One size fits none! Making affective state a key variable of behaviour change technology for chronic pain

Motivating physical activity in people with chronic pain has challenges over those present in the general population. Physical activity in people with chronic pain is affected by psychological factors such as anxiety and worry about exacerbating pain through movement. Current sensing technologies that can track movement and emotional states and respond with personalised feedback can help promote adherence to a programme of physical activity for this population. Further, tracking people’s pain levels, moods, and patterns of activity and giving related feedback can help them to become aware of their needs, ability and limits and hence better tailor their programme of physical activity. It can further help improve people’s perception of their own movement and by extension their self-efficacy and confidence. In this paper we discuss an under development interactive system, that incorporates automatic emotion recognition and related feedback to encourage people with chronic pain to increase their physical activity and by extension their quality of life. Author