COMBINING THE FOGG BEHAVIOURAL MODEL AND HOOK MODEL TO DESIGN FEATURES IN A PERSUASIVE APP TO IMPROVE STUDY HABITS

Using technology to persuade people to behave in a certain way is an ever-increasing field of study. The ability to persuade individuals is quite clear in e-commerce, where individuals are persuaded to make purchasing decisions. However, it can also be applied to other disciplines, such as education where improving the study behaviour of students would be particularly useful. Forming good study habits can be a challenge for university students who have not done so in the earlier years of their education, or where the pressures of external commitments have eroded previously good habits. We use a combination of the Fogg Behavioural Model and the Hook model to design features for an app as a component of a larger persuasive system to help improve three key areas of study habits: study scheduling, class preparation and group study. The app will be built and tested in a university setting targeting undergraduate students

Towards memory supporting personal information management tools

In this article we discuss re-retrieving personal information objects and relate the task to recovering from lapse(s) in memory. We propose that fundamentally it is lapses in memory that impede users from successfully re-finding the information they need. Our hypothesis is that by learning more about memory lapses in non-computing contexts and how people cope and recover from these lapses, we can better inform the design of PIM tools and improve the user's ability to re-access and re-use objects. We describe a diary study that investigates the everyday memory problems of 25 people from a wide range of backgrounds. Based on the findings, we present a series of principles that we hypothesize will improve the design of personal information management tools. This hypothesis is validated by an evaluation of a tool for managing personal photographs, which was designed with respect to our findings. The evaluation suggests that users' performance when re-finding objects can be improved by building personal information management tools to support characteristics of human memory

Native Mobile Applications For Personal Well-Being: A Persuasive Systems Design Evaluation

Smartphone applications have shown promise in supporting people to adopt healthy lifestyles. Hence, it is critical to understand persuasive design strategies incorporated in native mobile applications that facilitate behavior change. The aim of our study was to identify distinct persuasive software features assimilated in twelve selected applications using Persuasive Systems Design (PSD) model and provide a methodical framework for systems developers and IS researchers to extract and evaluate such features. Further, this study aimed to provide deeper comprehension of persuasive design and strategies by learning from practice. Exhaustive evaluations were performed by four researchers specializing in persuasive information systems simulating users walking through the applications step-by-step performing regular tasks. The results disclose the need for improvement in designing and incorporating persuasive techniques in personal well-being applications. While self-monitoring and personalization were moderately exploited, tailoring, a key persuasive feature, was not identified among the evaluated applications. In addition, evaluated applications lacked features that could augment human-computer dialogue as well as social support. The contribution of this paper is two-fold: while it exposes weakness in persuasive design of native mobile applications for personal well-being, it provides a methodical approach for enhancing general persuasiveness of such applications for instance, through enhanced dialogue support. We propose that designers and IS researchers perform rigorous evaluations of persuasive features incorporated in personal well-being applications

UTILIZATION OF WEB‐BASED APP TO TARGET OBESOGENIC FACTORS IN RURAL KENTUCKY COUNTIES WITH HIGH RATES OF OBESITY

Due to socioeconomic disparities and geographic isolation, rural Kentucky residents bear a greater burden of poor health compared to national averages. Specifically, rural Kentucky residents are at greater risk of becoming obese and suffering from comorbidities of obesity such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease. The purpose of the present study was two-fold. First, we the barriers to nutrition and physical activity unique to rural Kentucky counties which high proportions of obese adults (\u3c 40%) were examined and extrapolated. Second, this information was used to develop a health and wellness app tailored to rural Kentucky counties. The objective was met via a formative assessment regarding causes for obesity in three rural Kentucky counties using focus groups. From these discussions, two major themes arose: barriers to good nutrition and physical activity, and desired web‐app features. From this assessment, FitFaceoff was developed and released into the same counties. Usage and user interaction were assessed using GoogleAnalytics™ software. Analysis revealed poor user liking and unsuccessful implementation of FitFaceoff, however further qualitative research is needed to evaluate poor user reception of FitFaceoff and possible future directions

Effectiveness Of Intuitive Eating Intervention Through A Text Messaging Program Among College Students

A critical time period to prevent overweight may be the college age years. College students experience newfound food independence, possibly resulting in the formation of poor eating habits, such as overeating, or binge eating, placing them at high risk for obesity. Additionally, college students with high perceived stress levels are more likely to experience emotional eating, which may lead to weight gain. Intuitive Eating (IE) practice focuses on listening to the hunger and satiety signals, in hopes that it will prevent overeating, resulting in weight loss. Recently, texting intervention has been seen to be a successful intervention platform for behavior change and nutrition education. Therefore, reaching college students through a text messaging platform may increase the success and adherence to IE guidelines. This study examines if IE through text messaging influences the IE habits, perceived stress, and perceived self-efficacy of college students in comparison to an electronically emailed handout with the same information. Midwestern college students (n=300) completed a pre-survey online which assessed: IE practice (Intuitive Eating Scale), perceived stress (Perceived Stress Scale), and self-efficacy (General Self-Efficacy Scale and Eating Habits Confidence Survey). Participants were then randomly divided into the control (n=150) or intervention (n=150) group. The intervention group received five weeks of intervention with weekly IE texts, and the control received the same information in an emailed handout. After intervention was complete, participants took a post-survey, which reassessed participants by the same measures used in the pre-survey. Descriptive statistics were calculated for participant characteristics and variables of interest. Control and intervention groups’ pre- and post-intervention IE, Perceived Stress, General Self-Efficacy, and Eating Habits Confidence were compared with paired t-tests to assess if the intervention program was associated with significant change in these variables. Additionally, linear regression was used to assess if change in Eating Habits Confidence and Perceived Stress was associated with the IE intervention. A total of 146 (99 intervention, 47 control) participants fully completed the survey, and the majority of participants were 18 years of age (70%), white (90%), female (85%), freshman in college (75%), and currently unemployed (75%). The results of this study found IE texting intervention to significantly increase total IE habits within the college student population. Additionally, IE texting was found increase GSE scores and limit increase PSS levels. The results of this study provide evidence that texting can be a successful platform for increasing IE behaviors among college students

Building Habits in the Digital Age: Incorporating Psychological Needs and Knowledge from Practitioners to Inform the Design of Digital Therapeutics

Interventions for noncommunicable diseases (NCDSs) often require changing behaviors. In this regard, habitual behaviors (i.e., habits) are positively evaluated to foster behavioral changes. Forming habits is challenging but can be supported digitally until the habit is formed. This paper reviews the requirements of forming habits and uses a content analysis to investigate how these requirements are implemented in habit apps. Based on the results, design principles to digitally support habit formation are discussed for digital therapeutics. In contrast to conventional apps, digital therapeutics have a definite medical purpose and can be prescribed for the time it needs for a habit to form. The analysis results reveal that conventional apps try to bind the user and ignore the state where the habit needs to be strengthened by decreasing technology use. In this regard, digital therapeutics reveal great potential in supporting the formation of habits to prevent and treat NCDs

Towards a Holistic Approach to Designing Theory-based Mobile Health Interventions

Increasing evidence has shown that theory-based health behavior change interventions are more effective than non-theory-based ones. However, only a few segments of relevant studies were theory-based, especially the studies conducted by non-psychology researchers. On the other hand, many mobile health interventions, even those based on the behavioral theories, may still fail in the absence of a user-centered design process. The gap between behavioral theories and user-centered design increases the difficulty of designing and implementing mobile health interventions. To bridge this gap, we propose a holistic approach to designing theory-based mobile health interventions built on the existing theories and frameworks of three categories: (1) behavioral theories (e.g., the Social Cognitive Theory, the Theory of Planned Behavior, and the Health Action Process Approach), (2) the technological models and frameworks (e.g., the Behavior Change Techniques, the Persuasive System Design and Behavior Change Support System, and the Just-in-Time Adaptive Interventions), and (3) the user-centered systematic approaches (e.g., the CeHRes Roadmap, the Wendel's Approach, and the IDEAS Model). This holistic approach provides researchers a lens to see the whole picture for developing mobile health interventions