November 08th 2021

Health Coach MOVEEFFECT – the development of a digital Health Coach

The Center for Social & Health Innovation (CSHI) at MCI | The Entrepreneurial School® assists the company MOVEEFFECT in the development of a digital 'Health Coach' with a focus on the areas of fitness & exercise, nutrition and mental health.

The topic of health has resurfaced, concerning not only the general attention but also personal attention. In order to establish, achieve or maintain a healthy or healthier lifestyle, it is often necessary to rethink and adapt oneself and the current behavior patterns. Often, the effort required to gain the necessary expertise, as well as limited stamina or the general workload in everyday life leads to the inability to achieve one's own health goals and thus to disappointment. Even the attempt of companies to promote a healthy lifestyle among their employees through occupational health management (OHM) does not always meet the individual needs of those involved.

The Center for Social & Health Innovation (CSHI) at MCI | THE ENTREPRENEURIAL SCHOOL® assists the company MOVEEFFECT in the development of a digital 'Health Coach' with a focus on the areas of (1) fitness & exercise, (2) nutrition and (3) mental health. The declared goal of the 'Health Coach' is the targeted individual support of users in achieving their self-imposed goals of a healthy or healthier lifestyle, while at the same time taking into account the more effective implementation of occupational health management (OHM) in companies.

The Center for Social & Health Innovation (CSHI) provides scientific support for the development and ensures that the results are transmitted to the design of the app as an ongoing optimization process together with MOVEEFFECT. In addition, different incentive systems to increase the motivation of the users to maintain the self-set goals continuously and sustainably are analyzed in test phases. This process focuses on (1) analyzing the current state of research, (2) collecting qualitative interviews on individual experiences with the app, and (3) evaluating statistical data from the app.

Currently, a qualitative survey of the first users of the app, which is still in its infancy, will be conducted from October 2021 to February 2022 in the form of up to three consecutive short interviews. The goal is to involve users from the very beginning in the development and design of the application. For the first test phase, a web application is available instead of an app. In a next step, the 'Health Coach' will be adapted on the basis of the feedback from the test users and the statistical evaluations and converted into a first form of an APP. Here, a further loop will start in which test users are asked about their experiences, wishes and suggestions for the improvement of the 'Health Coach' and transferred into a further optimization circle.

For further information, please contact petra.luttinger@mci.edu.

Project partner: MOVEEFFECT, The Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG)

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