BACKGROUND
There have been challenges in designing effective behaviour-change interventions, including those that promote physical activity. One of the key reasons is that many of those systems do not account for individuals’ characteristics and their psychological differences, which affect their approach toward adopting target behaviour. For decades, tailoring has been used as a common technique to effectively communicate health-related information to persuade people to follow a healthier living. However, its use in the design of persuasive technologies has not been adequately investigated.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this research is to explore the effects of tailoring when it is grounded in Higgins’ regulatory focus theory.
METHODS
A combination of cross-sectional and longitudinal studies has been proposed to examine how individuals’ intention to become more physically active would be affected by receiving health messages that may or may not match their self-regulatory orientation. The research would also subjectively, as well as objectively, measures the changes in individuals’ physical activity level.
RESULTS
The anticipated completion date for the consequent studies is December 2016.
CONCLUSIONS
In this article, the importance of refining message-framing research questions and a stepwise approach to develop an efficient experimental design to examine a new tailoring strategy is discussed. A set of small studies is proposed that would inform the best approach to design the principal experiment. The findings of principal experiment will provide a deeper insight into the relationship between regulatory-focus theory, persuasive message construction, and individuals’ physical activity behaviour.
The Influence of Message Framing on College Students' Unintended Pregnancy Prevention by Regulatory Focus and Gender
