Self-tracking and automated persuasive eCoaching combined in a smartphone application may enhance stress management among employees at an early stage. For the application to be persuasive and create impact, we need to achieve a fit between the design and end-users’ and important stakeholders’ values. Semi-structured interviews were conducted among 8 employees and 8 human resource advisors to identify values of self-tracking, persuasive eCoaching, and preconditions (e.g., privacy and implementation) for a stress management application, using the value proposition design by Osterwalder et al. Results suggest essential features and functionalities that the application should possess. In general, respondents see potential in combining self-tracking and persuasive eCoaching for stress management via a smartphone application. Future design of the application should mainly focus on gaining awareness about the level of stress and causes of stress. In addition, the application should possess a positive approach besides solely the focus on negative aspects of stress.
Published in collaboration with the University Medical Center Groningen.Burn-out and turnover rates among beginning Dutch nurses are high. One of the main reasons for this is the difficulty in adjusting to the tumultuous working environment or making it work in their favor. This is particularly hard for beginning nurses, as they do not have enough experience to reflect on their ordealsand take appropriate actions.One way to prompt their self-reflection is to provide focused questions within controlled situations that are believable and relatable. The contextualized guidance provides clarity and helps student nurses analyze tough situations in a safe and structured environment. Through this process, they are invited toreflect on what they could do differently, or whom they could reach out to for help.
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We need look no further than the use of email communication, mobile phones and cars to understand that technology has wide-ranging social consequences. What is more, designers are plainly not always aware of the social consequences of technology, despite practicing user-centred design. Email, for instance, was developed as an efficient mode of communication between two actors. As we all know, the introduction of email has fundamentally changed traditional business and office practices. These side effects were not identified until long after email was introduced. During recent years, designers have grown increasingly interested in these social aspects. Modern information technology, in particular, creates extensive possibilities to influence social behaviour. Persuasive technology has been developed to increase, e.g., environmental friendliness. Once a designer aims at defined social changes, the consequences of technology for practices become a responsibility, too. The present research is aimed at providing tools and methods to anticipate social consequences at an earlier stage of the design process. These consequences of technologies in social environments will be called social impacts. In order to be a meaningful concept for designers the characteristics of a particular technology that are responsible for social impacts must be identified. Social consequences of technologies have not been observed very thoroughly from a user-centred design point of view. Therefore, this thesis is aimed, not only at gaining knowledge about social impact, but also translating these insights into workable instruments for designers. This leads to the following research questions:1. What relations can be identified between social impacts and characteristics oftechnologies?2. How can a designer anticipate social impact?3. How can social impact be managed in design environments?
