Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35580138›Full record

ArticleJMIR formative research2022

The Effect of Persuasive Design on the Adoption of Exposure Notification Apps: Quantitative Study Based on COVID Alert.

Kiemute Oyibo, Plinio Pelegrini Morita

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in JMIR formative research, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Kiemute OyiboSchool of Public Health Sciences, Faculty of Health, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8300-3343
Plinio Pelegrini MoritaSchool of Public Health Sciences, Faculty of Health, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9515-6478

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe adoption of contact tracing apps worldwide has been low. Although considerable research has been conducted on technology acceptance, little has been done to show the benefit of incorporating persuasive principles.

objectiveThis research aimed to investigate the effect of persuasive features in the COVID Alert app, created by Health Canada, by focusing on the no-exposure status, exposure status, and diagnosis report interfaces.

methodsWe conducted a study among 181 Canadian residents, including 65 adopters and 116 nonadopters. This study was based on screenshots of the 3 interfaces, of which each comprised a persuasive design and a control design. The persuasive versions of the first two interfaces supported self-monitoring (of exposure levels), and that of the third interface supported social learning (about how many other users have reported their diagnosis). The 6 screenshots were randomly assigned to 6 groups of participants to provide feedback on perceived persuasiveness and adoption willingness.

resultsA multivariate repeated-measure ANOVA showed that there is an interaction among interface, app design, and adoption status regarding the perceived persuasiveness of the interfaces. This resulted in a 2-way ANOVA for each interface. For the no-exposure interface, there was an interaction between adoption status and app design. Among adopters, there was no significant difference P=.31 between the persuasive design (mean 5.36, SD 1.63) and the control design (mean 5.87, SD 1.20). However, among nonadopters, there was an effect of app design (P<.001), with participants being more motivated by the persuasive design (mean 5.37, SD 1.30) than by the control design (mean 4.57, SD 1.19). For the exposure interface, adoption status had a main effect (P<.001), with adopters (mean 5.91, SD 1.01) being more motivated by the designs than nonadopters (mean 4.96, SD 1.43). For the diagnosis report interface, there was an interaction between adoption status and app design. Among nonadopters, there was no significant difference P=.99 between the persuasive design (mean 4.61, SD 1.84) and the control design (mean 4.77, SD 1.21). However, among adopters, there was an effect of app design (P=.006), with participants being more likely to report their diagnosis using the persuasive design (mean 6.00, SD 0.97) than using the control design (mean 5.03, SD 1.22). Finally, with regard to willingness to download the app, pairwise comparisons showed that nonadopters were more likely to adopt the app after viewing the persuasive version of the no-exposure interface (13/21, 62% said yes) and the diagnosis report interface (12/17, 71% said yes) than after viewing the control versions (3/17, 18% and 7/16, 44%, respectively, said yes).

conclusionsExposure notification apps are more likely to be effective if equipped with persuasive features. Incorporating self-monitoring into the no-exposure status interface and social learning into the diagnosis report interface can increase adoption by >30%.

Indexed as

adoptionbehaviorbehavior changecase studycontact tracing appCOVID-19COVID Alertdesigneffecteffectivenessexposureexposure notification appmobile phonepersuasive technologyuseuser interface

Identifiers

PMID35580138
PMCPMC9450945

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.