Testing a Web-Based Interactive Comic Tool to Decrease Obesity Risk Among Minority Preadolescents: Protocol for a Pilot Randomized Control Trial

Background: Childhood obesity is a public health crisis, particularly in low-income, minority populations in the United States. Innovative and technology-enhanced interventions may be an engaging approach to reach at-risk youth and their parents to improve dietary behaviors and feeding practices. However, such tools are limited, especially ones that are theory-based; co-developed with user-centered approaches; tailored to low-income, minority preadolescents; and include parent-focused content. Objective: The objectives of this study include assessing the feasibility and acceptability and exploring the potential impact of the Intervention INC (Interactive Nutrition Comics for urban, minority preadolescents) Web-based tool, which is focused on decreasing childhood obesity risk in black/African American and Latino children aged 9 to 12 years. Methods: Intervention INC is underpinned by the narrative transportation theory, social cognitive theory, and health belief model, and it was co-developed by children and parents from the intended population. The child component consists of a 6-chapter interactive nutrition comic optimized for use on tablet devices, a goal-setting and self-assessment feature, and weekly text/email messages and reminders. The parental component consists of 6 Web-based newsletters, access to the child comic, and weekly text/email messages and reminders. The tool was evaluated using a pilot, single-blind, 2-group randomized controlled study design. Child-parent dyads were randomized to either the experimental or comparison group and assigned to a targeted behavior (increase fruit/vegetable or water intake) based on initial screening questions. Data were collected at 4 time points: baseline (T1), intervention midpoint (T2), intervention endpoint (T3), and 3 months postintervention (T4). Primary measures comprise usage, usability, and feasibility of the Web-based tool. Secondary measures comprise dietary knowledge, preferences, and intake and anthropometric measures (for child) and feeding practices and home food environment (for parent). Results: Study enrollment was completed in November 2017. A total of 89 child-parent dyads were randomized to either the experimental (n=44) or comparison (n=45) group. Data analysis is currently being conducted. Conclusions: This study aims to implement and assess an innovative approach to deliver health messages and resources to at-risk minority preadolescents and their parents. If found to be acceptable, engaging, feasible, and a potential approach to improve dietary behaviors, a full-fledged randomized controlled trial will be conducted to assess its efficacy and potential impact. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03165474; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03165474 (Archived by WebCiteat http://www.webcitation.org/73122IjgP) International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID): RR1-10.2196/1068

Forming partnerships with obstetricians & gynecologists: exploring occupational therapy's role in the primary care of women

The American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) supports the expansion of Occupational Therapy (OT) in primary care (PC), including specialty areas like Obstetrics & Gynecology (OB/GYN) (AOTA Commission of Education, 2017). The American College of Obstetrics & Gynecology (ACOG) recommends that physicians utilize an interdisciplinary team to address obesity (ACOG, 2016). However, OT’s role in OB/GYN is undefined and both disciplines are unaware of this role. The hope of this project is to facilitate the integration of OT services into OB/GYN PC teams by defining a role for OTs, increasing OTs’ awareness of this role, and contributing to the tools for OTs in OB/GYN PC. A webinar will be used to increase OT’s awareness because of their convenience, interactivity, and efficacy to increase OT’s knowledge and confidence on a subject (Pittman & Lawdis, 2017).The Ecology of Human Performance (EHP) framework is used to understand the healthcare need. There is an increasing prevalence of overweight/obesity and low rate of physical activity (PA) in women of reproductive age (WRA, 19-39 years) (Flegal, Kruszon-Moran, Carroll, Fryar, & Ogden, 2016; Melton, Bland, Marshall & Bigham, 2016). Therefore, WRA are limited in their performance of health management and maintenance tasks that influence obesity (AOTA, 2014). This is a public health concern because women with obesity and little PA have an increased chance of developing other chronic conditions, having a child with neurodevelopmental conditions and obesity, also social stigma and limited performance of life tasks (Mitchell & Saw, 2015;Saliman Reingold, Jordan, & Amini, 2013). This population relies on OB/GYNs for their PC (Stormo, Mona, Hing, Henderson, & Sawa, 2014). However, OB/GYNs do not routinely treat obesity because of self-reported barriers including lack of time/training and social/weight bias (Lindheim et al., 2017; Smith et al., 2015). Also, OT’s—who are distinctly qualified to address health management and maintenance—are not utilized in OB/GYN PC because of both profession’s decreased awareness of OT’s role. This project proposes that OTs have a distinct role in OB/GYN PC teams by supporting physicians in treating obesity using a context and occupation-based approach, not currently utilized, which impacts WRA and future generations.2019-10-23T00:00:00

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Attention and Social Cognition in Virtual Reality:The effect of engagement mode and character eye-gaze

Technical developments in virtual humans are manifest in modern character design. Specifically, eye gaze offers a significant aspect of such design. There is need to consider the contribution of participant control of engagement. In the current study, we manipulated participants’ engagement with an interactive virtual reality narrative called Coffee without Words. Participants sat over coffee opposite a character in a virtual café, where they waited for their bus to be repaired. We manipulated character eye-contact with the participant. For half the participants in each condition, the character made no eye-contact for the duration of the story. For the other half, the character responded to participant eye-gaze by making and holding eye contact in return. To explore how participant engagement interacted with this manipulation, half the participants in each condition were instructed to appraise their experience as an artefact (i.e., drawing attention to technical features), while the other half were introduced to the fictional character, the narrative, and the setting as though they were real. This study allowed us to explore the contributions of character features (interactivity through eye-gaze) and cognition (attention/engagement) to the participants’ perception of realism, feelings of presence, time duration, and the extent to which they engaged with the character and represented their mental states (Theory of Mind). Importantly it does so using a highly controlled yet ecologically valid virtual experience

The American Academy of Health Behavior 2024 Annual Scientific Meeting: Health Communication, (Mis-)Information, and Behavior: Leveraging Technology for Behavioral Interventions and Health Behavior Research

The American Academy of Health Behavior (AAHB) hosted its 24th Annual Scientific Meeting at The DeSoto Hotel in Savannah, Georgia on April 14-17, 2024. The meeting\u27s theme was “Health Communication, (Mis-)Information, and Behavior: Leveraging Technology for Behavioral Interventions and Health Behavior Research . This publication describes the meeting theme and includes the refereed abstracts presented at the 2024 Annual Scientific Meeting

Review 3: Community engagement for health via coalitions, collaborations and partnerships (on-line social media and social networks) – a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: This report describes the methods and findings of a systematic review on community engagement (CE) for health via online social media and social networks. It is the third and final review of a programme of work on the use and effectiveness of CE in interventions that target health outcomes. Social networks are one of many forms of CE. Our first two reviews suggested that the extent and particular processes of CE may be linked to effects on people’s health. The emergence of online, electronic peer-to-peer social network sites (e.g. Facebook) and online social media tools (e.g. Twitter) have increased exponentially in recent years, and existing evidence on their effectiveness is ambiguous. AIMS: We aim to evaluate the effectiveness of online social media/social networks on: the extent of CE across designs, delivery and evaluation; the types of health issues and populations that have been studied; their effectiveness in improving health and wellbeing and reducing health inequalities; and any particular features that account for heterogeneity in effect size estimates across studies. METHODS: Systematic review methods were applied to comprehensively locate and assess the available research evidence. The search strategy employed previously run searches used for Reviews 1 and 2 of this project (described elsewhere). The included studies were descriptively analysed and the findings were synthesised using three components: framework synthesis, meta-analysis and qualitative component analysis (QCA). RESULTS: A total of 11 studies were included in the review, none of which was set in the UK. The community was not explicitly involved in identifying the health need for any of the 11 studies. No studies demonstrated a high level of CE, where participants were involved in the three measured elements: design, delivery and evaluation. Framework analysis indicated that peer delivery of the intervention was the predominant type of CE. Two processes of CE were reported – bidirectional communication and the use of facilitators – but none of the studies evaluated these processes. Professional facilitators were used more often in healthy eating/physical activity studies. Peer facilitators were used more often in youth-focused interventions and professional facilitators were utilised more frequently for interventions targeting older populations. Studies focusing on women only may incorporate peer or professional facilitators to aid intervention delivery. Peer or professional facilitators were used slightly more consistently in interventions targeting minority ethnic groups. Meta-analyses and meta-regression showed no evidence of beneficial effects on any outcomes. There was moderate (I 2 = 25≤50) to high (I 2 = ≥50) heterogeneity between studies for primary outcomes, suggesting the existence of potential moderators. None of the tested study characteristics explained the variation in effect sizes. The QCA demonstrated that including a facilitator in online social media/social networking interventions showed higher effect sizes for studies that focused on topics other than healthy eating and physical activity. CONCLUSIONS: The results from this study suggest that CE is not utilised across the design or evaluation of health interventions, and the type of CE undertaken with intervention delivery focuses on peer interactions alone. This suggests that there is very little co-creation of knowledge or building of social capital occurring in evaluated health intervention studies using online social media/networking

An evaluation of the feasibility and acceptability of a technology-based pilot program to reduce overweight and obesity among college students

Background: One-third of US undergraduate students are overweight or obese, and weight gain may occur during the college years. Thus, there is a need for weight loss interventions for college students. Innovative technology-based programs may be a promising strategy to promote weight loss. Weight management interventions incorporating technology have been implemented in US university settings, with varying degrees of success. Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility and acceptability of a pilot technology-based weight loss program to reduce overweight and obesity among college students. Methods: The pilot study investigated the effectiveness of a technology-based weight loss intervention on reducing body mass index (BMI) among college students. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: (1) an 8-week technology-based weight loss program or (2) an 8-week email education program. A mixed methods approach, including online surveys and focus groups, was employed to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of the pilot study. Feasibility was measured through recruitment and retention data and participant engagement. Results: Twenty undergraduate students (90% female, age 20.4 ± 1.4 years, BMI 32.1 ± 4.6 kg/m2) participated in the study. The retention rate for the study was 95%, with 90% of the intervention group and 100% of the control group completing the 8-week assessments. The technology-based program was acceptable to the students. In addition, over half the respondents in the intervention group indicated that text messaging was most helpful as well as the website, exercise videos, nutrition facts, and smartphone applications. There were mixed responses about the forum, which was underutilized. Participants in the intervention group expressed a desire for additional accountability, support, and motivation and suggested using Skype group chats and mobile accessibility to further facilitate interaction among group members. Conclusion: Technology-based weight loss interventions, which include a central peer support component and mobile accessibility, are a promising strategy for recruiting, retaining, and engaging overweight and obese college students. Further research is needed to enhance the development of effective technology-based programs for students

2011 Research Day Abstract Listing

Highlighting and recognizing graduate and undergraduate student research throughout all disciplines at the University of Northern Colorado. Abstracts of oral and poster presentations from student researchers, presented at UNC\u27s Annual Research Conference during Academic Excellence Week