Digital Human Representations for Health Behavior Change : A Structured Literature Review

Title data

Adam, Marc T. P. ; Dreyer, Stephan ; Gimpel, Henner ; Olenberger, Christian:
Digital Human Representations for Health Behavior Change : A Structured Literature Review.
In: AIS Transactions on Human-Computer Interaction. Vol. 14 (2022) Issue 3 . - pp. 314-355.
ISSN 1944-3900

Project information

Abstract in another language

Digital human representations (DHRs), such as avatars and embodied agents, are used increasingly for the delivery of health behavior change interventions (BCIs) of modifiable risk factors in the SNAP (smoking, nutrition, alcohol overconsumption, physical inactivity) domain. We conduct a systematic literature review of 52 articles to investigate how the social design of DHRs affects the success of BCIs. Specifically, we analyze how differences in social cues used by the DHR affect user psychology, and how this can support or hinder different intervention functions. We present an integrative framework that can guide the design of future DHR-delivered BCIs based on established frameworks from human-computer interaction and BCI literature. We conclude that further field studies are needed to better understand the temporal dynamics as well as the mid- and long-term effects of DHR social design on user perception and intervention outcome.