Designing for emotionalwell-being: Integrating persuasion and customization into mental health technologies

Renwen Zhang; Kathryn E. Ringland; Melina Paan; David C. Mohr; Madhu Reddy

doi:10.1145/3411764.3445771

Designing for emotionalwell-being: Integrating persuasion and customization into mental health technologies

Renwen Zhang, Kathryn E. Ringland, Melina Paan, David C. Mohr, Madhu Reddy

Preventive Medicine

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

46 Scopus citations

Abstract

A growing body of work has emphasized the need for customizability and fexibility in mobile health technologies to support user autonomy. However, customization may be burdensome for people with motivational and cognitive challenges, such as those with mental illnesses, and the optimal level and type of customizability are unclear. Based on 32 interviews with people who experience symptoms of depression and anxiety, we examine how individuals use and customize mental health apps to manage their symptoms. Our fndings suggest that participants' engagement with the apps is afected by their level of energy and motivation, depending on the severity of symptoms. Customization is deemed desirable when the required user efort does not exceed users' mental and motivational capacity and when ample resources are available. We discuss how customizable systems can increase autonomy without overburdening users in the context of mental health.

Original language	English (US)
Title of host publication	CHI 2021 - Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Subtitle of host publication	Making Waves, Combining Strengths
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
ISBN (Electronic)	9781450380966
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3411764.3445771
State	Published - May 6 2021
Event	2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems: Making Waves, Combining Strengths, CHI 2021 - Virtual, Online, Japan Duration: May 8 2021 → May 13 2021

Publication series

Name	Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings

Conference

Conference	2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems: Making Waves, Combining Strengths, CHI 2021
Country/Territory	Japan
City	Virtual, Online
Period	5/8/21 → 5/13/21

Funding

The authors would like to thank the individuals who participated in this study. We also thank the anonymous reviewers for their valuable feedback. This work was supported by the United States National Institute of Mental Health under grants R01MH100482 and T32MH115882. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the ofcial views of the National Institutes of Health.

Keywords

Behavior change
Customization
Ethics
Mental health
Mhealth
Mobile apps
Persuasion

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Software
Human-Computer Interaction
Computer Graphics and Computer-Aided Design

Access to Document

10.1145/3411764.3445771

Cite this

Zhang, R., Ringland, K. E., Paan, M., Mohr, D. C., & Reddy, M. (2021). Designing for emotionalwell-being: Integrating persuasion and customization into mental health technologies. In CHI 2021 - Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems: Making Waves, Combining Strengths (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3411764.3445771

Zhang, Renwen ; Ringland, Kathryn E. ; Paan, Melina et al. / Designing for emotionalwell-being : Integrating persuasion and customization into mental health technologies. CHI 2021 - Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems: Making Waves, Combining Strengths. Association for Computing Machinery, 2021. (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings).

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abstract = "A growing body of work has emphasized the need for customizability and fexibility in mobile health technologies to support user autonomy. However, customization may be burdensome for people with motivational and cognitive challenges, such as those with mental illnesses, and the optimal level and type of customizability are unclear. Based on 32 interviews with people who experience symptoms of depression and anxiety, we examine how individuals use and customize mental health apps to manage their symptoms. Our fndings suggest that participants' engagement with the apps is afected by their level of energy and motivation, depending on the severity of symptoms. Customization is deemed desirable when the required user efort does not exceed users' mental and motivational capacity and when ample resources are available. We discuss how customizable systems can increase autonomy without overburdening users in the context of mental health.",

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Zhang, R, Ringland, KE, Paan, M, Mohr, DC & Reddy, M 2021, Designing for emotionalwell-being: Integrating persuasion and customization into mental health technologies. in CHI 2021 - Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems: Making Waves, Combining Strengths. Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings, Association for Computing Machinery, 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems: Making Waves, Combining Strengths, CHI 2021, Virtual, Online, Japan, 5/8/21. https://doi.org/10.1145/3411764.3445771

Designing for emotionalwell-being: Integrating persuasion and customization into mental health technologies. / Zhang, Renwen; Ringland, Kathryn E.; Paan, Melina et al.
CHI 2021 - Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems: Making Waves, Combining Strengths. Association for Computing Machinery, 2021. (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

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Zhang R, Ringland KE, Paan M, Mohr DC, Reddy M. Designing for emotionalwell-being: Integrating persuasion and customization into mental health technologies. In CHI 2021 - Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems: Making Waves, Combining Strengths. Association for Computing Machinery. 2021. (Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings). doi: 10.1145/3411764.3445771

Designing for emotionalwell-being: Integrating persuasion and customization into mental health technologies

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

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Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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