Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Formative Research
Date Submitted: Jul 29, 2024
Date Accepted: Feb 7, 2025
User experiences with digital future-self interventions in the contexts of smoking and physical activity: A mixed methods multi-study exploration
ABSTRACT
Background:
Digital future-self interventions (FSIs), which involve individuals receiving digital prompts to imagine who they do and do not want to become in the future, i.e. their (un)desired future-selves, are promising to promote healthy behaviors. A better understanding of user experiences with FSIs could bolster their effectiveness.
Objective:
The present multi-study report examined behavioral, cognitive and affective experiences with digital FSIs, and explored potential differences between them. FSIs centered on 1. smoking cessation vs. physical activity (PA), 2. desired vs. undesired future-selves, and 3. verbal vs. visual descriptions of future-selves.
Methods:
Secondary analyses of both quantitative and qualitative survey data from three studies which tested digital FSIs as a means to support smoking cessation and/or increase PA. In Study 1, participants thought about how it would be to complete the FSI, while in Study 2 and 3, they actually completed a FSI. Each study highlighted a different aspect of user experience with the FSI, namely behavioral (e.g., time spent), cognitive (e.g., mental effort exerted) and affective experiences (e.g., felt emotions).
Results:
Regarding behavioral experiences, it appeared that participants successfully and promptly completed FSI-tasks, and integrated them into their lives. Despite tasks being preparatory to behavior change, multiple participants reported changes in their smoking behavior and/or PA. Regarding cognitive experiences, fairly average effort was exerted to complete the tasks. Task difficulty varied among individuals and tasks, yet future-self tasks were systematically reported to prompt cognitive processes across all tasks. For affective experiences, desired future-self tasks were perceived as enjoyable and happiness-inducing, while undesired tasks were perceived as confronting and unpleasant, and sadness-, fear- and anger-inducing.
Conclusions:
Digital FSIs appeared to be a time efficient, feasible, acceptable way of strengthening identities as a means to encourage smoking cessation and PA-promotion. These findings support continued implementation of digital FSIs, although further research is encouraged to optimize their operationalization. Avenues in that regard are proposed and discussed. Clinical Trial: n/a
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