Persuasive Computing Lab

Check out our latest publication with Gerry Chan, Brendon Ferguson, CPA, CA, Sam Ross, Prof. Rita Orji, PhD

This paper presents an evaluation of Wellnify.ai, a customizable, mobile-friendly wellness app that leverages gamification and behavior change techniques to encourage healthier, more active communities. The platform includes wellness tools such as workout libraries, online challenges, educational content, and customizable features that allow organizations to gamify their own wellness initiatives. The evaluation draws on data from a three-month deployment across multiple organizations to examine engagement and interactions with wellness content.

You can read the full paper here: https://lnkd.in/gWDsUwkh

Dalhousie University, Dalhousie Computer Science

Check out our latest publication with Kaminda Musumbulwa, Gerry Chan and Prof. Rita Orji, PhD

Our study evaluated MyHealthCore, a co-designed, culturally responsive mHealth app for HIV prevention with Black community members and HIV service providers in Canada. Participants found the prototype highly usable and emphasized trust, privacy, and representation as essential for engagement. The findings suggest that co-designed mHealth interventions can advance health equity by embedding cultural and clinical relevance into digital health solutions.

You can read the full paper here: https://lnkd.in/gBjPaDQR

Dalhousie University, Dalhousie Computer Science

Check out our latest publication with Japheth Mumo, Gladwin Irudayaraj, Josteve Adekanbi, Gloria Obuobi-Donkor, Medard Adu, Ejemai Eboreime MD,PhD, PMP, FAPH, Grace Ataguba (PhD), Prof. Rita Orji, PhD & Oladapo Oyebode, PhD

This paper explores how storytelling can reduce resistance to health messages by increasing identification, while addressing the limited understanding of the narrative elements, persuasive strategies, and emotional features that make recovery stories effective. We developed an AI agent that generates persuasive recovery stories in real time using insights extracted from inspiring recovery narratives shared on Reddit. These elements were encoded in a retrieval-augmented generation system and evaluated by mental health experts, who supported the stories’ clinical relevance and potential to motivate positive change.

You can read the full paper here: https://lnkd.in/gPqy8zG5

Dalhousie University, Dalhousie Computer Science

Check out our latest publication with Oladapo Oyebode, PhD, Darren Steeves, Prof. Rita Orji, PhD

This paper presents, Recilify, an AI-driven and emotion-adaptive mobile health app that delivers personalized emotion regulation interventions based on users’ emotional states. Through a systematic design, development, and evaluation process, the app integrates persuasive strategies, emotion regulation techniques, and real-time emotion detection to improve mental well-being. Evaluation findings suggest that tailored, AI-powered interventions can enhance user motivation, engagement, usability, and support effective emotion regulation.

You can read the full paper here: https://lnkd.in/ghvwyucT

Dalhousie University, Dalhousie Computer Science

Check out our latest publication with Josteve Adekanbi, Japheth Mumo, Gladwin Irudayaraj, Olumide Thomas Adeleke, Ibukun Okunade, Prof. Rita Orji, PhD and Oladapo Oyebode, PhD

This paper presents HyperCare, an AI-driven, personalized, and adaptive persuasive technology for continuous hypertension prevention and management. HyperCare integrates multimodal sensing of health determinants, including sleep patterns, activity level, body weight, blood glucose, and blood alcohol content, with explainable artificial intelligence and persuasive strategies to deliver personalized, evidence-based interventions in real time. The system uses a retrieval-augmented generation based explainable large language model to analyze health data and provide adaptive recommendations. Through an expert evaluation involving clinicians and simulated hypertension-risk scenarios, HyperCare received high ratings for clinical relevance, transparency and explainability, persuasion, ethics, and usability, demonstrating its potential for continuous and personalized hypertension prevention and management.

You can read the full paper here: https://lnkd.in/ercxQcBJ

Dalhousie University

Check out our latest publication with Masud Imran, Gerry Chan, Oladapo Oyebode, PhD, Rebecca Moyer, Prof. Rita Orji, PhD

In this paper, we present KosmoWalker, a social space-themed, step-based mobile game that transforms walking into cooperative missions through goal setting and team challenges. Results showed that the prototype was perceived as engaging, persuasive, and easy to navigate, demonstrating the potential of social and collaborative exergame design. Overall, these findings illustrate the promise of social and collaborative exergame design and inform the development of a functional version for broader evaluation.

You can read the full paper here: https://lnkd.in/etNZqfim

Dalhousie University, Dalhousie Computer Science

Check out our latest publication with Olamiposi Olaiya, MSc, Gerry Chan & Prof. Rita Orji, PhD

This systematic review explores how Machine Learning (ML) is being combined with Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) in healthcare for disease diagnosis and treatment. We reviewed 43 studies published between 2014 and 2024 and found that the use of AR/VR-ML technologies has increased over time. Most studies focused on VR applications, commonly using Head-Mounted Displays and multiple ML algorithms together. Overall, AR/VR/ML systems show significant potential for supporting capabilities in diagnosing and treating many types of medical conditions; however, a large variability exists among the different studies due to differences in the design and evaluation of the studies.

You can read the full paper here: https://lnkd.in/eEUQq8Jj

Dalhousie University, Dalhousie Computer Science

Check out our latest publication with olusegun Latinwo and Prof. Rita Orji, PhD

This research presents RXGBoost, an explainable AI-based diagnostic framework that utilizes electroencephalography (EEG) recordings and demographic features to improve the accuracy of mental health disorder diagnoses. The framework integrates Boruta-XGBoost feature selection, adaptive class weighting, and SHAP-based interpretability to provide transparent and clinically meaningful diagnostic decisions. In evaluations across six mental health disorders, RXGBoost consistently outperformed deep learning and baseline machine learning models on multiple performance metrics, including accuracy, precision, sensitivity, specificity, and F1-score. The study also highlights the framework’s potential integration into IoT-based wireless body area network (WBAN) systems and wearable EEG platforms to support real-time, personalized, and explainable mental health care.

You can read the full paper here: https://lnkd.in/eQTbbrb6

Dalhousie University, Dalhousie Computer Science

Check out our latest publication with Mona Alhasani, Ali M. Alshareef, PhD, Prof. Rita Orji, PhD

This paper explores how gamified stress-management systems can become more effective through personalization. We examined data collected from 517 participants to investigate the relationships between gamification user types, coping strategies, and perceived stress. The results show that different user types prefer different coping mechanisms, while stress levels had little effect on these preferences. Based on these findings, we propose a dual-layered personalization framework that aligns coping strategies with gamification mechanics according to users’ HEXAD profiles. The study shows the importance of designing adaptive, context-aware interventions that support users’ psychological needs and intrinsic motivations.

You can read the full paper here: https://lnkd.in/eVWWJ8SR

Dalhousie University, Dalhousie Computer Science

Call for participation:
We are conducting a study on personalized, gamified stress-management apps.

Participation involves:
Short pre- and post-study surveys (~5–10 minutes each)
Using a mobile app (5–15 minutes/day) for 3 weeks or receiving stress-management resources
Optional short interview (10–15 minutes)

🎁 Receive a $15 CAD Amazon gift card upon completion.

🔗 Join here: https://lnkd.in/edeNUT_D

For inquiries, contact: Mona Alhasani ([email protected])

Dalhousie University, Dalhousie Computer Science