Implementing positive reinforcement.

Designers should provide immediate positive feedback in various formats to reinforce sustainable energy actions and boost intrinsic motivation.

About this paper

The author argues that existing energy feedback technologies are ineffective because they use a universal approach, failing to account for individual differences in attitudes and motivational stages.

They propose leveraging motivational psychology, specifically the Transtheoretical Model, to develop more personalized and effective strategies for promoting sustainable energy behaviors.

Here are some methods used in this study:

Transtheoretical Model Motivational Interviewing

Which part of the paper did the design guideline come from?

“‘Ubigreen’[24] (Figure 3, top right) employs these techniques. It is a mobile phone visualization that uses semi-automatic sensing technologies to provide feedback of transportation behaviors. It uses a series of emotionally persuasive icons [24] (i.e. a polar bear standing on an iceberg) as positive reinforcement. The more “green” one’s transportation behaviors, the further in the progression of icons one gets (i.e. the iceberg grows and the ecosystem improves) until one reaches the final stage (...)” (‘Positive Reinforcement, Emotional Persuasion (through the ELM) & Values’ section)

He, H. A., Greenberg, S., & Huang, E. M. (2010). One size does not fit all. Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.

Inspiration and scope

This paper focuses on designers of energy feedback technologies in relation to motivating sustainable energy behaviors by leveraging behavior change stages.

You design for change, reflection, and pain points among global healthcare workers. Your context differs as the paper targets designers in energy feedback, while you target varied expertise in healthcare. At the same time, both emphasize designing for professionals in complex environments needing practical solutions for decision-making.

The paper aims to motivate sustainable energy behaviors through feedback technologies, while you aim to address pain points and promote reflection among healthcare workers to improve workflow and patient outcomes. At the same time, both aim to influence behaviors: energy consumption and healthcare practices, needing a deep understanding of user habits and motivations.

Leverage these similarities to design tools for healthcare workers applying behavioral psychology. Understanding behavior change stages and implementing motivational interviewing can enhance workflow efficiency and patient care, ensuring sustainable impacts.

Your input

  • What: change, reflection, pain points
  • Who: global healthcare workers
  • Design stage: Evaluation

Methods for you

Consider the following method(s) used in this paper for your design work:

Positive Reinforcement

Using positive reinforcement can help in motivating global healthcare workers by immediately rewarding their sustainable practices, thereby increasing their intrinsic motivation to continue these behaviors. When employing this methodology, it is essential to deliver positive feedback promptly and in various ways to maximize its effectiveness.

Goal Setting and Feedback

Setting specific, challenging goals and providing feedback on performance can aid healthcare workers in identifying clear targets and monitoring their progress. Ensure goals are clearly defined and realistic to maintain motivation and avoid frustration.

Metrics for you

Consider the following metric(s) used in this paper to evaluate your design work:

Intrinsic Motivation

Evaluating intrinsic motivation can help designers understand if the system appeals to the user's personal satisfaction and interest. For global healthcare workers, ensure the system addresses both professional goals and personal satisfaction to sustain long-term engagement, especially under stressful conditions.

Goal Setting

Monitoring the establishment of specific and challenging goals helps to track if users are setting meaningful and achievable targets. For healthcare workers, goals should be concrete and relevant to their daily tasks and progress professionally over time to maintain motivation.

[Figure 1] From this figure, you can understand how visual snapshots over time can be utilized to assess user interaction and reflection on changing environmental conditions.