQOL project for there expertise and their contribution to the user-centred design process to conceptualize the applications Snackfinder and CeliApp: The consortium lead partner Institute of Technology Carlow (Ireland), the lead medical partner St. Lukes Hospital in Kilkenny (Ireland), the Stitching Hogeschool van Amsterdam (The Netherlands), Universidad de Seville and Foundation IHP Seville (Spain) and the University of Applied Sciences Vorarlberg (Austria).

Our special thanks to the students in the computer science master program at the Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences who developed the apps Snackfinder and CeliApp und conducted the user tests in their third semester (WS 2019/20).

The Snackfinder App was developed and tested by Christina Tschol, Christoph Fabian Rheinberger, Florian Sebastian Bechtold and Jan Fleisch.

The CeliApp was developed and tested by Anna Malena Rauch, Florian Richter, Gerhard Stark and Simeon Bösch.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. UCT Research, Vorarlberg University of Applied Sciences, Dornbirn, Austria

    Katrin Paldán, Andreas Künz & Walter Ritter

  2. Institute of Technology Carlow, Carlow, Ireland

    Daire O. Broin

Authors
  1. Katrin Paldán
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Andreas Künz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Walter Ritter
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Daire O. Broin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Katrin Paldán .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Open University of Japan, Chiba, Japan

    Masaaki Kurosu

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Paldán, K., Künz, A., Ritter, W., Broin, D.O. (2021). Designing for App Usage Motivation to Support a Gluten-Free Diet by Comparing Various Persuasive Feedback Elements. In: Kurosu, M. (eds) Human-Computer Interaction. Interaction Techniques and Novel Applications. HCII 2021. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12763. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-78465-2_33

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-78465-2_33

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-78464-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-78465-2

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics