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Tailoring Persuasive Health Messages to the Predominant Ego State of Patients

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Persuasive Technology (PERSUASIVE 2023)

Abstract

Lack of patient engagement has long been a problem in healthcare for chronic disease management. We report a study that explored the feasibility of applying Transactional Analysis theory to tailor health messages to the patient’s predominant ego state, assuming that messages with a complementary communication approach will be better comprehended and efficacious in triggering the targeted health behaviours. These personalized health messages were constructed by field experts in co-creation workshops and tested by chronic disease patients with various predominant ego states via interviews and a survey. Our experiment did not support the hypothesized superiority of complementary communication but revealed a general patient preference for supportive and professional communication styles. Future studies should explore the long-term efficacy of complementary communication considering also situational and cultural factors.

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Acknowledgments

The research leading to these results has received funding from the Zhejiang University-Philips-Eindhoven University of Technology Brain Bridge Program sponsored by Philips Research.

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Correspondence to Xinying Zhao .

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Zhao, X., Tao, M., Chen, Y., Yin, B., Markopoulos, P. (2023). Tailoring Persuasive Health Messages to the Predominant Ego State of Patients. In: Meschtscherjakov, A., Midden, C., Ham, J. (eds) Persuasive Technology. PERSUASIVE 2023. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13832. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-30933-5_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-30933-5_15

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