Use of the Healthy Lifestyle Coaching Chatbot App to Promote Stair-Climbing Habits Among Office Workers: Exploratory Randomized Controlled Trial
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Abstract
Background: Lack of time for exercise is common among office workers given their busy lives. Because of occupational restrictions and difficulty in taking time off, it is necessary to suggest effective ways for workers to exercise regularly. Sustaining lifestyle habits that increase nonexercise activity in daily life can solve the issue of lack of exercise time. Healthy Lifestyle Coaching Chatbot is a messenger app based on the habit formation model that can be used as a tool to provide a health behavior intervention that emphasizes the importance of sustainability and involvement. Objective: This study aimed to assess the efficacy of the Healthy Lifestyle Coaching Chatbot intervention presented via a messenger app aimed at stair-climbing habit formation for office workers. Methods: From February 1, 2018, to April 30, 2018, a total of 106 people participated in the trial after online recruitment. Participants were randomly assigned to the intervention group (n=57) or the control group (n=49). The intervention group received cues and intrinsic and extrinsic rewards for the entire 12 weeks. However, the control group did not receive intrinsic rewards for the first 4 weeks and only received all rewards as in the intervention group from the fifth to twelfth week. The Self-Report Habit Index (SRHI) of participants was evaluated every week, and the level of physical activity was measured at the beginning and end of the trial. SPSS Statistics version 21 (IBM Corp) was used for statistical analysis. Results: After 4 weeks of intervention without providing the intrinsic rewards in the control group, the change in SRHI scores was 13.54 (SD 14.99) in the intervention group and 6.42 (SD 9.42) in the control group, indicating a significant difference between the groups (P=.04). When all rewards were given to both groups, from the fifth to twelfth week, the change in SRHI scores of the intervention and control groups was comparable at 12.08 (SD 10.87) and 15.88 (SD 13.29), respectively (P=.21). However, the level of physical activity showed a significant difference between the groups after 12 weeks of intervention (P=.045). Conclusions: This study provides evidence that intrinsic rewards are important to enhance the sustainability and effectiveness of an intervention. The Healthy Lifestyle Coaching Chatbot program can be a cost-effective method for healthy habit formation. Trial Registration: Clinical Research Information Service KCT0004009; https://tinyurl.com/w4oo7md
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Piao et al reported significant between-group differences in the Self-Report Habit Index when controlled for intrinsic reward via chatbot enables app (P=.008).
“Piao et al [21] reported significant between-group differences in the Self-Report Habit Index when controlled for intrinsic reward via chatbot enables app (P=.008).”
From Artificial Intelligence-Based Chatbots for Promoting Health Behavioral Changes: Systematic Review. (2023) · cites this paper as [21]
The Results section, “Changes of Habit Strength” (page not provided), reports significant between-group SRHI differences at P=.008. But that result is a group-by-time analysis, not an analysis controlled for intrinsic reward. In “Effects of Intrinsic Rewards” (page not provided), the separate comparisons by reward period report P=.04 and P=.21. (LLM, conf=0.87)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredOf the 15 studies, 7 (47%) targeted healthy lifestyles, and 5 (33%) assessed efficacy of AI chatbots in promoting healthy lifestyles.
“Out of the 15 studies, 7 (47%) studies [5,21,22,28,29,32,33] targeted healthy lifestyles, and 5 (33%) studies [21,22,28,32,33] assessed the efficacy of AI chatbots in promoting healthy lifestyles through (1) physical activity levels, (2) healthy diet, (3) blood pressure, and (4) BMI.”
From Artificial Intelligence-Based Chatbots for Promoting Health Behavioral Changes: Systematic Review. (2023) · cites this paper as [21]
The Healthy Lifestyle Coaching chatbot was effective in increasing physical activity after 12 weeks of the intervention among office workers.
“The findings demonstrated that this chatbot was effective in increasing physical activity after 12 weeks of the intervention among office workers.”
A study that used a chatbot to promote stair climbing reported a significant increase in physical activity after 12 weeks of intervention, although it is not clear how physical activity was measured and what the effect size was.
“Finally, we also found a study that used a chatbot to promote stair climbing, and it also reported a significant increase in physical activity after 12 weeks of intervention, although it is not clear how physical activity was measured and what the effect size was [33].”
From Feasibility, Usability, and Effectiveness of a Machine Learning–Based Physical Activity Chatbot: Quasi-Experimental Study (2021) · cites this paper as [33]
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Artificial Intelligence-Based Chatbots for Promoting Health Behavioral Changes: Systematic Review.
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- Authors
- Piao, M., Ryu, H., Lee, H., & Kim, J.
- Affiliations
- Seoul National University Hospital (KR)
- Seoul National University (KR)
- Gachon University (KR)
- Corresponding author
- Ryu, Hyeongju
- Venue
- JMIR mHealth and uHealth
- Publisher
- JMIR Publications Inc.
- Published
- 2020-05-19
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- e15085
- ISSN
- 2291-5222 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7267999
- OpenAlex
- W3004627142
- Cited by
- 75
- References
- 18
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 3
- FWCI
- 10.44
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- JMIR mhealth and uhealth (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Mobile Health and mHealth Applications
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Behavioral Health and Interventions
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Physical Activity and Health
- Keywords
- chatbot intervention, messaging apps, stair climbing, habit formation, office workers, physical activity, intrinsic rewards, extrinsic rewards, Self-Report Habit Index, health behavior interventions, workplace health promotion, mobile health apps, cost-effectiveness, user satisfaction, user retention
- MeSH terms
- Healthy Lifestyle, Mentoring, Adult, Female, Habits, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Exercise, Young Adult, Mobile Applications
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