Designing Positive Behavior Change Experiences: a Systematic Review and Sentiment Analysis based on Online User Reviews of Fitness and Nutrition Mobile Applications

While mobile devices have become ubiquitous, illnesses derived from poor lifestyle habits are on the rise. However, our understanding of design mechanisms that induce healthier behavior change through mobile devices is still limited. Using the BCT Taxonomy, and online user reviews as an indicator of experience satisfaction, we make a three-folded contribution to designing interactive systems for behavior change: (i) a systematic review of applications for physical activity and healthier eating habits, coding BCTs; (ii) sentiment analysis performed on 20492 review sentences of these apps; and (iii) design implications regarding the implementation features for each BCT cluster, considering the highest-scored features in terms of sentiment analysis. Positive expressions referred to the framing/reframing technique. Contrarily, negative expressions were mostly related to reward and threat. Findings from this study can be used to benchmark interactions between users and behavior change interfaces, and provide design insights to support positive user experiences.