How do motivational text messages impact motivation to exercise? Implications for the design of activity trackers

Lígia Duro, Pedro F. Campos, Teresa Romão, Evangelos Karapanos

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

We study the motives of regular and non-regular exercisers' engagement with motivational text messages and the importance individuals attribute to visual presentation. A total of 160 individuals were surveyed (80 regular exercisers and 80 non-regular exercisers). We found regular exercisers use motivational text messages in order to encourage their exercise routine. Non-regular exercisers use motivational text messages mainly to try to boost their exercise motivation. Individuals, independent of their exercise profile, prefer to see motivational text messages presented in a mixed way, sometimes as text-only and sometimes embedded in a visual presentation. Participants reported that an aesthetically appealing visual presentation helps instill a positive feeling regarding the text, and the visual presentation was considered as important as the textual content. We conclude with a number of implications for the design of activity trackers.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationCHItaly 2019 - Proceedings of the 13th Biannual Conference of the Italian SIGCHI Chapter Designing the Next Interaction
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery
ISBN (Electronic)9781450371902
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 23 Sep 2019
Event13th Biannual Conference of the Italian SIGCHI Chapter Designing the Next Interaction, CHItaly 2019 - Padua, Italy
Duration: 23 Sep 201925 Sep 2019

Publication series

NameACM International Conference Proceeding Series
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery

Conference

Conference13th Biannual Conference of the Italian SIGCHI Chapter Designing the Next Interaction, CHItaly 2019
Country/TerritoryItaly
CityPadua
Period23/09/1925/09/19

Keywords

  • Exercise motivation
  • Motivational text messages

Cite this