Behavior Change Support Systems (BCSS) have shown promising results in motivating and supporting individuals to change their behaviors and attitudes toward improved health or other areas or adopt new ones. This paper discusses research contributions related to the design and development of BCSS presented in the workshop under the same name in conjunction with the annual series of the International Conference on Persuasive Technology. The contributions of both previous research and the latest edition of the workshop are discussed in this paper.
Persuasive technology covers the intersection of natural, social, and other scientific disciplines, requiring multidisciplinary design, implementation, and assessment approaches [32]. Research is needed to explore the transformative nature of technologies in modifying behaviors and systematically monitoring the efficacy and consequences of digital interventions. Using information technologies as persuasive agents has the potential to shed light on the underlying elements of persuasion, exerting an impact on attitudes and behaviors. Researchers have gained interest in social dimensions and the downsides of persuasion through these technologies.
Over the past decade, many persuasive applications have emerged to promote positive behavior changes across domains, such as health and well-being, sustainable energy practices, educational concepts, and marketing strategies [14]. Moreover, advances in technology have created intelligent, virtual, and persuasive environments that offer diverse sensory cues and psychophysiological feedback, fostering personal transformation through heightened emotional, social, and physical engagements.
The Behavior Change Support Systems (BCSS) workshop centers on developing systems that facilitate and reinforce behavior change initiatives among individuals or collectives. At its core, the workshop represents a profoundly multidisciplinary ethos underscored by its commitment to designing and implementing strategies and systems conducive to behavior change across diverse domains.
This workshop unites researchers, practitioners, and experts from various scientific disciplines, including information systems, information sciences, human-computer interaction, industrial design, psychology, and medicine. As a scholarly forum, the event adopted a conference format to facilitate the presentation, discussion, and deliberation of research findings and the foundational tenets of persuasive technology.
The workshop series focuses on developing information systems that facilitate and promote behavioral change and it acknowledges the multidisciplinary nature of designing and implementing strategies for behavioral change and the corresponding information systems, services, and software. To date, 12 editions of the BCSS workshop have been held successfully in conjunction with the Persuasive Technology Conference. Since its inception in Sydney, Australia, in 2013, 84 peer-reviewed papers have been published in the workshop proceedings, attracting 211 authors of these papers from academia and industry in 25 countries to share their research on various aspects of behavior change support systems. Each year, the workshop has typically hosted more than 20 authors who present their research findings.
For this paper, we reviewed the publications in the workshop series to gain a broad picture of proceedings to date. This was an integrative review [50], a comprehensive literature review synthesizing research studies to better understand the research area. The papers presented in the first workshop in 2013 focused on the abstraction, implementation, and evaluation of Behavior Change Support Systems (BCSS), and this has continued with more research focusing on the evaluation of BCSS's effectiveness.
Over the years, several application domains have been highlighted through the BCSS
proceedings, including health and well-being, marketing, and environmental sustainability.
However, the health and well-being domain continues to generate significant interest with
various applications in weight management [15, 51], physical activity [30], cardiovascular
postoperative care [38], asthma management [
Lifestyle interventions or study areas include garbage disposal behavior [34], physical activity
[16], secure smartphone behavior[10], time-keeping skills [42], environmental sustainability [36]
and digital addiction [18]. For instance, Ozono et al. [34] proposed and evaluated an intervention
method for taking out rubbish. Using visual cues and inducements, they assessed the impact of
the intervention on behavior attitudes and personality traits. To address the issue of inadequate
water intake among children, Bootsma and Ciocarlan used persuasive strategies and interactive
storytelling techniques to improve children’s knowledge and foster a positive attitude towards
drinking water[
Studies on environmental sustainability have included providing personalized and tailored support to travelers to promote environmentally sustainable transportation practices [28] and using persuasive strategies in ambient energy displays to lower energy consumption in private households [23]. Paraschivoiu et al. provide insights into the design of sustainable platforms that encourage behavior change related to climate change on a city level by using a user-centric approach [36].
Other studies have focused on marketing [
Mobile apps have been at the center of BCSS research owing to the proliferation of smartphones. However, as technology continues to evolve, we are starting to see that research utilizes different technologies, such as virtual reality, sensors, and blockchain, in behavior change research. For instance, Sharma et al. [40] utilized a sensor-based information communication platform to gain insights into the information communication needs of informal caregivers. Paajala et al. [35] attempted to define how blockchain technologies can be utilized to develop persuasive systems, highlighting the benefits and challenges of using blockchain in BCSS. Using a body-centric approach, Klaassen et al. [22] used a virtual reality-controlled environment integrated with therapy sessions for people with substance abuse disorders and intellectual disabilities to trigger the application of self-control strategies. The effect of social media on behavior change interventions was demonstrated by Tikka et al. [43], who used Twitter to deliver interventions and receive peer support. Chow et al. [7] suggest utilizing embedded persuasive systems to break habitual routines and generate effective sensorimotor experiences.
Various research methods have been utilized, including systematic reviews, mixed methods research, qualitative studies, natural language processing, case studies, experimental designs, and heuristic evaluations. Earlier research focused more on the design and development of BCSS. As we progress, we see more research focusing on evaluating their effectiveness. The Persuasive Systems Design (PSD) model offers a methodical and categorical assessment of persuasive information systems and has been employed to examine and assess the persuasive characteristics of BCSS. The model remains central to BCSS research as a methodological, conceptual, and theoretical basis for determining each situation's suitability and distinct demands. It has also been applied as a guide for the design and development of BCSS.
The 2024 edition of the workshop was a hybrid event showcasing distinguished research papers on designing and implementing BCSS domains of health and well-being, social media, sports, and recreation and design. These studies covered various contexts of BCSS and explored topics of user experience, design guidelines, online influence, and the cost of BCSS development.
In their study, Vlahu-Gjorgievska et al. [47] explored surfers’ needs and perceptions of safe surfing apps. In-depth interviews with 13 surfers yielded insights into the key functionalities and visual aspects required to create successful and safe surfing applications. Their study identified three main themes: application features, content, and design. This study highlights the significance of up-to-date weather and surfing conditions and beginner-friendly instructional materials as surfers’ main information needs. Additionally, the study emphasizes the importance of app design in encouraging user interaction and how implementing personalized notifications is crucial for raising awareness of safety issues. They later applied persuasive principles to these findings using the Persuasive System Design model [32], which allows the integration of social facilitation, personalization, and reminders into safety surfing apps. Ultimately, this study highlights how revolutionary safe-surfing applications can improve surfing experiences and encourage a responsible and safe-surfing culture.
Cao et al. [6] recognize the impact of prenatal and postpartum care on maternal and child health. To address the current shortage of healthcare services that cater to the needs of expectant and nursing mothers, the team has developed a mobile application called TEKUTECH. Based on the Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills model [8], the app guided pregnant and nursing mothers for 20–23 weeks. Using sixty-five participants, the study evaluated the app's effectiveness in promoting positive behavior changes, including walking behavior, sun exposure, and nutritional intake. This paper describes the app’s features, the experiment’s overall design, the collected data, and the participant's feedback on the app.
The paper by Guadagno et al. [12] investigates corporate communication practices on social media and focuses on how these practices influence customers' intentions to engage with a brand. Through two comprehensive studies, the authors analyzed participants' inclination to patronize specific restaurant chains after interacting with the brand's Twitter account. The analysis considered various response strategies from the online social influence model [13] employed by corporate Twitter accounts, including direct replies, retweets, and non-responses. Their findings in both studies confirmed their prediction that reciprocity norms would lead individuals to prefer restaurants that engage in their tweets. This demonstrates that participants had stronger intentions to support a restaurant after the Twitter interaction.
Li and Tajario [27] studied the persuasive system design principles for pandemics. Through a workshop approach, 16 participants accessed the comprehensibility of persuasive system design principles. They highlight the challenging PSD principles from the designer’s perspective. The findings showed that some PSD principles necessitate context-specific interpretation for effective integration into health app development.
To understand the cost of developing persuasion in health behavior change support systems (HBCSS), Nabwire and Oinas-Kukkonen [29] explore the perceived cost of developing persuasive features in HBCSS. Using in-depth interviews with experts and the weighted sum model (WSM) [44], the team estimated the perceived cost of developing persuasion in a hypothetical weight management app using three parameters: expertise, effort, and cost. The results highlight that dialogue and credibility support features may require fewer financial resources than social and primary support features.
Peres and Campos [37] explore the challenges faced by informal caregivers and seek to understand the effects of watching nature videos on informal caregivers' emotional well-being. More specifically, this study explores the potential benefits of watching nature videos to increase valence and positive effects without leaving home. Using Self-Assessment Manikins (SAM) [4] and Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) [49] scales, this study compared the effects of nature videos between informal caregivers and non-caregivers. Their findings showed that watching nature videos positively affected informal caregivers’ well-being.
McGowan et al. [28] focused on the transformative potential of persuasive system design and examined its impact on mobile health applications. The study applied a multiphase experimental design, developing and evaluating 25 mobile health app screens using PSD principles. The process included rigorous prototyping, expert review, and iterative design to ensure the effective incorporation of persuasive elements tailored to diverse user groups. Their findings underscore the effectiveness of combining primary task support and dialogue support in mobile health apps to maximize user engagement.
Since the BCSS workshop series's inception, many studies and perspectives have been presented regarding behavior change support systems. These studies reveal the advancements and challenges in the BCSS and persuasive technology, highlighting their potential to motivate behavior changes across multiple domains. Although short-term interventions have demonstrated success in encouraging physical activity and other health-related behaviors, there is a growing focus on addressing chronic conditions, such as diabetes and obesity [12], and longterm effects [41]. The most recent contributions provide unique insights into how BCSS research can help shape and influence people's behaviors, from exploring its application in social media corporate practices to persuasive principles in different health application development. A detailed systematic review and text analysis of the publications could provide additional insights and trends into BCSS research. water. In: 11th International Workshop on Behavior Change Support Systems. CEURWS.org (2023). [4] M.M. Bradley, P.J. Lang, Measuring Emotion: The self-assessment manikin and the semantic differential. (1994). [5] M. Busch, S. Patil, G. Regal, C. Hochleitner, P. Fröhlich, M.Tscheligi, Persuasive Information Security A Behavior Change Support System to Help Employees Protect Organizational Information Security. In: 3rd International Workshop on Behavior Change Support Systems. CEUR-WS.org (2015). [6] L. Cao, M. Taya, Y. Sakamoto, Y. Honda, S. Hukuda, Y. Sato et al., Health-related behavior changes using IoHT for pregnant and postpartum women: From the Be-TWINKLE study. In: 12th International Workshop on Behavior Change Support Systems. CEUR-WS.org (2024). [7] K.K.N. Chow, B.D. Leong, B.Y.H. Lee, K. Wai, M.Siu, Animating Embedded Behavior Change Support Systems in Physical Environments. In: 7th International Workshop on Behavior Change Support Systems. CEUR-WS.org (2019). [8] D.F. Fisher, A.W. Fisher, A.P. Shuper, The information-motivationbehavioral skills model of hiv preventive behavior. Emerging theories in health promotion practice and research.
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