Primary Task Support Research Articles

Persuasive software features as antecedents to perceived compliance within physical activity behavior change support systems

ABSTRACT Although behavior change support systems (BCSS) have the potential to improve compliance using persuasive software features, there is a dearth of empirical evidence on how these features impact perceived compliance. This study aimed to investigate how and to what extent the persuasiv systems design (PSD) principles in physical activity BCSS influence perceived compliance. Quantitative data from 403 participants (165 users and 238 prospective users of BCSS designed for PA) was analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling. Results revealed differences in how the PSD principles impact perceived compliance between users and prospective users. Perceptions of dialogue support, credibility support, and social support were more relevant to prospective users than to users. Thus, designers should pay more attention to these principles to attract and engage prospective users of BCSS. Conversely, primary task support was more relevant to users than to prospective users. This indicates that once prospective users transition to active users, the focus should shift towards providing persuasive features that facilitate the performance of the primary task. These findings underscore the importance of developing intelligent BCSS that can adapt to the evolving needs and preferences of users at different stages of their interactions with a system.

Preferences for Text Messaging Supports During Youth Transition to Adult Mental Health Services: Theory-Informed Modified e-Delphi Study.

For many young people, the transition from child to adult mental health services is a vulnerable time associated with treatment disengagement and illness progression. Providing service information and options to youth, appealing to them, and tailoring to their needs during this period could help overcome systematic barriers to a successful transition. We know little about how SMS text message-based interventions might be leveraged to support the motivational, informational, and behavioral needs of youth during this time. Ascertaining youth preferences for the content and functionality of an SMS text message service could inform prototype development. This study investigated consensus preferences among youth on important content, technology features, and engagement supports to inform a transition-focused SMS text message service. A modified e-Delphi survey design was used to collect demographics, current levels of technology use, importance ratings on message content, preferred technical features, and barriers and enablers to engagement for youth in Canada aged 16-26 years who have accessed mental health services within the past 5 years. Survey items on content were categorized according to the information-motivation-behavioral skills (IMB) model. Survey items on technical features were categorized according to the persuasive system design (PSD) model. A predefined consensus rating matrix and descriptive statistics were used to characterize the sample. The high consensus threshold was 70%. A total of 100 participants, predominantly non-White (n=47, 47%), aged 20-26 years (n=59, 59%), and who had first accessed mental health services between the ages of 13 and 19 years (n=60, 60%), were selected. The majority (n=90, 90%) identified as daily SMS text message users. A high level of consensus on importance ratings was reported in 45% (9/20) of content items based on the IMB model. There were higher levels of consensus on importance ratings related to behavior domain items (3/3, 100%) than information domain items (4/9, 44%) or motivation domain items (2/8, 25%). A high level of consensus on importance ratings was reported in only 19% (4/21) of feature and functionality items based on the PSD model. Among PSD model categories, there was a high level of consensus on importance ratings in 8% (1/12) of the primary task support domain items and 100% (3/3) of the system credibility support domain items. None of the dialogue-support and social-support domain items met the high level of consensus thresholds. In total, 27% (27/100) of youth indicated that the most significant enabler for engaging with a transition-focused SMS text message intervention was the personalization of text messages. Scientists developing next-generation SMS text messaging interventions for this population need to consider how levels of consensus on different features may impact feasibility and personalization efforts. Youth can (and should) play an integral role in the development of these interventions.

How online pro-environmental games affect users’ pro-environmental behavioural intentions? — Insights from Ant Forest

Information technology has created new ways for people to participate in environmental protection. Ant Forest, a pro-environmental game that actively encourages users to take part in offline environmental activities through online gaming content, has gained great popularity. However, research in this area is still limited, and the effect of playing such games on users' pro-environmental intentions in real life and the underlying mechanisms are unknown. Therefore, this research draws from Persuasive Systems Design model and value theory and examines the relationships between design features of Ant Forest, users' values and their pro-environmental behavioural intentions. The research model is empirically tested by survey data from 428 Ant Forest users. Results indicate that users' self-enhancement values, including utilitarian, hedonic and social values, and self-transcendence values, including altruistic and biospheric values, all positively affect their continued gameplay intentions and therefore affect their pro-environmental behavioural intentions. Additionally, the primary task support, social support, dialogue support, and system credibility of Ant Forest have varying positive effects on users’ perceived values.

Persuasive Systems Design Trends in Coronary Heart Disease Management: Scoping Review of Randomized Controlled Trials.

Behavior change support systems (BCSSs) have the potential to help people maintain healthy lifestyles and aid in the self-management of coronary heart disease (CHD). The Persuasive Systems Design (PSD) model is a framework for designing and evaluating systems designed to support lifestyle modifications and health behavior change using information and communication technology. However, evidence for the underlying design principles behind BCSSs for CHD has not been extensively reported in the literature. This scoping review aims to identify existing health BCSSs for CHD, report the characteristics of these systems, and describe the persuasion context and persuasive design principles of these systems based on the PSD framework. Using the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews) guidelines, 3 digital databases (Scopus, Web of Science, and MEDLINE) were searched between 2010 to 2022. The major inclusion criteria for studies were in accordance with the PICO (Population, Intervention, Comparison, and Outcome) approach. Searches conducted in the databases identified 1195 papers, among which 30 were identified as eligible for the review. The most interesting characteristics of the BCSSs were the predominant use of primary task support principles, followed by dialogue support and credibility support and the sparing use of social support principles. Theories of behavior change such as the Social Cognitive Theory and Self-Efficacy Theory were used often to underpin these systems. However, significant trends in the use of persuasive system features on par with behavior change theories could not be established from the reviewed studies. This points to the fact that there is still no theoretical consensus on how best to design interventions to promote behavior change in patients with CHD. Our results highlight key software features for designing BCSSs for the prevention and management of CHD. We encourage designers of behavior change interventions to evaluate the techniques that contributed to the success of the intervention. Future research should focus on evaluating the effectiveness of the interventions, persuasive design principles, and behavior change theories using research methodologies such as meta-analysis.

Effects of a mobile health intervention on health-related outcomes in Japanese office workers: a pilot study.

The purpose of the current study was to explore the effects of a mobile health (mHealth) intervention based on the Persuasive System Design (PSD) model on health-related outcomes among office workers. The authors conducted a trial that consisted of a 4-week baseline and an 8-week intervention period by reference to 23 office workers in a private research company. The mHealth application was developed to improve these workers' daily step count, decrease their sedentary time, and increase their sleep duration in accordance with the PSD model. The app features included at least 1 principal factor from each of the 4 main categories of the PSD model (primary task support, dialogue support, system credibility support, and social support). The objective health-related variables were measured using a smartwatch (Fitbit Luxe) that was synchronized with the application using the Fitbit Web Application Programming Interface. Subjects used the app, which included self-monitoring, personalized messages, education, and a competition system for users, during the intervention period. Sedentary time exhibited a significant decrease (a median reduction of 14 min/day, p < 0.05) during the intervention period. No significant differences in daily step count and sleep duration were observed between the baseline and intervention periods. This study suggests that the mHealth intervention based on the PSD model was useful for reducing sedentary time among office workers. Given that many previous studies on this topic have not been based on any theories, future studies should investigate the impact of structured selection behavior change theories on health-related outcomes among office workers. Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2024;37(2):153-64.

A Collaborative Model in Persuasive Web Design: Multiple case study of Lazada and Shopee

This study examined online persuasion through website design by using the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) and Persuasive System Design (PSD). This study investigates the phenomenon of the success of Lazada and Shopee to provide guidelines for website designers and local sellers to enhance the e-commerce website's persuasiveness. The persuasive design features in Lazada's and Shopee's e-commerce websites were evaluated based on the design criteria of the ELM and the PSD model. This study has examined (1) the influence of central route elements (Dialogue Support and Primary Task Support) towards Lazada and Shopee user's attitude change, (2) the influence of Lazada and Shopee user's attitude change towards behavioral intention and (3) the influence of Lazada and Shopee user's behavioral intention towards actual online buying behavior. A total of 414 samples were analyzed using Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) technique. The results from the analysis indicated that Primary task support through navigation design (PTN) was found to be the most influential persuasive design criteria, followed by Social support through connectedness (SSC), and Dialogue support through argument quality (DSA).

PENILAIAN HEURISTIK TERHADAP TAHAP PERSUASIF SISTEM E-PEMBELAJARAN BERASASKAN MOOCs

The learning concept of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) is capable of receiving a large number of users and it requires little basic knowledge related to the subject taken. This technology will create dynamism and personalization of a wider user learning experience. In order to ensure that the MOOCs e-learning system can benefit users, researchers need to understand and consider the dynamic exchange between user cognition and motivation. Persuasive technology can be applied and integrated to facilitate student adaptation while accelerating their attitude change without using coercion. This technology will create relationships between individuals through computer-mediated interactions or human-computer-human interactions, as well as interactions between individuals and computers. Since the success in the use of e-learning systems depends on the readiness and acceptance of students, the low level of use of e-learning systems previously caused the benefits of online learning to not be optimally received. Research on this topic is still at an early stage where students' opinions or perceptions have not been fully studied. Thus, this study focuses on the heuristic evaluation of the persuasiveness of the Open Learning (PT) system used in Malaysian higher education institutions. The heuristic evaluation of the Open Learning system involves two expert evaluators and this evaluation is done in the form of a face-to-face discussion. Both evaluators are content creators for the PT system who are also experts in the field of e-learning and have been involved from the initial phase of using the PT system in Malaysia. The evaluation done on this PT system focuses on four persuasive categories namely; 1) primary task support; 2) dialogue support; 3) credibility support; and 4) social support. These four persuasive categories are outlined in the Persuasive Design Development Model (PRP). The conclusion from this study is that both experts agree that the dialogue support category needs to be improved by focusing on improving the effective reminder features of the PT system. The reminder principle is one of the persuasive principles outlined in the Persuasive Design Development Model (PRP).

Design and content validation of an instrument measuring user perception of the persuasive design principles in a breastfeeding mHealth app: A modified Delphi study

BackgroundPersuasive design principles are increasingly employed in mHealth apps for motivating users and promoting healthy behaviours among individuals. However, how the persuasive design principles are perceived by the mHealth app users remains unclear. AimTo develop and validate the content validity of an instrument designed to measure the user’s perceptions of the persuasive design principles assimilated in a breastfeeding mHealth app. MethodsA critical review of the literature guided the development of the research instrument. The developed instrument was refined and validated through a two-round modified Delphi process. Ten experts drawn from academic and clinical settings evaluated the items through two content validity indicators, relevance, and clarity and provided narrative feedback. The content validity of the instrument was determined by calculating the Content Validity Index (CVI). Content validity indicators at the scale-level (S-CVI) and item-level (I-CVI) were calculated. ResultsThe results demonstrated high content validity index of individual items in the instrument. All items in the instrument reached an excellent I-CVI ≥ 0.78 for both relevance and clarity except one item. The overall content validity index of the instrument using the average approach was moderate to high (S-CVI/Ave was 0.89 and 0.92 for relevance and clarity, respectively). The developed research instrument is composed of 5 constructs representing 24 items: (1) primary task support, (2) dialogue support, (3) system credibility support, (4) social support and (5) perceived persuasiveness. ConclusionsUsing a modified Delphi approach, the development and validation of the research instrument demonstrated moderate to high content validity for measuring users’ perceptions of the persuasive design principles assimilated in a breastfeeding mHealth app. The evidence from this study supports that the research instrument is valid, relevant, and clear.

Persuasive Design Techniques and App Design Recommendations to Improve Health Workforce Capability in Rural Health Professionals: What Do Users Want and How Does an App Help?

BackgroundHealth professionals’ perceptions of persuasive design techniques for use in technological solutions to improve health workforce capability have not been previously explored.ObjectiveThis study aims to explore rural health professionals’ perceptions of health workforce capability and persuasive design techniques; and translate these into recommendations for designing a health workforce capability app to increase their impact and usefulness.MethodsQualitative interviews with 13 rural health professionals were conducted. Subsequently, 32 persuasive techniques were used as a framework to deductively analyze the data. Persuasive design technique domains were Primary Task Support, Dialog Support, System Credibility Support, Social Support, and Cialdini’s Principles of Persuasion.ResultsPersuasive design techniques can be applied across the factors that influence health workforce capability including health and personal qualities; competencies and skills; values, attitudes, and motivation; and factors that operate outside of work and at the team, organizational, and labor market levels. The majority of the 32 persuasive design techniques were reflected in the data from the interviews and led to recommendations as to how these could be translated into practice, with the exception of scarcity. Many suggestions and persuasive design techniques link back to the need for tailored and localized solutions such as the need for country-specific–based evidence, the wish for localized communities of practice, learning from other rural health professionals, and referral pathways to other clinicians. Participants identified how persuasive design techniques can optimize the user experience to help meet rural health professionals needs for more efficient systems to improve patient access to care, quality care, and to enable working in interprofessional team-based care. Social inclusion plays a vital role for health professionals, indicating the importance of the Social Support domain of persuasive techniques. Overall, health professionals were open to self-monitoring of their work performance and some professionals used wearables to monitor their health.ConclusionsRural health professionals’ perceptions of health workforce capability informed which persuasive design techniques can be used to optimize the user experience of an app. These were translated into recommendations for designing a health workforce capability app to increase likelihood of adoption. This study has also contributed to the further validation of the Persuasive Systems Design model through empirically aligning elements of the model to increase persuasive system content and functionality with real-world applied data, in this case the health workforce capability of rural health professionals. Our findings confirm that these techniques can be used to develop a future prototype of an app that may assist health professionals in improving or maintaining their health workforce capability which in turn may increase recruitment and retention in rural areas. Health professionals need to be central during the design phase. Interventions are needed to provide a supportive environment to rural and remote health professionals to increase their rural health workforce capability.

Persuasive Design Solutions for a Sustainable Workforce: Review of Persuasive Apps for Real-Time Capability Support for Rural Health Care Professionals.

BackgroundThere is a need to further investigate how persuasive design principles can change rural health professionals’ behaviors to look after their own health workforce capability. Several theories are used when developing apps to persuade people to change behavior, including the Persuasive System Design Model, consisting of primary task, dialogue, system credibility, and social support categories, and Cialdini’s principles of persuasion. These have not been analyzed yet in the field of health workforce capability.ObjectiveThis study aims to determine the persuasive design techniques used in capability building–related apps and to provide recommendations for designing a health workforce app to increase their persuasiveness.MethodsA Python script was used to extract a total of 3060 apps from Google Play. Keywords centered around health workforce capability elements. App inclusion criteria were as follows: been updated since 2019, rated by users on average 4 and above, and more than 100,000 downloads. Next, 2 experts reviewed whether 32 persuasive strategies were used in the selected apps, and these were further analyzed by capability categories: competencies and skills, health and personal qualities, values and attitudes, and work organization.ResultsIn all, 53 mobile apps were systematically reviewed to identify the persuasive design techniques. The most common were surface credibility (n=48, 90.6%) and liking (n=48), followed by trustworthiness (n=43, 81.1%), reminders (n=38, 71.7%), and suggestion (n=30, 56.6%). The techniques in the social support domain were the least used across the different apps analyzed for health workforce capability, whereas those in the primary task support domain were used most frequently. The recommendations reflect learnings from our analysis. These findings provided insight into mobile app design principles relevant to apps used in improving health workforce capability.ConclusionsOur review showed that there are many persuasive design techniques that can assist in building health workforce capability. Additionally, several apps are available in the market that can assist in improving health workforce capability. There is, however, a specific lack of digital, real-time support to improve health workforce capability. Social support strategies through using social support persuasive design techniques will need to be integrated more prominently into a health workforce capability app. An app to measure and monitor health workforce capability scores can be used in conjunction with direct real-world person and real-time support to discuss and identify solutions to improve health workforce capability for rural and remote health professionals who are at high risk of burnout or leaving the rural health workforce.

The Evaluation of Online Persuasion Criteria on E-Commerce Website using Persuasive System Design (PSD) Model

Persuasive technology in online shopping is proven to assist people while purchasing online. It is crucial to study how was the implementation of such successful persuasive technology in the e-commerce domain. Also, there are certain marketing strategies against consumers from different generational cohorts. Each generation has unique lifestyles, generational history, demographics, experiences, expectations and values that influence their buying behaviours. The persuasive design of e-commerce websites is related to the website conversion rate and is shown to support people throughout the online purchasing process. The objective of this research study is to evaluate the online persuasion criteria on two largest e-commerce websites in Malaysia; Lazada and Shopee through Persuasive System Design (PSD) principles. The four main categories of design technique applied in PSD are primary task support, dialogue support, credibility support and social support. The result shows that both selected e-commerce websites have applied 71.43% of the PSD principles. The most emphasize design technique in Lazada and Shopee is primary task support, followed by dialogue support. Most of the persuasive features in this model has implemented in both e-commerce websites. However, this research proved that the success of the e-commerce websites is related with the implemented persuasive feature which can be manipulated and implemented by other e-commerce websites.

Persuasive Apps for Sustainable Waste Management: A Comparative Systematic Evaluation of Behavior Change Strategies and State-of-the-Art.

With the proliferation of ubiquitous computing and mobile technologies, mobile apps are tailored to support users to perform target behaviors in various domains, including a sustainable future. This article provides a systematic evaluation of mobile apps for sustainable waste management to deconstruct and compare the persuasive strategies employed and their implementations. Specifically, it targeted apps that support various sustainable waste management activities such as personal tracking, recycling, conference management, data collection, food waste management, do-it-yourself (DIY) projects, games, etc. The authors who are persuasive technology researchers retrieved a total of 244 apps from App Store and Google Play, out of which 148 apps were evaluated. Two researchers independently analyzed and coded the apps and a third researcher was involved to resolve any disagreement. They coded the apps based on the persuasive strategies of the persuasive system design framework. Overall, the findings uncover that out of the 148 sustainable waste management apps evaluated, primary task support was the most employed category by 89% (n = 131) apps, followed by system credibility support implemented by 76% (n = 112) apps. The dialogue support was implemented by 71% (n = 105) apps and social support was the least utilized strategy by 34% (n = 51) apps. Specifically, Reduction (n = 97), personalization (n = 90), real-world feel (n = 83), surface credibility (n = 83), reminder (n = 73), and self-monitoring (n = 50) were the most commonly employed persuasive strategies. The findings established that there is a significant association between the number of persuasive strategies employed and the apps’ effectiveness as indicated by user ratings of the apps. How the apps are implemented differs depending on the kind of sustainable waste management activities it was developed for. Based on the findings, this paper offers design implications for personalizing sustainable waste management apps to improve their persuasiveness and effectiveness.

The role of usability, aesthetics, usefulness and primary task support in predicting the perceived credibility of academic social networking sites

ABSTRACT With technology being ubiquitous in our daily lives, it is crucial to understand the factors that influence their perceived credibility. In the current research, we focus on the design of Academic Social Networking Sites (ASNSs). In order to facilitate continuous adoption and use of ASNSs, it is important to understand the factors that determine their Perceived Credibility. Using the Persuasive System Design (PSD) framework as a foundation, the study investigated which of these four key constructs (i.e. Perceived Aesthetics, Perceived Usability, Perceived Usefulness and Perceived Primary Task Support) are the most relevant determinants of the Perceived Credibility of ASNSs. In an online survey, the current research assessed this research model. The results of Partial Least Square analyses confirmed that Perceived Aesthetics, Perceived Usefulness and Perceived Primary Task Support are determinants of Perceived Credibility but provided no evidence for Perceived Usability as a determinant. Moreover, the results showed that Perceived Primary Task Support was the most relevant determinant of Perceived Credibility. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Tailoring eHealth design to support the self-care needs of patients with cardiovascular diseases: a vignette survey experiment

ABSTRACT Self-care support is a key cornerstone of treatment for patients with a cardiovascular disease. The success of any supportive intervention requires adaptation to the distinct needs of individuals. This requirement also applies to eHealth interventions. This study investigates how experts from multiple fields of science assess the potential success of different eHealth design strategies when matched to key self-care needs. An online vignette survey experiment was conducted. Nine vignettes representing different combinations of self-care needs (maintenance, monitoring, management) and eHealth persuasive design strategies (primary task support, dialogue support, social support) were evaluated. In total, 118 experts from 18 different countries participated in the survey. Their evaluations show primary task support as a promising design strategy across all self-care needs. In contrast, dialogue support and social support showed more promise for specific self-care needs. Above all, according to experts, the success of design strategies could be enhanced by (i) personalising the pacing of the intervention and (ii) tailoring the information to the literacy and culture of the person. Adding to that, self-care support should distinctly (iii) support the three self-care needs, be (iv) patient-centered, (v) support the collaboration with caregivers, and (vi) be aligned to the life goals and values of individuals.

The ideal mHealth-application for rheumatoid arthritis: qualitative findings from stakeholder focus groups

BackgroundShifts in treatment strategies for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have made ambulatory care more labour-intensive. These developments have prompted innovative care models, including mobile health (mHealth) applications. This study aimed to explore the perceptions of mHealth-inexperienced stakeholders concerning these applications in RA care.MethodsWe performed a qualitative study by focus group interviews of stakeholders including RA patients, nurses specialised in RA care and rheumatologists. The qualitative analysis guide of Leuven (QUAGOL), which is based on grounded theory principles, was used to thematically analyse the data. In addition, the Persuasive Systems Design (PSD) model was used to structure recommended app-features.ResultsIn total, 2 focus groups with nurses (total n = 16), 2 with patients (n = 17) and 2 with rheumatologists (n = 25) took place. Six overarching themes emerged from the analysis. Efficiency of care and enabling patient empowerment were the two themes considered as expected benefits of mHealth-use in practice by the stakeholders. In contrast, 4 themes emerged as possible barriers of mHealth-use: the burden of chronic app-use, motivational aspects, target group aspects, and legal and organisational requirements. Additionally, recommendations for an ideal mHealth-app could be structured into 4 domains (Primary Task Support, Dialogue Support, Social Support and System Credibility) according to the PSD-framework. Most recommended features were related to improving ease of use (Task Support) and System Credibility.ConclusionsAlthough mHealth-apps were expected to improve care efficiency and stimulate patient empowerment, stakeholders were concerned that mHealth-app use could reinforce negative illness behaviour. For mHealth-apps to be successful in practice, challenges according to stakeholders were avoiding long-term poor compliance, finding the target audience and tailoring a legal and organisational framework. Finally, the ideal mHealth-application should above all be trustworthy and easy to use.

Investigating the Key Persuasive Features for Fitness App Design and Extending the Persuasive System Design Model: A Qualitative Approach

Physical inactivity has been recognized as one of the leading risk factors that account for many non-communicable diseases, with the World Health Organization labeling it as the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality. This has led researchers and developers to create fitness apps to support and motivate people to engage in physical activity more regularly. However, there is limited research on how collectivist and individualist users from different social and cultural backgrounds differ in terms of the persuasive features they care about in fitness apps. Having knowledge of the cultural differences will help designers and developers create better fitness apps tailored to the two main types of culture. Hence, we conducted an empirical study to uncover how both cultures differ and the possibility of extending the Persuasive System Design (PSD) model. We found that Primary Task Support (Self-Monitoring and Goal-Setting) is requested more by the individualist group than the collectivist group. On the other hand, Dialog Support (Reminder and Suggestion) is requested more by the collectivist group than the individualist group. Finally, we found that the PSD model can be extended with Goal-Setting and Verbal Persuasion for fitness app design.

Assessing the impact of persuasive features on user’s intention to continuous use: the case of academic social networking sites

ABSTRACT Social networking sites enable people to connect, communicate and share ideas. These sites have therefore become key for information sharing. Particularly, academics and researchers have adopted them for networking and collaborations. This study seeks to investigate how embedded persuasive features on social networking sites designed for academics and researchers affect continuous use intention. The study adopted an existing model for assessing the effectiveness of persuasive features on systems and sampled 416 participants who are engaged in academic research and analyzed their responses. The results indicate that Social Support, Computer–Human Dialogue Support and Primary Task Support significantly impact how users perceive social networking sites designed for effective academic work. Contrary to existing knowledge that Perceived Credibility, Perceived Effectiveness, Perceived Effort and Perceived Social Support all impact an individual’s Intention to Continuous Use of a system, only Perceived Credibility was observed to impact Intention to Use continuously. The findings also proved that affective ties and mutual support on academic social networking sites influence behaviour.

Using Expert Evaluation to Assess the Implementation of Persuasive Design in e-Commerce

It has been argued that the use of persuasive design in e-commerce applications has a positive impact on user behavior and on converting browsers into buyers. Effective e-commerce applications successfully gain customers’ trust. Thus, it is important for designers to know how to apply and embed persuasive design models in e-commerce applications. This study aimed to assess the extent to which persuasive designs were implemented in e-commerce applications in Saudi Arabia using an experts’ evaluation method. In order to answer this question, one of the most commonly used models, namely the Persuasive Systems Design (PSD) Model, was utilized as a benchmark against which the adoption of PSD guidelines in e-commerce was measured. Several usability experts were approached to conduct the evaluation of a variety of e-commerce applications using the PSD guidelines. The findings reported the number of criteria that were highly utilized, such as primary task support, credibility support and dialogue support. The results also revealed a lack of implementation of a number of persuasive design guidelines, such as the social support principles. The authority and verifiability principles were applied in a limited way in the selected e-commerce applications. Further directions and recommendations for better implementation of persuasive design guidelines in e-commerce are discussed

Extensive Review of Persuasive System Design Categories and Principles: Behavioral Obesity Interventions.

In this extensive review of behavioral digital obesity interventions, we reviewed randomized control trials aimed at weight loss or maintaining weight loss and identifying persuasive categories and principles that drive these interventions. The following databases were searched for long-term obesity interventions: Medline, PsycINFO, Academic Search Complete, CINAHL and Scopus. The inclusion criteria included the following search terms: obesity, overweight, weight reduction, weight loss, obesity management, and diet control. Additional criteria included randomized control trial, ≥ 6months intervention, ≥ 100 participants and must include persuasive technology. Forty-six publications were in the final review. Primary task support was the most frequently utilized persuasive system design (PSD) category and self-monitoring was the most utilized PSD principle. Behavioral obesity interventions that utilized PSD with a behavior change theory more frequently produced statistically significant weight loss findings. Persuasive technology and PSD in digital health play a significant role in the management and improvement of obesity especially when aligned with behavior change theories. Understanding which PSD categories and principles work best for behavioral obesity interventions is critical and future interventions might be more effective if they were based on these specific PSD categories and principles.

Using Persuasive Systems Design Model to Evaluate "Cuida tu Ánimo": An Internet-Based Pilot Program for Prevention and Early Intervention of Adolescent Depression.

Background: “Cuida tu Ánimo” (CTA [Take Care of Your Mood]) is an internet-based program for prevention and early intervention of adolescent depression implemented in Chile and Colombia. In the pilot application of the program, participants interacted with the program through a website that provided psychoeducational information, chat, and telephone appointments as well as monitoring and feedback messages. To date, most similar programs were not developed taking design features into consideration. The persuasive systems design (PSD) model is a comprehensive framework developed to aid in the design and evaluation of systems capable of influencing users' attitudes or behaviors. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the persuasiveness of CTA pilot program using the PSD model.Methods: The methodology used was expert evaluation, where specialists evaluate the program against a list of design principles.Results: Although the PSD model was not used to design the program, system features proposed by PSD were present, mainly “Dialogue support” features. Persuasion context analysis was not carried out by the developers. No aspects of the program could be related to “Primary task support” features because the developers did not define a primary task.Discussion: Key aspects of the PSD model could be incorporated in the CTA program to enhance system persuasiveness and improve adherence.