Berger Michelle, Jung Carolin
FIM Research Center for Information Management, Augsburg, Germany.
Fraunhofer FIT, Augsburg, Germany.
Digit Health. 2024 Jun 11;10:20552076241260482. doi: 10.1177/20552076241260482. eCollection 2024 Jan-Dec.
Unhealthy eating habits are costly and can lead to serious diseases such as obesity. Nutrition apps offer a promising approach to improving dietary behavior. Gamification elements (GEs) can motivate users to continue using nutrition apps by making them more enjoyable, which can lead to more positive behavioral changes regarding dietary choices. However, the effects of users' preferences and individual characteristics on gamified systems are not yet understood. Current calls for research suggest that personalized gamified systems might lead to user satisfaction, continuous app use, and-ultimately-long-term improvements in diet.
The aim was to determine the most preferred GEs in nutrition apps and to define clusters of GEs preferences in terms of personality and socio-demographic characteristics.
We surveyed 308 people to measure their preferences regarding GEs in nutrition apps and applied best-worst scaling to determine the most preferred GEs. Furthermore, we used cluster analysis to identify different user clusters and described them in terms of personality and socio-demographic characteristics.
We determine that GEs most favored are goals, progress bars, and coupons. We revealed three distinct user clusters in terms of personality and socio-demographic characteristics. Based on the individual factors of openness and self-perception, we find that significant differences exist between the preferences for leaderboards and coupons.
We contribute by shedding light on differences and similarities in GE preferences relating to specific contexts and individual factors, revealing the potential for individualized nutrition apps. Our findings will benefit individuals, app designers, and public health institutions.
不健康的饮食习惯代价高昂，且会导致肥胖等严重疾病。营养应用程序为改善饮食行为提供了一种有前景的方法。游戏化元素（GEs）可以通过使营养应用程序更具趣味性来激励用户持续使用，这可能会导致在饮食选择方面出现更积极的行为变化。然而，用户偏好和个体特征对游戏化系统的影响尚不清楚。当前的研究呼吁表明，个性化的游戏化系统可能会带来用户满意度、应用程序的持续使用，并最终实现饮食方面的长期改善。
确定营养应用程序中最受欢迎的游戏化元素，并根据个性和社会人口统计学特征定义游戏化元素偏好的集群。
我们对308人进行了调查，以测量他们对营养应用程序中游戏化元素的偏好，并应用最佳-最差尺度法来确定最受欢迎的游戏化元素。此外，我们使用聚类分析来识别不同的用户集群，并根据个性和社会人口统计学特征对其进行描述。
我们确定最受欢迎的游戏化元素是目标、进度条和优惠券。我们根据个性和社会人口统计学特征揭示了三个不同的用户集群。基于开放性和自我认知的个体因素，我们发现排行榜和优惠券的偏好之间存在显著差异。
我们通过揭示与特定背景和个体因素相关的游戏化元素偏好的异同，为个性化营养应用程序的潜力提供了依据。我们的研究结果将使个人、应用程序设计师和公共卫生机构受益。
