Investigating the Impact of Adding Plan Reminders on Implementation Intentions to Support Behaviour Change

Abstract

Abstract The use of reminders in habit-formation apps could lead to dependency towards the reminders and hinder the automaticity of the behaviour. Implementation intentions (if–then plan) have been found to be an effective technique that can be used to support forming new habits/breaking unwanted habits. However, implementation intentions could suffer due to forgetfulness and lack of strong intention. In this study, we investigated how adding plan reminders could impact implementation intentions by conducting a 4-week study on daily mood report task. Our findings suggest that adding plan reminders leads to better compliance and better recall of the plan but not necessarily increased automaticity. We also discuss how plan reminders of implementation intentions can be improved. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS Implementation intentions are specific action planning that have been found to be powerful in supporting behaviour change by helping someone to break unwanted habits or form new habits. Implementation intentions could have a weak effect when there is no strong motivation to perform the intended behaviour. Existing habit formation/behaviour change apps focus on using reminders. This could lead to dependency towards the reminder. We propose an alternative approach by sending specific reminders of implementation intention (plan reminders) in advance before the actual action happens. Adding plan reminders on implementation intentions leads to better compliance, however, it is not necessarily the same in term of automaticity.