The overall aim of this research is to develop an adaptive digital coaching system that gives seniors personalized support for increasing physical activity, and promoting participation in social activity and their own care. The main research question is how can different behavioral and motivational factors of an individual be formally integrated into the knowledge base of a coach agent for generating support tailored to the individual’s needs and preferences in a specific situation?
The results include a theory-based motivational model incorporating different person-centric factors, and an algorithm for generating the adaptive and persuasive behavior of the agent that aims to motivate the individual. These are integrated in a mobile coaching application together with a set of theory-based motivating messages targeting primarily physical and social activities. Future work includes the development of methods for handling conflicting motives, and user studies.