JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Dropout-rates are high when young people use self-administered psychological interventions through digital platforms. This challenge needs to be addressed for such platforms to be effective conveyors of psychological interventions. Human-centered and persuasive design features could increase user experience and user motivation. This study explores these methods and features for the design and development of a new web-based intervention targeting young people.

Objective:

This study aimed to provide an overview of the design and development of a new positive psychology wise intervention targeting young, unemployed adults, including its theoretical underpinnings and human centered design methodology.

Methods:

Researchers worked with designers, developers and a multitude of stakeholders to design a web-based positive psychology intervention leveraging evidence-based, relevant wise interventions in a human-centered design process. Improvements to the intervention were explored through formative usability testing with 13 young adults in the target population (unemployed between 18-25).

Results:

The result of this study is a modular intervention web-app named “RØST”. During our project, this app evolved from early concept sketches and prototypes into a developed solution ready for further testing. Insight from user feedback and user observation was used to refine content. To increase user motivation, persuasive design features including praise, rewards and reminders were added to the web-app. Furthermore, the development process included technical and data protection considerations related to forthcoming randomized controlled trials.

Conclusions:

Involving stakeholders and end-users in development enabled relatable content development and resolved potential usability problems. Through exploring this self-administered digital intervention, we experienced tensions between working from evidence-based intervention designs and more human centered and user focused approaches, resulting in a continued need for supporting user motivation through persuasive design and gamification. This study overall provides valuable insights for research to develop psychological interventions for supporting well-being for young people, and the web-app itself is ready to be tested and used in further research in larger scale studies.