Investigating m-health gamification rewards elements for adults 50+

Abstract

Most of the m-health available on the market today aims to promote a healthy lifestyle and to increase the well-being of adults 50+, but few are specifically designed for them. Thus, keeping users engaged for long periods of usage is a constant challenge, especially in cases of diseases that cannot be cured, such as diabetes and cardiac insufficiency, which require long-term care. Some applications adopt gamification as a strategy to keep their users motivated to follow the medical recommendations repeatedly. As a reward, they usually make use of virtual currencies, points, and badges. However, in the case of adults 50+, this engagement can be even more particular, where research points out to a different perception on what motivates them to achieve well-defined and more significant purposes than pure entertainment in games. This paper investigates how to project reward elements on gamified health platforms for this audience, suggesting what can satisfy their intrinsic motivations to engage them for a future continued use of an m-health app. We have found that excess reward elements can be harmful and have the opposite effect of what usually m-health applications are designed for. Besides, the first boost coming from a close friend or family can be determinant to motivate them intrinsically or even to change their routine, more than coming from a health agent. Finally, we conclude through an m-health gamification framework focused on adults 50+.