Understanding Disengagement in AI-based Just-in-Time Mobile Health Interventions

Promoting behavior change by delivering timely prompts based on real-time contextual recognition is the aim of AI-based just-in-time (JIT) mobile health interventions. Despite their growing adoption in mobile and wearable technologies, user disengagement remains a key challenge. To better understand this issue, we built a mobile JIT app that prompts physical activities and conducted an eight-week field study with 54 college students. Our findings highlight the impact of personal traits such as boredom proneness and self-control, and identify key disengagement factors. We offer design insights to support sustained engagement in mobile JIT systems.