Persuasive technology was a term coined by B.J. Fogg in the 1990s. To this day, persuasive technology in relation to health represents an evolving field of research. Never like this year with Covid-19 pandemic, we all understood the potential health-related drawbacks and economic costs to which obesity and overweight can lead. Thus, following the design science research principles, this thesis aims at designing a concrete persuasive technology application to promote healthy eating among university students, who, often, for the first time start to adopt independent food choices. From here, the title “Tell me who you are, and I’ll tell what you’ll eat”, which reverses the famous quote by Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin. Therefore, this thesis provides the theoretical principles of persuasion, behaviour change and behavioural intention. Moreover, it outlines the design of an app based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour, with the objective of identifying its ideal requirements. A survey was conducted among 125 university students in order to assess the predictive power of the Theory of Planned Behaviour, as well as to evaluate the first iteration of the app. Despite some limitations, the results validated the hypothesis, confirming the predictive utility of the TPB and identifying a positive intention of university students towards the usage of the app.
Il termine “persuasive tehcnology” fu coniato da B.J. Fogg negli anni '90. Ad oggi, il design di persuasive technologies in relazione alla salute rappresenta un campo di ricerca in continua evoluzione. Poiché, mai come quest'anno con la pandemia di Covid-19, abbiamo tutti compreso i potenziali danni di salute e costi economici a cui possono portare obesità e sovrappeso, seguendo i principi della design science research, questa tesi mira a progettare un'applicazione concreta di tecnologia persuasiva con lo scopo di promuovere una sana alimentazione tra gli studenti universitari, i quali, spesso, per la prima volta, iniziano ad adottare scelte alimentari autonome. Da qui, il titolo "dimmi chi sei e ti dirò cosa mangerai", che ribalta la famosa citazione di Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin. Pertanto, questa tesi presenta i principi teorici di persuasione, cambiamento comportamentale e intenzione comportamentale. Inoltre, delinea il design di un' app basata sulla Teoria del Comportamento Pianificato, con l'obiettivo di individuarne i requisiti ideali. È stato condotto un sondaggio tra 125 studenti universitari al fine di valutare il potere predittivo della Teoria del Comportamento Pianificato, nonché per valutare la prima iterazione dell'app. Nonostante alcune limitazioni, i risultati hanno validato le ipotesi, confermando l’utilità predittiva della TCP ed identificando una intenzione positiva in relazione all’utilizzo dell’app da parte degli studenti.
Tell me who you are, and I’ll tell you what you'll eat. Designing personalized persuasive technology for university students to promote healthy eating habits.
REZZONICO, FRANCESCA
2019/2020
Abstract
Persuasive technology was a term coined by B.J. Fogg in the 1990s. To this day, persuasive technology in relation to health represents an evolving field of research. Never like this year with Covid-19 pandemic, we all understood the potential health-related drawbacks and economic costs to which obesity and overweight can lead. Thus, following the design science research principles, this thesis aims at designing a concrete persuasive technology application to promote healthy eating among university students, who, often, for the first time start to adopt independent food choices. From here, the title “Tell me who you are, and I’ll tell what you’ll eat”, which reverses the famous quote by Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin. Therefore, this thesis provides the theoretical principles of persuasion, behaviour change and behavioural intention. Moreover, it outlines the design of an app based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour, with the objective of identifying its ideal requirements. A survey was conducted among 125 university students in order to assess the predictive power of the Theory of Planned Behaviour, as well as to evaluate the first iteration of the app. Despite some limitations, the results validated the hypothesis, confirming the predictive utility of the TPB and identifying a positive intention of university students towards the usage of the app.È consentito all'utente scaricare e condividere i documenti disponibili a testo pieno in UNITESI UNIPV nel rispetto della licenza Creative Commons del tipo CC BY NC ND.
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https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14239/311