Persuasive technology design for children: Changing behaviours, improving knowledge, and encouraging positive attitudes towards drinking water

Drinking water is essential for health and life. However, the majority of children do not meet the European Food Safety Authority water intake recommendation. In this paper, we investigate the effectiveness of an intervention designed to support behaviour change, improve knowledge, and foster positive attitudes of children towards drinking water. The design of the intervention and the interactions were personalized to suit the context and to meet the unique needs, interests, and preferences of the targeted age group. Inter-active storytelling techniques and persuasive strategies were used to motivate children to increase their water intake. We conducted a comparative study to evaluate the design of the intervention. The results showed that the average number of glasses of water children drink per day increased significantly after participating in the intervention. Knowledge improvement and a positive change in attitude were observed directly after participating in the intervention and eight days later. These findings have implications for future work on personalization and designing persuasive interventions for children.