Alcohol behaviour change : lessons learned from user reviews of iTunes apps

Mobile based persuasive technology can help us to shape positive behaviour and induce habit cessation. This paper reports on the preliminary content analysis of the comments made by users on a set of 18 iTunes apps that were designed to attempt to reduce the over consumption of alcohol and ultimately cut down drinking. In total 204 comments were retrieved from the set of 18 applications using data generated from a custom batch script. Our main results from the content analysis show that an efficient user interface is imperative to facilitate the user acceptance of persuasive mobile systems that attempt to inhibit consumption of alcohol. Furthermore, we noted more positive comments towards apps that adopted a self control behavioural change strategy, particularly as they followed a subtle and not abrupt interaction style. We conclude our analysis by providing a list of design recommendations for mobile apps that can assist in inhibiting alcohol consumption. Our analysis indicated that customisation and the possibility of maintaining incremental milestones were amongst the more sought after app features