Translating Behavioral Theory into Technological Interventions: Case Study of an mHealth App to Increase Self-reporting of Substance-Use Related Data

TL;DR

This paper presents a case study of translating behavioral theory into a mobile health app designed to improve self-reporting of substance use among youth, highlighting the design process and operationalization of theoretical constructs.

Contribution

It provides a detailed methodology for translating psychological theory into practical app features, bridging the gap between abstract concepts and concrete design.

Findings

Operationalized operant conditioning constructs in app design

Incorporated user feedback and empirical data into development

Enhanced adherence to daily self-reporting in substance-use studies

Abstract

Mobile health (mHealth) applications are a powerful medium for providing behavioral interventions, and systematic reviews suggest that theory-based interventions are more effective. However, how exactly theoretical concepts should be translated into features of technological interventions is often not clear. There is a gulf between the abstract nature of psychological theory and the concreteness of the designs needed to build health technologies. In this paper, we use SARA, a mobile app we developed to support substance-use research among adolescents and young adults, as a case study of a process of translating behavioral theory into mHealth intervention design. SARA was designed to increase adherence to daily self-report in longitudinal epidemiological studies. To achieve this goal, we implemented a number of constructs from the operant conditioning theory. We describe our design process and discuss how we operationalized theoretical constructs in the light of design constraints, user feedback, and empirical data from four formative studies.