Conceptual Model for Behaviour Change Progress - Instrument in Design Processes for Behaviour Change Systems.

The aim of the work presented in this article was to develop a conceptual model for behavior change progress, which could be used for automated assessment of reasons for progress or non-progress. The model was developed based on theories for behavior change, and evaluated by domain experts. The information models of two prototype systems of a digital coach under development for preventing cardio-vascular diseases and stress respectively, were evaluated by comparing the content of the prototypes with concepts in the model. The conceptual model was found useful as instrument to evaluate to what extent the prototypes are based in theories for behavior change, whether some vital information is missing, and to identify mechanisms for short and long time goal setting. Moreover, the connection between the ontology underpinning the prototypes and the conceptual model could be defined. Future work includes the integration of the conceptual model to function as a meta-ontology, which could be used for capturing causal relationships between information collected by the applications at baseline and at runtime.