The relation between the perceived acceptability of different instruction styles in mobile applications and gender

The prevalence of stress within students of higher education is dramatically high with over 45%. Several short- and long-term consequences of stress impose a burden on health care systems and as there is only a student-to-counselling-staff ration of 1:1737 the need for other solutions is urgent. eHealth interventions might be a solution as they have several benefits but need to be tailored to different user characteristics to be more acceptable and effective. It is known that women tend to prefer non-authoritative speech, whereas, men prefer authoritative instructions. Thus, this study aims to investigate whether the perceived acceptability of authoritative and non-authoritative instruction style significantly varies between genders in the context of stress management mobile applications and university students. Moreover, it aims to explore the reasons for user acceptance for the different instruction styles.