RELATE: Personalised AI Support for Physical Activity

We're exploring how AI-generated motivational messages, tailored to your context and daily experience, can help you move more over four weeks.

What is RELATE about?

Most of us want to be more active. But wanting and doing are two very different things. RELATE is a four-week research study investigating whether AI-generated messages, personalised to your daily context and individual profile, can make a meaningful difference to your physical activity, and how you feel about it.

The study runs across four parts:

• Part 1 — Getting started (Day 1): A questionnaire about you, your habits, and your goals — plus setting up your personal schedule: which days you plan to be active and a preferred time window for your daily message. Takes around 30-45 minutes.
• Part 2 — The active phase (Days 2–29): On your scheduled days, a short questionnaire, and based on your answers, a personalised motivational message will arrive at the start of your chosen time window. A second questionnaire will be sent with the motivational message to inquire how you liked the message. Answering the questionnaires should take approx. 6 minutes, and you have until the end of your chosen time frame to respond. Each evening, on a day chosen for PA, at 9 pm, a brief check-in (approx. 3 minutes) asks whether you followed through on your plans. Every seven days, you'll update your schedule and answer a short follow-up (~5 minutes).
  Important — questionnaire links can be used only once. Once you open a link, please complete and submit the questionnaire in one go. If you close it without submitting, you cannot reopen the same link later, and that response will be lost. Plan a few uninterrupted minutes before opening each link.
• Part 3 — Wrapping up (Day 30): A closing questionnaire about your overall experience (~30-45 minutes). To be eligible, you'll need at least 12 successfully completed days; Meaning, you both evaluated your motivational message and submitted the evening check-ins on the same day, for 12 days.
• Optional Part 4 — Exit interview: A one-hour video conversation about your experience (limited places). Available to those who complete Parts 1–3.

Total time commitment: approximately 3.5 hours across 30 days (4.5 hours if you join the optional interview).

About the Messages

Your daily motivational messages are generated by a Large Language Model (LLM), an AI system, drawing on contextual information you share each day (mood, stress, motivation, perceived barriers, physical activity intention) alongside your onboarding profile. These messages are designed as personalised prompts to support your motivation, not as professional health or fitness advice. As with any AI-generated content, outputs may occasionally miss the mark, and we encourage you to use your own judgement and to flag any messages that miss the mark in your feedback.

Compensation

As a thank-you for your time, you will receive a voucher worth €50 upon completing the study, or €65 if you also take part in the optional exit interview. Depending on where you live, this is delivered as either a Wunschgutschein (redeemable across hundreds of shops in Austria and Europe) or a Takealot voucher (redeemable on Takealot.com). The compensation amount is set in euros and converted to local currency at the exchange rate on the date of disbursement, so the local-currency value you receive may be slightly higher or lower than any indicative figure.

Compensation requires a minimum of 12 successfully completed days and completion of the post-study questionnaire. A "successful day" means completing the "How are you doing today?" questionnaire (scheduled by you), the message evaluation questionnaire, and the evening check-in on a day you scheduled physical activity. Compensation is disbursed at the close of the study.

Your Rights & Withdrawal

Participation is entirely voluntary — you are free to withdraw at any time, for any reason, without penalty. All research data is collected in pseudonymised, GDPR-compliant form. By signing up, you confirm that you are 18 or older, fluent in English, and have read and understood how your data will be used (see the Data Protection section below).

Contact Information

Principal Investigator: RELATE Study Team
Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Digital Health and Prevention
Email: dominik.hofer@lbg.ac.at

In collaboration with:
Salzburg Research Forschungsgesellschaft m.b.H.
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU München)

Eligibility Requirements

• 18 years of age or older
• Fluent in English
• Have a moderate-to-sedentary physical activity level (confirmed at onboarding)
• Own a personal smartphone (Android or iOS)
• Have access to a device capable of video calls
• Be available for the full 30-day study period

Sign Up for the Study

Please complete the short questionnaire and form below to register for the study. You'll set up your physical activity schedule and preferred message time windows after onboarding.