StepsBooster-S: A Culturally Tailored Step-Based Persuasive Application for Promoting Physical Activity

Abstract

An inactive lifestyle is associated with an increased risk of health problems. The combination of mobile step-trackers and persuasive strategies can be considered useful tools for encouraging physical activity. This paper presents the design, development, and evaluation of a culturally tailored persuasive app to motivate physical activity. For this research, we developed a step-tracking app, StepsBooster-S, that is tailored to be culturally appropriate for Saudi adults using the user-centred design approach. A 10-day in-the-wild study was conducted with 30 participants to evaluate the usability and effectiveness of the app using a mixed-methods approach. Results showed that StepsBooster-S is generally effective; however, it led to a highly significant increase in physical activity among the Saudis compared to Canadians. Our results also showed that the Saudi audience engaged more with the app, reported more positive experience from using the app, and enjoyed the collectivists-oriented features such as cooperation more than the Canadian audience. We conclude that persuasive health apps, especially those that are targeted at physical activity, are more effective if they are tailored to be culturally appropriate for the target audience. These findings reinforce the importance of cultural factors for designing technologies that motivate behaviour change.

Keywords:

• Physical activity
• persuasive technology
• health belief model (HBM)
• cultural preference
• exercise
• mobile health

Acknowledgements

The research is conducted as part of the Dalhousie Persuasive Computing Lab. We would like to thank all the participants who kindly volunteered their time to participate in this research.

Authors’ contributions

Najla Saad Almutari: conceived and designed the experiments, analysed the data, prepared the figures, and tables, authored and reviewed drafts of the paper, approved the final draft. Felwah Alqahtani: assisted with the analysis of the data, authored and reviewed drafts of the paper, and approved the final draft. Rita Orji: conceived and designed the experiments, analysed the data, prepared figures, and tables, authored and reviewed drafts of the paper, approved the final draft. Gerry Chan: helped with preparation of the paper, reviewed drafts of the paper, approved the final draft.

Data availability

The data used in our study is not available to the public in compliance with the ethics approval.

Disclosure statement

The authors have no competing interests to declare.

Notes

1 https://www.google.com/fit.

2 https://thenounproject.com/.

3 https://firebase.google.com/.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Najla Saad Almutari

Najla Saad Almutari is a researcher and content and program development manager at the Qassim Science Center, Saudi Arabia. She has a master’s in Computer Science from Dalhousie University, Canada. Her research interests are in the fields of persuasive technology, physical activity, and human-computer interaction.

Felwah Alqahtani

Felwah Alqahtani is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Computer Science at King Khalid University, Saudi Arabia. She received her Ph.D. in computer science from Dalhousie University, Canada. Her research interests include human-computer interaction, persuasive systems, and behavior change systems related to mental health and health in general.

Rita Orji

Rita Orji is Canada Research Chair in Persuasive Technology and Computer Science Professor at Dalhousie University. She directs the Persuasive Computing Lab. Her research at the intersection of technology and human behavior focuses on user-centered approaches to designing technologies to improve lives and support people to achieve various self-improvement goals.

Gerry Chan

Gerry Chan is a postdoctoral researcher in the Persuasive Computing Lab at Dalhousie University, Canada. Gerry received his PhD in 2022 in Information Technology from Carleton University. His research interests are in the social and motivational aspects of games with a focus on player matching mechanisms and collaborative play.