Design of Persuasive Technology Intervention for Healthy Lifestyle Change.

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Obesity is a major health threat in Canada and many other countries worldwide. Studies have shown that being overweight or obese increases the risks of developing heart diseases, diabetes, high blood pressure, and in some cases, cancer. Preventive interventions, aimed at influencing the lifestyle of people, have been advocated. Accordingly, many technological interventions that promote healthy behaviors, such as eating well and exercising, have been developed. However, these interventions are not always successful because there is often little or no link made between the micro behaviors of the user and the slow, but steady, weight gains they produce. This "invisibility" of the cause-effect linkage creates serious difficulties for generating an effective technological solution to the problem because humans are naturally motivated by immediate or predictive results of their actions. This research seeks to develop a new technological model for persuading people towards healthy behavior. The model will provide the user an instant feedback loop between their behavior and its immediate and long-term consequences. The predictive model can be used to project and visualize the effect of any single behavior on an individual life over a period of time. To support long-term behaviour change, this research will incorporate and display multiple measures of progress, and situate them in a wider social context. This will be achieved by developing a method of visualizing multiple paths to fitness, and multiple ways of imagining a fit body using conventional parameters such as weight and Body Mass Index (BMI); bio-medical statistics like pulmonary capacity (VO2); projection of progress towards goals; and compliance with a fitness routine together. Successful completion of this research will impact the health and quality of life of Canadians by providing technology that provides instant feedback to encourage healthy behavioral change toward physical activity and healthy eating.