Alqahtani Felwah, Al Khalifah Ghazayil, Oyebode Oladapo, Orji Rita
Computer Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada.
Computer Science, King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia.
Front Artif Intell. 2019 Dec 17;2:30. doi: 10.3389/frai.2019.00030. eCollection 2019.
Mobile applications have shown promise in supporting people with mental health issues to adopt healthy lifestyles using various persuasive strategies. However, the extent to which mental health apps successfully employ various persuasive strategies remains unknown. Hence, it is important to understand the persuasive strategies integrated into mental health applications (apps) and how they are implemented to promote mental health. This paper aims to achieve three main objectives. First, we review 103 mental health apps and identify distinct persuasive strategies incorporated in them using the Persuasive Systems Design (PSD) model and Behavior Change Techniques (BCTs). We further classify the persuasive strategies based on the type of mental health issues the app is focused on. Second, we reveal the various ways that the persuasive strategies are implemented/operationalized in mental health apps to achieve their intended objectives. Third, we examine the relationship between apps effectiveness (measured by user ratings) and the persuasive strategies employed. To achieve this, two researchers independently downloaded and used all identified apps to identify the persuasive strategies using the PSD model and BCTs. Next, they also examine the various ways that these strategies are implemented in mental health apps. The results show that the apps employed 26 distinct persuasive strategies and a range of 1-10 strategies per app. ( = 59), ( = 55), and ( = 49) were the most frequently employed strategies. We also found that anxiety, stress, depression, and general mental health issues were the common mental health issues targeted by the apps. Finally, we offer some design recommendations for designing mental health apps based on our findings.
移动应用程序已显示出有望通过各种说服策略来支持有心理健康问题的人采用健康的生活方式。然而，心理健康应用程序成功运用各种说服策略的程度仍然未知。因此，了解融入心理健康应用程序（应用）中的说服策略以及它们如何实施以促进心理健康非常重要。本文旨在实现三个主要目标。首先，我们审查了103款心理健康应用程序，并使用说服系统设计（PSD）模型和行为改变技术（BCTs）确定其中包含的不同说服策略。我们还根据应用程序关注的心理健康问题类型对说服策略进行分类。其次，我们揭示了说服策略在心理健康应用程序中实施/运作以实现其预期目标的各种方式。第三，我们研究应用程序有效性（以用户评分衡量）与所采用的说服策略之间的关系。为了实现这一目标，两名研究人员独立下载并使用所有已识别的应用程序，使用PSD模型和BCTs来识别说服策略。接下来，他们还研究了这些策略在心理健康应用程序中的各种实施方式。结果表明，这些应用程序采用了26种不同的说服策略，每个应用程序采用的策略范围为1至10种。（= 59）、（= 55）和（= 49）是最常采用的策略。我们还发现，焦虑、压力、抑郁和一般心理健康问题是这些应用程序针对的常见心理健康问题。最后，我们根据研究结果为设计心理健康应用程序提供了一些设计建议。
