Designing for Engagement: How Self-Determination Theory Can Guide Digital Health Design for User Motivation
For digital health designers and researchers, this framework provides a motivational theory-based approach to improve user engagement, though it is preliminary and presented for workshop discussion.
The paper proposes a theory-grounded design framework based on Self-Determination Theory to guide digital health interventions for sustained user engagement, drawing on surveys (N=438), interviews (N=31), and co-design workshops (N=59). The framework categorizes design strategies across adoption, interface, and task spheres, distinguishing between intrinsic and autonomous extrinsic motivation pathways.
User engagement is crucial for the efficacy of digital health and mental health interventions, yet existing design strategies for improving engagement remain heterogeneous, context-specific, and insufficiently grounded in motivational theory. In this paper, we propose a preliminary, theory-grounded design framework that draws on Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and its sub-theory, Organismic Integration Theory (OIT), to guide the design of digital health interventions for sustained user engagement. Informed by existing literature and our own empirical data from surveys (N = 438), interviews (N = 31), and co-design workshops (N = 59) with end users, the framework categorises design strategies across the adoption, interface, and task spheres of the user experience, distinguishing between those that primarily support intrinsic motivation and those that foster autonomous forms of extrinsic motivation. We argue that this distinction is critical: strategies commonly grouped under umbrella terms such as "gamification" in fact operate through different motivational channels and should be designed and evaluated accordingly. By clarifying these motivational pathways, our framework aims to support researchers and practitioners in designing digital health interventions that not only facilitate initial uptake but also enhance the internalisation of health behaviours for long-term, sustained engagement. We present this framework as a basis for discussion at this workshop, inviting expert feedback and critique to refine it as a contribution to the field.