Research team
Paulina Bondaronek, Joe Newbold, Marion Lean

Summary of proposed research

Many people find it difficult to become more physically active and turn to digital technology to help them achieve their aim. Technologies such as fitness trackers have become increasingly sophisticated. They now frequently contain functions that track your steps and can detect whether you are walking, running or cycling. However, such technologies do not incorporate behaviour change theory into the design process, so it’s not surprising that people’s use of them is often short-lived and does not lead to sustained behaviour change. Interventions that are based on behaviour change theory can be more effective. However, there are no practical guidelines on how to implement behaviour change techniques into the content of digital interventions.

This project will address this problem by bringing together physical activity practitioners, behaviour scientists and technology designers to develop a practical and accessible how-to-guide to enable them to translate behaviour change theory into the design and delivery of digital health interventions.