Design Of Digital Services For Health Behaviour Change

Non-Degree / Dates: 14 - 25 July 2025

The digital era needs digital solutions. Digital solutions can prevent and manage healthcare issues faster and more effectively both at the personal and societal levels. E-health innovations are proved to promoting health and behavior change in various health conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, etc. However, developing effective technological solutions for behavior change requires an interdisciplinary approach. While the competence of designing and selecting effective technologies is essential, that is still incomplete without an understanding of evidence-based behavioral change theories and techniques.

The course consists of a series of short theory lessons that provide the required background on knowledge of behavior change and the specific methods that can be applied by means of technological solutions.

The topics coversed in the course include:

Digital health technologies & Behaviour change;
Behavior change theories;
Assessment & Monitoring of change process/outcomes;
Intervention Design & Evaluation Criteria.

In accompaniment to these lessons, several interaction design workshops will be conducted where the students will apply the new knowledge to the health problem domain. In the workshops, students will work in groups by using various UX tools, design-thinking methods, and a user-centered design approach.

The course will be finished with a session where all design teams will show the prototypes of their digital services.

Why this course?

You will learn how to use digital technology to prevent and manage health issues.
You will be involved in a guided user-centered interaction design process and will create a prototype of behavior change aiming digital application or service.

Teacher(s)

Vladimir Tomberg, PhD, Associate Professor of Interaction Design and Senior Research Fellow at Tallinn University

Farhat-Ul-Ain, MSc in Health Psychology, doctoral student in School of Digital Technology, Tallinn University

Aishah Shah, MSc in Innovative Technologies for Learning, doctoral student in the School of Digital Technologies, Tallinn University

Timetable

Classes take place every day from Monday to Friday:
10:00 – 13:30 Lectures and seminars

After that, the students will have time for group or individual work, which is a convenient time for that, and the distribution of tasks will be agreed upon between the students.

As an example, please see also the detailed program from previous years.

Participants

The course is open for everyone who is interested in health, behavior change, and design of digital services. Any relative competencies are highly welcomed, but not strictly required.

The course is limited to 20 participants.

Credit points

Upon full participation and completion of course work students will be awarded 3 ECTS points and a certificate of completion.

Assessment criteria:

Student shows knowledge of the basic theory of behavior change and the methods for applying the theory in practice when designing BC digital products and services.
Student has participated in the design team and can demonstrate a designed prototype for BC product or service.