The Healthy Elderly: Case Studies in Persuasive Design

Self-care and self-orchestration are focal points for transformations in health care and well-being in the Netherlands. Citizens should live healthily, be active every day and manage their own health. In this context, we explore how persuasive information technology may support older people in developing and maintaining healthy behavior. In two cases (in the Dutch cities Wijchen and Arnhem) we designed concepts of services in co-creation with professionals and citizens. These concepts were based on persuasive guidelines and positively tested with professionals and citizens. In this paper, we present these concepts and critically examine them in relation to existing literature on persuasive technology and personal informatics. We argue for backing persuasive interface with genuine support for user needs and for increasing the actionability of personal informatics solutions. The presented solutions also highlight how self-, family-, and professional care can be connected in the design of health support system