Gamification in digital mental health

: effects of reward points and social comparison on users’ intrinsic motivation, self-efficacy judgments, and willingness to recommend

Abstract

As gamified mobile health apps dominate the market, they are promised to motivate healthyhabits and behaviors effectively and efficiently. While researchers have studied the effects of gamification in a multitude of contexts, its effects in digital mental health are still unclear. This thesis aims to understand whether the promises of gamification are also applicable in mobile mHealth, specifically stress management. For this purpose, this thesis studies the effects of two gamification elements: social comparison and achievement­related gamification, in the form of collectible reward points on users' intrinsic motivation, self­efficacy judgments, and willingness to recommend the app. The experiment was conducted in a 2 achievement­related gamification (on vs. off) x 2 type of reward (social vs. individual) between­subjects design in the context of a fictitious stress management app. The results found no main effects of achievement­related gamification on the dependent measures, suggesting that collecting reward points might not be an effective tool in mobile mHealth. In contrast, social comparison positively influences users' perceptions about their competence and marginally influences the control they feel over their stress. Based on the results, we conclude that social gamification may be an effective but controversial tool in eliciting feelings of control and that those can, in turn, can make it more likely that users will recommend the app.

Date of Award	10 May 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Sofia Jacinto (Supervisor)