"Butt call me once you get a chance to chat " : Designing Persuasive Reminders for Veterans to Facilitate Peer-Mentor Support

US military veterans (USMVs) are a vulnerable population with an elevated risk of mental health issues and suicide. Peer support, especially through mobile technology, has proven effective in addressing mental health related challenges, but ensuring long-term engagement remains a concern. This study explores the opportunity of designing persuasive technology, particularly persuasive reminders, to enhance engagement in peer support interventions for veterans. We followed community-based participatory research with ten veterans to identify specific peer support processes that can benefit from persuasive reminders and to uncover the underlying community values and needs to guide design. The findings emphasize the importance of designing reminders that focus on personalized strategies, effective delivery of success stories, understanding motivation levels, careful language selection, actionable reminders, and mutual accountability. The study advocates context-specific design and highlights the need for a broader user-centered persuasion design perspective to cater to veterans’ unique needs.