Personalized Gamification in Physical Activity Interventions: A Rapid Review

Abstract

Gamification is increasingly used in digital health interventions to promote physical activity; however, its effectiveness is often limited by standardized, non-personalized designs. This thesis investigates the role of personalized gamification in enhancing motivation, engagement, and adherence to physical activity interventions. A structured rapid review of six empirical studies was conducted, identifying three categories of personalization approaches. It found that most prominent approaches are performance-driven, followed by goal-adaptive and lastly user-based strategies. Findings indicated that performance-driven and goal-adaptive had the strongest empirical evidence and potential for increasing user engagement, motivation and adherence.