Special Issue on Health Behavior Change Support Systems

DEADLINE POSTPONED to 15-02-2015

“A Behavior Change Support System (BCSS) is a socio-technical information system with psychological and behavioral outcomes designed to form, alter or reinforce attitudes, behaviors or an act of complying without using coercion or deception.” (A Foundation for the Study of Behavior Change Support Systems, Personal and Ubiquitous computing, Vol. 17, No. 6, August 2013, pp. 1223-1235)

The purpose of this International Journal of Medical Informatics Special Issue is to develop a richer understanding of the Health Behavior Change Support Systems (HBCSSs) as an object of persuasive technology.

All BCSSs have a persuasive component. What distinguishes research into BCSSs from other persuasive systems is that BCSSs are full-fledged systems, which emphasize user’s voluntariness in the persuasion process, personal goal-setting, quality and content of information provided, computer-mediated communication, development of software platforms and architectures, methods and processes to develop these systems, requirement for 24/7, organizational and social impacts on par with end-user impacts, and feasible business models, among other issues.

Health BCSSs are persuasive systems aimed at influencing health behavior and wellbeing. In this special issue, we focus on how persuasive components can be used to develop, design and implement HBCSSs. The special issue highlights how persuasive theories and models can be used to develop efficient and effective interventions (i.e. HBCSS) for different contexts in healthcare (e.g. persuasive decision support systems for self-care or persuasive games to support chronic care), how co-creation can be used to implement HBCSS in practice and what evaluation methods are needed to assess the impact of HBCSS on healthier living.

Emphasis in the special issue will be placed on both design and development of the HBCSSs and implementation and appraisal of the artifacts (i.e. the system) and their outcomes. The primary focus should not be purely about methodologies or technologies.