Persuasive Design Solutions for a Sustainable Workforce: Review of Persuasive Apps for Real-Time Capability Support for Rural Health Care Professionals

Abstract

Background There is a need to further investigate how persuasive design principles can change rural health professionals’ behaviors to look after their own health workforce capability. Several theories are used when developing apps to persuade people to change behavior, including the Persuasive System Design Model, consisting of primary task, dialogue, system credibility, and social support categories, and Cialdini’s principles of persuasion. These have not been analyzed yet in the field of health workforce capability. Objective This study aims to determine the persuasive design techniques used in capability building–related apps and to provide recommendations for designing a health workforce app to increase their persuasiveness. Methods A Python script was used to extract a total of 3060 apps from Google Play. Keywords centered around health workforce capability elements. App inclusion criteria were as follows: been updated since 2019, rated by users on average 4 and above, and more than 100,000 downloads. Next, 2 experts reviewed whether 32 persuasive strategies were used in the selected apps, and these were further analyzed by capability categories: competencies and skills, health and personal qualities, values and attitudes, and work organization. Results In all, 53 mobile apps were systematically reviewed to identify the persuasive design techniques. The most common were surface credibility (n=48, 90.6%) and liking (n=48), followed by trustworthiness (n=43, 81.1%), reminders (n=38, 71.7%), and suggestion (n=30, 56.6%). The techniques in the social support domain were the least used across the different apps analyzed for health workforce capability, whereas those in the primary task support domain were used most frequently. The recommendations reflect learnings from our analysis. These findings provided insight into mobile app design principles relevant to apps used in improving health workforce capability. Conclusions Our review showed that there are many persuasive design techniques that can assist in building health workforce capability. Additionally, several apps are available in the market that can assist in improving health workforce capability. There is, however, a specific lack of digital, real-time support to improve health workforce capability. Social support strategies through using social support persuasive design techniques will need to be integrated more prominently into a health workforce capability app. An app to measure and monitor health workforce capability scores can be used in conjunction with direct real-world person and real-time support to discuss and identify solutions to improve health workforce capability for rural and remote health professionals who are at high risk of burnout or leaving the rural health workforce.

Persuasive Design Techniques and App Design Recommendations to Improve Health Workforce Capability in Rural Health Professionals: What Do Users Want and How Does an App Help?

“…We also analyzed the user context that are the user-dependent features such as goals or motivations of health professionals [ 10 ]. Subsequently, we analyzed the technology context through identifying the technology-dependent features for health workforce capability–related apps [ 11 ]. In this paper, we then described example software apps and implementations.…”

“…Our systematic review of persuasive apps that are related to health workforce capability generated examples of how the various techniques can be used in practice to develop a health workforce capability app. Subsequently, the 32 persuasive techniques [ 11 , 17 - 19 ] were used as a framework to deductively analyze the data. Descriptions of the 32 persuasive design techniques are listed in Tables 1 - 5 .…”

“…Health workforce capability can be defined as “the intersection between individual capacity and ability to adapt to work considering the whole of health care context, including the labor market, population needs, family, schools, partner, education, and social options.” Thus, health workforce capability is a complex construct that consists of much more than just clinical competence. It is a holistic concept that considers the multidirectional interactions both internal and external to the individual practitioner [ 9 - 11 ]. Internally, it considers interactions between an individual practitioner’s personal and professional spheres, both of which are complicated domains that vary greatly between individuals.…”

“…What then are the appropriate solutions to improve health workforce capability? To answer this question, the authors of this paper undertook 2 previous studies [ 10 , 11 ].…”

“…The second study consisted of reviewing apps in Google Play Store and technical design elements that allow the technology solution to fulfill the wants and needs of health professionals [ 11 ]. Persuasive design techniques can be used to encourage people to use a product or to take certain actions or to make certain positive decisions.…”