Research Article
User experiences of mobile wellness applications in health promotion: User study of Wellness Diary, Mobile Coach and SelfRelax
@INPROCEEDINGS{10.4108/ICST.PERVASIVEHEALTH2009.6007, author={Aino Ahtinen and Elina Mattila and Antti Vaatanen and Lotta Hynninen and Jukka Salminen and Esa Koskinen and Klaus Laine}, title={User experiences of mobile wellness applications in health promotion: User study of Wellness Diary, Mobile Coach and SelfRelax}, proceedings={3d International ICST Conference on Pervasive Computing Technologies for Healthcare}, proceedings_a={PERVASIVEHEALTH}, year={2009}, month={8}, keywords={health risk management; mobile application; user experience; motivation}, doi={10.4108/ICST.PERVASIVEHEALTH2009.6007} }- Aino Ahtinen
Elina Mattila
Antti Vaatanen
Lotta Hynninen
Jukka Salminen
Esa Koskinen
Klaus Laine
Year: 2009
User experiences of mobile wellness applications in health promotion: User study of Wellness Diary, Mobile Coach and SelfRelax
PERVASIVEHEALTH
ICST
DOI: 10.4108/ICST.PERVASIVEHEALTH2009.6007
Abstract
An ever-increasing number of people are affected by lifestyle-related health risks, such as overweight, physical inactivity and stress. An ongoing Nuadu trial studies the user acceptance and effectiveness of technologies in supporting the wellness management of working-age citizens. The technologies consist of different Web, mobile and wearable solutions. In this paper, we present the user experience results of three mobile wellness applications: the Wellness Diary, Mobile Coach and SelfRelax. We studied their usefulness, perceived usability, usage habits and motivational factors gathered during the first phase of the trial. The data were collected with user experience questionnaires and interviews, as well as actual usage logs from mobile applications. The findings indicate that the usage habits change during the usage period of more than two months towards more practical ways of use. The results also point out several aspects to be considered when developing future wellness applications for long-term use. These are, e.g. adaptability, versatility, guidance and usability.