Software for Quitters
Tuesday, May 26th, 2009
Design for behavior change is a hot topic. And it should be. Nearly everyone looks to rid themselves of some unwanted behaviors. Products and services that promise to change health or money related habits are a multi-billion dollar industry. For the most part they don’t work as the engineers and designers that develop them fail to draw on the science of behavior change.
As a cognitive designer I am always on the look out for scientific insights into how to change behaviors while respecting individual autonomy. That’s why the recently published meta-analysis of the effects of web- and computer-based smoking cessation programmes caught my eye.
EurekAlert! news service has a nice summary of the study and reports for example,
“When the results of the trials were pooled and analyzed, individuals assigned to use computer- or Web-based programs were about 1.5 times more likely to quit smoking than those assigned to control groups. “
The evidence supports including software as a feature/function in the design of behavior change products and services.
