Does Personalization of Motivational Messages Enhance Adherence to Walking Interventions Among Cancer Patients?

The CAPABLE project aims to enhance the well-being of home-managed cancer patients by implementing a coaching system that recommends evidence-based health behavior change interventions and supports patient compliance. This study evaluates the effectiveness of personalizing motivational messages to improve compliance with a walking intervention. Using enrollment questionnaires, we developed a system that tailors messages according to scores on psychological constructs (attitude, self-efficacy, and social norms) assessed at the initial evaluation, focusing on the lowest scores first. We compared two groups: patients receiving personalized messages (56 patients) and those with fixed message delivery (31 patients). Initial results showed greater regularity in walking among the personalized group, possibly due to more patients receiving explicit walking prescriptions. Further analysis of patients not directly prescribed walking revealed no significant impact of message personalization on walking behavior. These findings suggest that clinician recommendations may play a larger role than message personalization, highlighting the need for integrated approaches.