e-Coaching for Intensive Cardiac Rehabilitation: a Requirement Analysis

Abstract

In this paper, the rationale and requirements are presented for an e-coaching system in the domain of intensive cardiac rehabilitation. It is argued that there is a need for a personalized program with close monitoring of the patient based on medical needs and needed lifestyle changes in a setting with other participants such as family and a human coach. Two roles are distinguished for the e-coach: support of the organizational process of the program (e.g. collecting and analyzing data) and support of the patient’s process of making lifestyle changes (e.g. triggering and motivational support). Motivational interviewing is introduced as a means to minimize the discrepancy between undesired behavior and future goals of the patient. It is concluded that digital products that offer e-coaching support for these types of programs should coexist with human coaching.