BEHAVIOR CHANGE TACTIC
Self-Monitoring or Tracking
Self-monitoring or tracking simply refers to a person measuring their behavior, experiences, cognition, or other data points over time.Often, merely tracking a behavior can influence the likelihood or frequency with which a person performs the behavior or related ones. For example, many pedometer studies increase walking activity merely by improving awareness, and many interventions that merely consist of rewarding someone for weighing themselves result in weight loss. Similarly, when cognitive behavioral therapy patients track which cues or environments are associated with undesired behaviors or thoughts, they may begin to avoid them.Unfortunately, people often find tracking behaviors tedious and lose interest after a short period, so behavior designers should seek to reduce the burden of self-monitoring by collecting information automatically or doing so in a low-effort way.
Studies involving Self-Monitoring or Tracking
PAPERS
A mobile health intervention for self-management and lifestyle change for persons with type 2 diabetes, part 2: one-year results from the Norwegian randomized controlled trial.
TACTICS
Self-Monitoring or Tracking, Coaching or Counselling
PAPERS
Active assistance technology reduces glycosylated hemoglobin and weight in individuals with type 2 diabetes: results of a theory-based randomized trial.
TACTICS
Self-Monitoring or Tracking, Coaching or Counselling
PAPERS
Cluster randomized trial of a mobile phone personalized behavioral intervention for blood glucose control.
BEHAVIOR
Disease Management
TACTICS
Self-Monitoring or Tracking, Coaching or Counselling
PAPERS
The Diabeo software enabling individualized insulin dose adjustments combined with telemedicine support improves HbA 1c in poorly controlled type 1 diabetic patients: a 6-month, randomized, open-label, parallel-group, multicenter trial (TeleDiab 1 Study).
TACTICS
Self-Monitoring or Tracking, Coaching or Counselling
PAPERS
Effects of a self-determination theory-based mail-mediated intervention on adults' exercise behavior.
BEHAVIOR
Physical Activity
PAPERS
Novel glucose-sensing technology and hypoglycaemia in type 1 diabetes: a multicentre, non-masked, randomised controlled trial.
BEHAVIOR
Disease Management
TACTICS
Self-Monitoring or Tracking
PAPERS
Flash glucose-sensing technology as a replacement for blood glucose monitoring for the management of insulin-treated type 2 diabetes: a multicenter, openlabel randomized controlled trial.
BEHAVIOR
Disease Management
TACTICS
Self-Monitoring or Tracking
PAPERS
Diabetes Interactive Diary: a new telemedicine system enabling flexible diet and insulin therapy while improving quality of life: an open-label, international, multicenter, randomized study.
BEHAVIOR
Diet & Nutrition
TACTICS
Self-Monitoring or Tracking, Coaching or Counselling
PAPERS
Impact of the “Diabetes Interactive Diary” telemedicine system on metabolic control, risk of hypoglycemia, and quality of life: a randomized clinical trial in type 1 diabetes.
TACTICS
Self-Monitoring or Tracking, Coaching or Counselling
Products leveraging Self-Monitoring or Tracking
PRODUCTS
Sidekick Health
Behaviors
Disease Management
Tactics
Feedback, Gamification, Goal Setting +5 more
PRODUCTS
MoodMission
Behaviors
Mental Health & Self-Care
Tactics
Tracking cognitions or emotions, AI or Chatbot, Goal Setting +7 more
Models
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
PRODUCTS
Cognoa
Behaviors
Mental Health & Self-Care
Tactics
Feedback, Self-Monitoring or Tracking, Education or Information +1 more
PRODUCTS
Hello Heart
Behaviors
Disease Management, Physical Activity, Diet & Nutrition
Tactics
Feedback, Self-Monitoring or Tracking, Reminders +3 more
PRODUCTS
Nest Thermostat
Behaviors
Conservation Behaviors
Tactics
Environmental Restructuring, Automation, Social Norms +6 more
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
Siren
Behaviors
Disease Management
Tactics
Self-Monitoring or Tracking, Reminders, Cues +1 more
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.