Integrating Taxonomies into Theory-Based Digital Health Interventions for Behavior Change: A Holistic Framework

TL;DR

This paper presents a holistic framework integrating behavioral theories, BCT taxonomy, and PSD principles to improve the design, evaluation, and reporting of digital health interventions for behavior change.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive framework with development steps, toolboxes, and workflow to standardize and enhance digital health intervention research.

Findings

Framework facilitates systematic design and evaluation.

Supports consistent reporting across research communities.

Enhances sharing and comparison of digital health interventions.

Abstract

Digital health interventions have been emerging in the last decade. Due to their interdisciplinary nature, digital health interventions are guided and influenced by theories (e.g., behavioral theories, behavior change technologies, persuasive technology) from different research communities. However, digital health interventions are always coded using various taxonomies and reported in insufficient perspectives. The inconsistency and incomprehensiveness will bring difficulty for conducting systematic reviews and sharing contributions among communities. Based on existing related work, therefore, we propose a holistic framework that embeds behavioral theories, behavior change technique (BCT) taxonomy, and persuasive system design (PSD) principles. Including four development steps, two toolboxes, and one workflow, our framework aims to guide digital health intervention developers to design, evaluate, and report their work in a formative and comprehensive way.