Contemplative Interactions: Exploring the Use of Defamiliarization in a Serious Game to Promote Reflective Thinking about Personal Health

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DOI

When motivational interviewing is used to boost intrinsic motivation, it requires contemplation of 1) personal values and 2) the linking of these values to personal reasons for change. Our goal is to create online tools that can support these efforts. We explored methods of encouraging contemplation that were previously developed from research on interactive life stories. We contribute a first exploration of these methods as applied to persuasive health systems. With the resulting insights, we developed a serious game to promote contemplation of personal values and health. In our evaluation, we observed that the game promoted dialogic reflection, but was less effective in scaffolding transformative reflection. We conclude with a discussion of promising future directions.