Designing for Emotional Well-being: Integrating Persuasion and Customization into Mental Health Technologies

A growing body of work has emphasized the need for customizability and flexibility in mobile health technologies to increase support user autonomy. However, customization may be burdensome for people with motivational and cognitive challenges, such as those with mental illnesses, and the optimal level and type of customizability are unclear. Based on 32 interviews with people who experience symptoms of depression and anxiety, we examine how individuals use and customize mental health apps to manage their symptoms. Our findings suggest that participants’ engagement with the apps is affected by their level of energy and motivation, depending on the severity of symptoms. Customization is deemed desirable when the required user effort does not exceed users’ mental and motivational capacity and when ample resources are available. We discuss how customizable systems can increase autonomy without overburdening users in the context of mental health.