Editing Persuasive technology (section)

== Health behavior change ==
While persuasive technologies are found in many domains, considerable recent attention has focused on [[Behavior change (public health)|behavior change]] in health domains. Digital [[health coaching]] is the utilization of computers as persuasive technology to augment the personal care delivered to patients, and is used in numerous medical settings.{{sfn|Elton|2007}}

Numerous scientific studies show that online health behaviour change interventions can influence users' behaviours. Moreover, the most effective interventions are modelled on health coaching, where users are asked to set goals, educated about the consequences of their behaviour, then encouraged to track their progress toward their goals. Sophisticated systems even adapt to users who relapse by helping them get back on the bandwagon.{{sfn|Cugelman|Thelwall|Dawes|2011}}

Maintaining behavior change long term is one of the challenges of behavior change interventions. For instance, as reported, for chronic illness treatment regimens non-adherence rate can be as high as 50% to 80%. Common strategies that have been shown by previous research to increase long-term adherence to treatment include extended care, skills training, social support, treatment tailoring, self-monitoring, and multicomponent stages. However, even though these strategies have been demonstrated to be effective, there are also existing barriers to implementation of such programs: limited time, resources, as well as patient factors such as embarrassment of disclosing their health habits.{{sfn|Middleton|Anton|Perri|2013}}

To make behavior change strategies more effective, researchers also have been adapting well-known and empirically tested behavior change theories into such practice. The most prominent behavior change theories that have been implemented in various health-related behavior change research has been [[self-determination]] theory, theory of planned behavior, social cognitive theory, transtheoretical model, and social ecological model. Each behavior change theory analyses behavior change in different ways and consider different factors to be more or less important. Research has suggested that interventions based on behavior change theories tend to yield better result than interventions that do not employ such theories. The effectiveness of them vary: social cognitive theory proposed by Bandura, which incorporates the well-known construct of [[self-efficacy]], has been the most widely used method in behavior change interventions as well as the most effective in maintaining long-term behavior change.{{sfn|Joseph|Daniel|Thind|Benitez|2016}}

Even though the healthcare discipline has produced a plethora of empirical behavior change research, other scientific disciplines are also adapting such theories to induce behavior change. For instance, behavior change theories have also been used in sustainability, such as saving electricity,{{sfn|Wemyss|Cellina|Lobsiger-Kägi|de Luca|2019}} and lifestyle, such as helping people drinking more water.{{sfn|Dhar|Putnam-Farr|2017}} These research has shown that these theories, already effectively proven useful in healthcare, is equally powerful in other fields to promote behavior change.{{citation needed|date=August 2021}}

Interestingly, there have been some studies that showed unique insights and that behavior change is a complex chain of events: a study by Chudzynski et al. showed that reinforcement schedule has little effect on maintaining behavior change.{{sfn|Chudzynski|Roll|McPherson|Cameron|2015}} A point made in a study by Wemyss et al. is that even though people who have maintained behavior change for short term might revert to baseline, their perception of their behavior change could be different: they still believe they maintained the behavior change even if they factually have not.{{sfn|Wemyss|Cellina|Lobsiger-Kägi|de Luca|2019}} Therefore, it is possible self-report measures would not always be the most effective way of evaluating the effectiveness of the intervention.{{citation needed|date=August 2021}}