In recent years, there has been a notable rise in the development of mobile apps to deliver stress management interventions. However, the prevailing design of most available stress management apps leans towards an emotion-focused coping approach, primarily targeting the regulation of stress-induced negative emotions. Given that the perception of time shortage is a major source of stress among students in higher education, we adopted a problem-focused coping approach that targets tackling student stress via time management. Our work evolved through four main phases. First, we previously conducted a large-scale study involving 502 students, constructing five structural equation models (SEMs) to pinpoint the most effective time management factor in promoting the perception of control over time. Second, based on the findings, we designed and developed a persuasive mobile app (SortOut) to promote effective time management behavior among the target users. Before the development phase, the initial app prototype was evaluated and refined with students (n = 69). In the final phase, this paper focuses on the culmination of our work, wherein we assessed the app’s effectiveness through a 4-week field study involving 34 students. Subsequently, we conducted one-on-one interviews with 11 students to delve into their experiences and feedback. The results revealed that, after using the app, students demonstrated improvement in time management behavior, higher academic self-confidence, and lower stress compared to the baseline. Students in the early and later stages of behavior change (based on the Transtheoretical Model (TTM)) reported similar positive outcomes. Moreover, students perceived the app as straightforward and easy to use; they were not tense or pressured while using the app, which is especially vital for stress management interventions. Thematic analysis showed that the app encouraged organizational thought and behavior and aided students in managing their time and workload, increasing the commitment toward task completion. The study findings suggest that the app helped students engage in effective time management behavior with an improved perception of control over time. Such improved perception is instrumental in promoting student confidence and well-being. Guided by the study findings, we provided actionable design recommendations and future research directions to facilitate the development of impactful persuasive time and stress management interventions.

Student stress poses a widespread challenge, significantly impacting academic performance and mental well-being. Regrettably, stigma and accessibility barriers often discourage students from seeking help. Nonetheless, a ray of hope emerges through persuasive digital interventions (PDIs). These interventions, with their potential to foster positive behaviours in health and wellness, offer a promising avenue to address the complexities of student stress. Understanding how PDIs motivate behavioural change is pivotal for developing effective stress management solutions. This systematic review analyzes papers spanning two decades on PDIs for managing student stress, with the goal of synthesizing methodologies and approaches for designing, developing, and evaluating these interventions. We explore trends, considering factors such as evidence-based therapy, type of stress interventions, digital platforms for delivery, frequently employed persuasive and behaviour change strategies, and evaluation methodology. Additionally, we examine the effectiveness of PDIs in reducing student stress and examine the relationships between effectiveness and design strategies. Finally, our study contributes to the fields of human-computer interaction and mental health by identifying shortcomings and gaps in the existing literature. We propose directions and potential research questions to guide future initiatives in these fields.

Persuasive systems (PS) are effective at motivating behaviour change using various persuasive strategies. Research shows that tailoring these systems increases their effectiveness. However, there is little knowledge on how PS can be tailored to people's Stages of Change (SoC). We conduct a large-scale study of 568 participants to investigate how individuals at different SoC respond to various strategies. We also explore why the strategies motivate behaviour change using the ARCS motivation model. Our results show that people's SoC plays a significant role in the perceived persuasiveness of different strategies and that the strategies motivate for different reasons. For instance, people at the precontemplation stage tend to be strongly motivated by self-monitoring strategy because it raises their consciousness or self-awareness. Our work is the first to link research on the theory of SoC with the theory of motivation and Persuasive Systems Design (PSD) model to develop practical guidelines to inform the tailoring of persuasive systems.