BEHAVIOR CHANGE TACTIC
Gamification
Gamification refers to leveraging mechanics and other experiential elements typically associated with games in non-game contexts.These can be fairly subtle (e.g. a progress bar for filing out a health risk questionnaire), moderate (e.g. achievements given for reaching personal finance goals, contests for steps walked as a team in a workplace wellness competition), or extreme (e.g. an augmented reality experience to treat chronic pain). At the extreme end, the distinction between a gamified experience and an actual game may be considered almost academic.
Studies involving Gamification
PAPERS
Diabetes prevention and weight loss with a fully automated behavioral intervention by email, web, and mobile phone: a randomized controlled trial among persons with prediabetes.
BEHAVIOR
Physical Activity, Diet & Nutrition
TACTICS
Goal Setting, Gamification, Social Support, Feedback, Coaching or Counselling
PAPERS
Trial to examine text message–based mHealth in emergency department patients with diabetes (TExT-MED): a randomized controlled trial.
BEHAVIOR
Disease Management
TACTICS
Gamification, Implementation Intentions
PAPERS
Behaviour change intervention increases physical activity, spinal mobility and quality of life in adults with ankylosing spondylitis: a randomised trial.
BEHAVIOR
Physical Activity
PAPERS
Gamification for health promotion: systematic review of behaviour change techniques in smartphone apps.
BEHAVIOR
Other
TACTICS
Gamification, Financial Incentives
PAPERS
Targeting Parents for Childhood Weight Management: Development of a Theory-Driven and User-Centered Healthy Eating App.
BEHAVIOR
Diet & Nutrition
TACTICS
Gamification
PAPERS
Exergame Apps and Physical Activity: The Results of the ZOMBIE Trial
PRODUCT
"Zombies, Run!"
BEHAVIOR
Physical Activity
TACTICS
Gamification
PAPERS
Evaluating a community-based walking intervention for hypertensive older people in Taiwan: a randomized controlled trial.
BEHAVIOR
Physical Activity, Disease Management
PAPERS
Feasibility and Efficacy of an mHealth Game for Managing Anxiety: "Flowy" Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial and Design Evaluation.
PRODUCT
Flowy
BEHAVIOR
Mental Health & Self-Care
TACTICS
Gamification
PAPERS
Smartphone Interventions for Long-Term Health Management of Chronic Diseases: An Integrative Review
PRODUCT
Fitbit
BEHAVIOR
Disease Management
TACTICS
Education or Information, Reminders, Cues, & Triggers, Social Support, Self-Monitoring or Tracking, Gamification
Products leveraging Gamification
PRODUCTS
Sidekick Health
Behaviors
Disease Management
Tactics
Feedback, Gamification, Goal Setting +5 more
PRODUCTS
Flowy
Behaviors
Mental Health & Self-Care
Tactics
Gamification, Mindfulness
PRODUCTS
Fitbit
Behaviors
Physical Activity
Tactics
Gamification, Self-Monitoring or Tracking, Social Support +7 more
PRODUCTS
SuperBetter
Behaviors
Mental Health & Self-Care
Tactics
Identity Priming, Goal Setting, Gamification +6 more
PRODUCTS
Zombies, Run!
Behaviors
Physical Activity
Tactics
Feedback, Personalization, Environmental Restructuring +9 more
PRODUCTS
Sanvello
Behaviors
Sleep, Other, Disease Management
Tactics
Reduce Friction or Barriers, Self-Monitoring or Tracking, Reminders +3 more
Models
CBT
PRODUCTS
WHOOP
Behaviors
Mental Health & Self-Care
Tactics
Mindfulness, Reminders, Cues +6 more
PRODUCTS
Akili
Behaviors
Mental Health & Self-Care, Care Plan Compliance
Tactics
Gamification
Related behavior change tactics
TACTICS
AI or Chatbot
Using a chatbot or simulated conversational interaction.
TACTICS
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
ACT is a therapeutic approach originalled developed by Steven Hayes. It borrows from previous concepts like cognitive behavioral therapy and Morita therapy. The principles of ACT are fairly systematic and lend themselves well to program design, finding empirical support in adaptations like 2morrow's smoking cessation and pain management interventions.
TACTICS
Active Choice
Active choice, sometimes referred to as enhanced active choice or forced choice, refers to removing default options and often increasing the salience of potential decisions through emphasizing the consequences of one or more of the options. Coined by Punam Anand Keller and colleagues in 2011, it was originally intended to address concerns around paternalistic nudging for use in situations where forcing the default option may be considered unethical. In one of the original studies, CVS customers were given the choice to enroll in automatic refills of medications via delivery. The choices they were presented were ""Enroll in refills at home"" vs “I Prefer to Order my Own Refills.”
TACTICS
Automation
Automation refers to having another person, group, or technology system perform part or all of the intended behavior. A prominent example is Thaler & Bernartzi's Save More Tomorrow intervention, which invested a portion of employees' earnings into retirement funds automatically and even increased the contribution level to scale with pay raises. Other examples include automatically scheduling medical appointments so the patient needn't do it themselves and mailing healthy recipe ingredients to the person's home to reduce the burden of shopping.
TACTICS
Behavior Substitution
Behavior substitution refers to attempting to eliminate a problematic behavior by replacing it with another one. Often, the substituted behaviors are intended to have similar sensory qualities (e.g. drink flavored sparkling water instead of soda). The goal is typically to disassociate the original behavior from its cue, enabling the more positive behavior to be triggered automatically.
TACTICS
Behavioral Activation (BA)
Behavioral activation is a therapeutic approach that typically pairs activity scheduling with either monitoring tools or goal-setting. For example, someone might aim to balance activities they "should" do but underperform, like self-care behaviors, with activities they enjoy. Users of this technique may also track which activities cause certain cognitions or affective states, like those associated with depression.