Developing a new architectural framework for designing Digital Habit Formation Support System

行为改变干预措施对于有效执行针对日益增长的挑战的政策和做法至关重要，如慢性病的自我管理、坚持社会距离等预防性行为以减少传染病的传播等。然而，无论重要性如何，实现可持续的行为改变对研究人员和实践者来说仍然是一项挑战。解决这一挑战的一个潜在方法是使用被称为行为改变支持系统(BCS)的数字技术。然而，新兴的解决方案继续显示出不同程度的有效性，而且从长期来看并不是很可持续。问题之一是，目前的数字解决方案没有将习惯作为持续行为的一个基本阶段来解决。在这项研究中，习惯被定义为习得的行为，这种行为经常重复，已经获得了高度的自动性，并在稳定的环境中得到提示。更好地理解如何创建习惯养成原则并将其纳入决策支持系统的设计方案，对于为持续的行为改变提供长期支持至关重要。我提出的研究将解决这一需求。这项研究的长期愿景是开发和实施一个全面的架构框架，以设计支持个人可持续行为改变的习惯养成支持系统(HFSS)。这项研究将使用以指导信息系统构件的开发而闻名的设计科学研究方法来为一类系统的设计生成新的知识。为了设计和开发一个本体，我会考虑各种方法，如IDEF5和Web本体语言。我还将使用Protégé工具来创建本体。在开发干预措施的表示和将这些干预措施的组装形式化的过程中，我将使用约束逻辑编程及其迷你实现。最后，对于其余组件的创建和体系结构框架的实现，我将应用基于组织的多智能体系统工程方法进行多智能体系统设计。这项研究将通过为HFSS提出一个直接纳入行为设计原则的新的体系结构框架，为决策支持系统领域做出贡献。这一研究计划的影响及其理论和经验贡献是双重的。从理论的角度，这项研究将演示如何将习惯设计整合到决策支持系统设计中，从而使行为理论的模型化和可操作性成为可能。在实践层面上，本研究将为系统设计者提供一个针对不同领域的习惯养成决策支持系统的设计蓝图。总体而言，拟议的研究代表着朝着创建直接满足用户支持可持续行为变化需求的系统迈出了一步。

Behaviour change interventions are fundamental for effective implementation of policies and practices that target growing challenges such as self-management of chronic diseases, adhering to preventive behaviours like social distancing to reduce the spread of transmissible diseases, etc. However, regardless of the importance, achieving a sustainable behaviour change remains to be a challenge for researchers and practitioners. A potential means for addressing this challenge is to use digital technologies known as behaviour change support systems (BCSS). However, emerging solutions continue to show varying levels of effectiveness and are not sustainable over the long term. One of the issues is that current digital solutions do not address habit as a fundamental stage of sustained behaviour. For the purpose of this research, habit is defined as learned behaviour that is frequently repeated, has acquired a high degree of automaticity, and is cued in stable contexts. A better understanding of how to create and integrate habit formation principles into the design of a decision support system is crucial for providing long-term support for sustained behaviour change. My proposed research will address this need. The long-termvision of this research is to develop and operationalize a comprehensive architectural framework for designing the Habit Formation Support System (HFSS) that supports sustainable behaviour change in individuals. This research will employ the Design Science Research Methodology known for guiding the development of Information Systems artifacts to generate new knowledge for a class of systems' design. To design and develop an ontology, I will consider various methods, such as IDEF5 and Web Ontology Language. I will also use Protégé tool to create the ontology. In developing a representation of the interventions and formalizing assembling of these interventions, I will use Constraint Logic Programming and its Minizinc implementation. Finally, for the creation of the rest of the components and implementation of the architectural framework, I will apply the Organization-based Multiagent System Engineering method for multi-agent system design. This research will contribute to the field of decision support systems by proposing a novel architectural framework for the HFSS that directly incorporates behavioural design principles. The impact of this research program and its theoretical and empirical contributions are twofold. From a theoretical perspective, this research will demonstrate how to integrate habitual design into a decision support system design so it is possible to model and operationalize behavioural theories. At the practical level, this research will provide system designers with a design blueprint for creating habit formation decision support systems for different domains. Overall, the proposed research represents a step towards creating systems that directly address  users' need for supporting sustainable behaviour change.