USER-CENTERED DIGITAL INTERVENTION: TAILORING RELAXING PLACES

Relaxation interventions can have psychological and physically beneficial effects. In recent years, new technologies have begun to incorporate relaxation practices, to target stress and several psychological symptoms both in laypeople and patients suffering from psychological or medical conditions. However, in the field of digital interventions, it is still not clear which individual differences shape the preferences for specific relaxing contents or which features of the relaxation exercises can yield the best efficacy depending on the users. The present work aims to collect qualitative and quantitative data on users’ preferences on relaxation experiences, to inform the creation of personalized digital relaxation intervention in the general population and cancer patients. The six studies presented in the current project dealt with 1) the assessment of individual preferences on relaxation habits and autobiographical relaxing experiences in laypeople, 2) the evaluation of the features of the relaxing stimuli to be put inside digital interventions, which yield greater efficacy and are preferred by users (laypeople and cancer patients). Besides, a theoretical proposal for the incorporation of olfaction into digital interventions for personalized relaxation is provided. Practical recommendations for the development of tailored relaxing interventions are derived considering the results of the included studies. Specifically, personalized relaxation interventions should be built with the possibility of including body-focused techniques, with a variable degree of involvement required from users, as well as specific stimuli (i.e.: water, the sensation of warmth, avatars), and customizable perceptual features (i.e.: colours, sounds, scents).