Designing ICT for Health and Wellbeing an Allostatic, Behavioral-Change Approach to a Monitoring and Coaching App

Abstract

We are developing a monitoring and coaching app for health and wellbeing based on (1) an allostatic model of adaption combined with (2) behavioural change theory and (3) user-oriented design. The (1) allostatic model comes from stress research and was introduced to explain how human health and wellbeing can be maintained. It suggests that human health and wellbeing is a complex multidimensional phenomenon that needs to be understood holistically. We have used this model to incorporate the dimensions of human health and wellbeing that are key for stress reduction: physical and social activity and sleep. The allostatic model can allow us to understand human health and wellbeing but it does not tell us how to support the behavioural changes needed in order to reach a healthy state of allostasis. For this we rely on (2) theory of behavioural change. This article describes how we have integrated (1-3) into the system design and reports from an initial workshop with users.