Flow or no flow? A qualitative study of health behavior change support system

Abstract

Recent studies about technology acceptance have highlighted the significance of hedonic values when examining consumer information systems. The flow experience is often taken as a theoretical construct to explain hedonic motivations in Web-related studies. However, regarding consumer healthcare information systems, the relevance of hedonic values has received relatively little attention. In this study Oinas-Kukkonen's webflow model and its constructs are used to understand user experience in Behavior Change Support Systems (BCSSs) designed to prevent metabolic syndrome. Twelve participants were interviewed after using the system for ten weeks. Our findings suggest that in the area of consumer healthcare information systems, hedonic values are not as important as utilitarian values. This study demonstrates the value of the webflow model as a research framework and contributes to its further development. Methodologically, this paper contributes to a rarely used qualitative approach in studying the flow experience. © 2014 IEEE.