New Article on Gamification in Digital Mental Health Interventions published in Behaviour & Information Technology

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How do users feel about game design elements in digital mental health applications? Our new article in Behaviour & Information Technology surveys 648 potential users across five application contexts to find out. The findings show consistent preferences for performance-oriented elements such as Goals and Progress, and notably higher acceptance of Stories than in other domains like physical activity or learning management systems. The article also identifies seven key rationales behind these preferences and highlights the layered nature of preference formation, offering practical guidance for context-sensitive, user-centered gamification design.

Hu, S., Schmidt-Kraepelin, M., Krohmann, S., Thiebes, S., & Sunyaev, A. (2026). User preferences for game design elements in digital mental health interventions. Behaviour & Information Technology, 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/0144929X.2026.2736084

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