Schweitzer Ramona, Schlögl Stephan, Schweitzer Marco
Department Digital Business & Software Engineering, MCI|The Entrepreneurial School, Universitätsstrasse 15, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
Department Management, Communication & IT, MCI|The Entrepreneurial School, Universitätsstrasse 15, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
Eur J Investig Health Psychol Educ. 2024 Mar 7;14(3):584-608. doi: 10.3390/ejihpe14030039.
Non-communicable diseases are the leading cause of global deaths. The risk of their development and progression is increased by modifiable behavioral risk factors. Yet, despite the known benefits of primary and secondary prevention, people often do not follow recommendations for a healthier lifestyle. To this end, mobile health (mHealth) applications offer features for behavioral interventions. Yet, reported user engagement is often low. The objective of the work presented in this article is thus to evaluate the suitability of Design Thinking (DT) as a means to inform the development of an mHealth application that helps increase long-term engagement, and consequently supports individuals in sustainably changing their lifestyle. Applying the DT approach, key user needs and challenges were investigated and used to design a first low-fidelity mHealth application prototype. Think-Aloud analysis, task completion, and post-test interviews were then used to evaluate the prototype and generate early-stage insights. Subsequently, a structured, retrospective analysis of this process, evaluating the insight-generation potential of each step in the DT process cycle, was used to reflect on its suitability to inform mHealth application development. The respective results highlight (1) the distinct value of the DT method, particularly in the early stages of a development project; (2) the strong need for interdisciplinary collaboration in such projects, so as to capture realistic end-user requirements and improve the overall effectiveness of the application design; and (3) the significance of integrating behavioral change theories into the design of mHealth applications, in order to promote long-term engagement.
非传染性疾病是全球死亡的主要原因。可改变的行为风险因素会增加其发生和发展的风险。然而，尽管一级和二级预防有已知的益处，但人们往往不遵循更健康生活方式的建议。为此，移动健康（mHealth）应用程序提供了行为干预功能。然而，报告的用户参与度往往较低。因此，本文所介绍工作的目标是评估设计思维（DT）作为一种手段的适用性，以指导开发一款有助于提高长期参与度、进而支持个人可持续改变生活方式的移动健康应用程序。应用设计思维方法，对关键用户需求和挑战进行了调查，并用于设计第一个低保真度移动健康应用程序原型。然后通过出声思考分析、任务完成情况以及测试后访谈来评估该原型并生成早期见解。随后，对这一过程进行结构化的回顾性分析，评估设计思维过程周期中每个步骤产生见解的潜力，以反思其对指导移动健康应用程序开发的适用性。相应结果突出了：（1）设计思维方法的独特价值，尤其是在开发项目的早期阶段；（2）此类项目中跨学科合作的强烈需求，以便捕捉现实的最终用户需求并提高应用程序设计的整体有效性；（3）将行为改变理论融入移动健康应用程序设计的重要性，以促进长期参与度。
