Persuasive Features in Six Weight Loss Websites: A Qualitative Evaluation

Websites for weight loss have been demonstrating promising results. Still, it is unclear which website components contribute to successful outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to explore the utilization of various persuasive features on six weight loss websites. The websites were selected by using a set of criteria for this qualitative evaluation. The Persuasive Systems Design Model was applied to extract and analyze persuasive system features found in the sites. The results of this study suggest that there is room for improvement in both designing and implementing web-based interventions for weight loss. The evaluated sites provided relatively good primary task support and strong social support. However, there were weaknesses in both dialogue and credibility support. Overall, the evaluation showed that the evaluated weight loss websites may not be very persuasive.

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