Co-designing StoryHelper: A Qualitative Inquiry into Digital Storytelling for Health Promotion

Introduction: Digital storytelling has emerged as a powerful medium to motivate health-related behavior change, particularly through social media platforms. As knowledge-transfer interventions, digital stories can address health inequalities by engaging vulnerable groups with limited health literacy. Yet, little is known about how digital tools can support the structured development of such stories for health promotion across diverse contexts.

Goals and Methods: This study aimed to develop and test StoryHelper, a prototype tool designed to support the creation of health promotion stories. We conducted five focus groups: three with health promotion professionals (N=8) and two with IT specialists (N=10). Participants represented South Africa, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Bangladesh, and Germany. Inclusion criteria were working in health promotion (e.g., psychologists, behavioral scientists) or in IT development. Participants were recruited by applying the snowball principle. Data included focus group transcripts and digital stories generated during testing. Ethical approval was obtained from the university board. Thematic analysis was applied iteratively to identify critical design requirements and assess how the tool mediated the story development process. Data was coded by the 3 independent coders and consensus was reached through regular discussions.

Results: Analysis revealed five interrelated considerations for designing digital stories in global health promotion: target group specification, strategies for engagement, ethical safeguards, dissemination channels, and incorporation of behavioral change models. Participants emphasized that StoryHelper reduced cognitive load by guiding attention to key elements of story construction, while simultaneously enabling cultural and contextual tailoring.

Conclusions: Findings demonstrate the potential of digital tools to scaffold the qualitative process of health story creation. StoryHelper illustrates how participatory design and thematic insights can inform the development of interventions that bridge health promotion practice and digital innovation. The study contributes to qualitative research on tool design, cross-cultural knowledge transfer, and the integration of behavioral theory into storytelling practices.