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User experience predicts the effectiveness of a gamified recovery app

Investigation of Holidaily—an app promoting recovery behavior after vacation and during daily working life

User Experience sagt die Wirksamkeit einer gamifizierten Erholungs-App vorher

Eine Untersuchung zu Holidaily – einer App zur Förderung des Erholungsverhaltens nach dem Urlaub und im beruflichen Alltag

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Abstract

Background

Previous studies have demonstrated that vacations help workers recover from occupational stress, but this effect typically fades within 2 weeks of returning to work. To proactively reduce occupational stress, regular engagement in recreational activities is vital. During vacations, workers intuitively engage in recovery behaviors. The gamified smartphone application (app), Holidaily, was developed to encourage workers to engage in recreational activities during and beyond their vacation and integrate them into daily working life. To date, evidence is scarce on whether vacation-related recovery can be enhanced with a gamified app and whether the user experience (UX) of an app can significantly impact health.

Objectives

This study examined whether UX of a gamified app predicts users’ improvement in recovery from work-related stress.

Methods

Data were gathered from 171 Holidaily users, levels of recovery assessed 2 weeks pre- and post-vacation. The relationship between UX and change in recovery were examined by regression analysis.

Results

Holidaily users experienced substantially prolonged recovery, where the apps UX uniquely predicted recovery. This improvement could not be explained by sociodemographic or work-related variables, vacation length or pre-vacation level of depression.

Conclusions

Our findings support prior research demonstrating the effectiveness of apps promoting psychological health and are the first to reveal an app’s effectiveness augmenting recovery from work-related stress. Findings also highlight that the health effectiveness of an app is dependent on its UX.

Zusammenfassung

Hintergrund

Bisherige Studien zeigen, dass Urlaub deutliche Effekte auf die Erholung von arbeitsbezogenem Stress hat, jedoch sind diese Effekte in der Regel 2 Wochen nach dem Urlaub nicht mehr vorhanden. Um Stress proaktiv vorzubeugen, scheinen regelmäßige Erholungsaktivitäten im beruflichen Alltag entscheidend. Während des Urlaubs zeigen die meisten Berufstätigen intuitiv ein effektives Erholungsverhalten. Mit Holidaily wurde eine gamifizierte Smartphone-Applikation (App) entwickelt, die Urlauber dabei unterstützen soll, während des Urlaubs das funktionale Erholungsverhalten im Berufsalltag zu verankern. Bislang ist nicht bekannt, ob es durch Apps möglich ist, den Erholungseffekt von Urlaub zu steigern, und inwiefern dabei die User Experience (UX) für den gesundheitlichen Effekt ausschlaggebend ist.

Ziel der Arbeit

Ziel dieser Studie ist es zu untersuchen, inwiefern die UX einer gamifizierten App den Erholungseffekt ihrer Nutzer vorhersagt.

Methoden

Untersucht wurden 171 Holidaily-Nutzer, deren Erholung jeweils 2 Wochen vor und nach dem Urlaub erfasst wurde. Der Zusammenhang von UX und einer verbesserten Erholung wurde mittels Regressionsanalysen untersucht.

Ergebnisse

Holidaily-Nutzer konnten den Erholungseffekt ihres Urlaubs substanziell verbessern. Für unsere Studie konnte ermittelt werden, dass einzig die UX der Holidaily-App deren Effekt auf die Verbesserung der Erholung vorhersagen konnte. Die Verbesserung kann nicht durch soziodemografische Merkmale, Charakteristika der Arbeitssituation, die Länge des Urlaubs oder depressive Beschwerden vor dem Urlaub vorhergesagt werden.

Schlussfolgerung

Die Ergebnisse reihen sich in positive Befunde zur Wirksamkeit von Apps zur Förderung der psychischen Gesundheit ein und zeigen dies erstmalig für den Bereich der Erholung von arbeitsbezogenem Stress. Die Studie weist darauf hin, dass die gesundheitliche Wirksamkeit von Apps entscheidend von deren UX abhängt.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the health insurance company, Barmer.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health Psychology and Applied Biological Psychology, Institute of Psychology, Leuphana University Lueneburg, Universitaetsallee 1, 21335, Lueneburg, Germany

    Alexandra Smyth M.Sc., Jo Annika Reins, Markus Domin & Dirk Lehr

  2. Department of Occupational Psychology, University of Applied Sciences Bonn-Rhein Sieg, Rheinbach, Germany

    Christine Syrek

  3. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Technische Hochschule Luebeck, Luebeck, Germany

    Markus Domin & Monique Janneck

Authors
  1. Alexandra Smyth M.Sc.
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  2. Christine Syrek
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  3. Jo Annika Reins
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  4. Markus Domin
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  5. Monique Janneck
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  6. Dirk Lehr
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alexandra Smyth M.Sc..

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Conflict of interest

A. Smyth, C. Syrek, J.A. Reins, M. Domin, M. Janneck and D. Lehr declare that they have no competing interests.

All procedures were approved by the ethics committee at the Leuphana University of Lueneburg in August 2016 (reference number: 201606-EB-Antrag Lehr201606_holidaily). The trial is registered at the German Clinical Trial Register (DRKS 00013650).

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Smyth, A., Syrek, C., Reins, J.A. et al. User experience predicts the effectiveness of a gamified recovery app. Präv Gesundheitsf 13, 319–326 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11553-018-0664-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11553-018-0664-z

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