Collaboratively Setting Daily Step Goals with a Virtual Coach: Using Reinforcement Learning to Personalize Initial Proposals

Goal-setting is commonly used in behavior change applications for physical activity. However, for goals to be effective, they need to be tailored to a user’s situation (e.g., motivation, progress). One way to obtain such goals is a collaborative process in which a healthcare professional and client set a goal together, thus making use of the...

Setting Physical Activity Goals with a Virtual Coach: Vicarious Experiences, Personalization and Acceptance

Goal-setting is often used in eHealth applications for behavior change as it motivates and helps to stay focused on a desired outcome. However, for goals to be effective, they need to meet criteria such as being specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound (SMART). Moreover, people need to be confident to reach their goal. We thus...

Attitudes Toward a Virtual Smoking Cessation Coach: Relationship and Willingness to Continue

Virtual coaches have the potential to address the low adherence common to eHealth applications for behavior change by, for example, providing motivational support. However, given the multitude of factors affecting users’ attitudes toward virtual coaches, more insights are needed on how such virtual coaches can be designed to affect these...

Users’ needs for a digital smoking cessation application and how to address them: A mixed-methods study

Background<br/>Despite their increasing prevalence and potential, eHealth applications for behavior change suffer from a lack of adherence and from dropout. Advances in virtual coach technology provide new opportunities to improve this. However, these applications still do not always offer what people need. We, therefore, need a better...

Using a Virtual Coach to Quit Smoking: 14 Themes for User Needs

Adaptive Data-Driven Persuasive Communication for a Conversational Agent to Support Behavior Change

A human therapist continuously adapts how they persuade a client to adhere to a behavior change intervention based on theoretical expertise, past experience with the client as well as other clients, and the client's current situation. We aim at incorporating these elements into the persuasive communication of a conversational agent that acts as...