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How do motivational text messages impact motivation to exercise?: implications for the design of activity trackers

Published: 23 September 2019 Publication History

Abstract

We study the motives of regular and non-regular exercisers' engagement with motivational text messages and the importance individuals attribute to visual presentation. A total of 160 individuals were surveyed (80 regular exercisers and 80 non-regular exercisers). We found regular exercisers use motivational text messages in order to encourage their exercise routine. Non-regular exercisers use motivational text messages mainly to try to boost their exercise motivation. Individuals, independent of their exercise profile, prefer to see motivational text messages presented in a mixed way, sometimes as text-only and sometimes embedded in a visual presentation. Participants reported that an aesthetically appealing visual presentation helps instill a positive feeling regarding the text, and the visual presentation was considered as important as the textual content. We conclude with a number of implications for the design of activity trackers.

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  • (2024)Negotiation strategies in ubiquitous human-computer interaction: a novel storyboards scale & field studyMultimedia Tools and Applications10.1007/s11042-024-20240-9Online publication date: 19-Sep-2024

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    cover image ACM Other conferences
    CHItaly '19: Proceedings of the 13th Biannual Conference of the Italian SIGCHI Chapter: Designing the next interaction
    September 2019
    197 pages
    ISBN:9781450371902
    DOI:10.1145/3351995
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    Published: 23 September 2019

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    Author Tags

    1. exercise motivation
    2. motivational text messages

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    • Agência Regional para o Desenvolvimento da Investigação Tecnológica e Inovação, Madeira Island, Portugal

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    CHItaly '19 Paper Acceptance Rate 23 of 47 submissions, 49%;
    Overall Acceptance Rate 109 of 242 submissions, 45%

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    • (2024)Negotiation strategies in ubiquitous human-computer interaction: a novel storyboards scale & field studyMultimedia Tools and Applications10.1007/s11042-024-20240-9Online publication date: 19-Sep-2024

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