Using Personality Traits and Chronotype for Personalized Feedback in a Sleep Web App

This project addresses the issue of sleep deprivation among college students by proposing and implementing an innovative approach to personalizing the web application, SleepHealth. Sleep deprivation has serious health repercussions and can be detrimental to academic success. SleepHealth uses individual personality and chronotype characteristics to support personalized feedback about users\u27 sleep patterns. Users personality and chronotype are assessed using questionnaires in the app, the results of which are used in personalizing the content, timing, and frequency of the apps notifications. These notifications are targeted at encouraging healthier sleep behaviors. This project accomplished full implementation of the questionnaires as well as the personalized feedback in SleepHealth

Understanding Personalization for Health Behavior Change Applications: A Review and Future Directions

Health behavior change (HBC) applications hold much promise for promoting healthy lifestyles, such as enhancing physical activity (PA), diet, and sleep. Incorporating personalization strategies is seen as key to designing effective HBC applications. However, researchers and application designers lack knowledge about the different kinds of personalization strategies, how to implement them, and what strategies work. Thus, we reviewed prior empirical studies on personalization for HBC applications and developed a framework to synthesize the prior studies we identified and to provide an integrative view of the personalization strategies, their inputs, and outcomes. Our findings suggest that researchers have much potential to conduct design research that employs demographic and contextual characteristics for personalization and that examines personalization strategies that target HBC applications’ interface and channels. In terms of implementation and adoption, we call for researchers to examine unaddressed issues such as low adherence and contextual barriers for these applications. We also suggest that researchers need to systematically examine the effects of specific personalization strategies on their efficacy. Other than providing an integrative view of extant studies, our study contributes by outlining key directions for future research in this area

The Impact of Feedback Design on Cognitive Effort, Usability, and Technology Use

This study uses feedback design to explore the relationship between cognitive effort, usability, and behavior intention. We developed a decision aid, FoodGlance, which help users in making healthy food selection. We created two feedback designs for decision aid. The first feedback design scans the nutrition fact label and displays the information in the form of a pop-up. The second feedback used audio augmented reality along with the pop-up. Our results showed that cognitive effort had an impact on behavior intention; this impact was mediated by usability. However, this relationship was significant only when the task condition required high cognitive effort and had low usability. The two feedback designs significantly reduced cognitive effort in the decision-making process and increased usability. When participants used the pop-up feedback design, the mediating role of usability vanished. When the participant used pop-up with audio feedback, usability was no longer a player in our proposed model

Process-based Guidance for Designing Behavior Change Support Systems: Marrying the Persuasive Systems Design Model to the Transtheoretical Model of Behavior Change

Behavior change is a highly relevant and studied topic in the psychology discipline. Through integrating technologies into everyday life, behavior change support systems (BCSS) have gained attention in information systems discipline. Oinas-Kukkonen and Harjumaa (2009) have offered a persuasive systems design (PSD) model, a leading framework to provide a generic technical design process including 28 design principles. However, the model lacks a clear picture about which among these 28 design principles one should select for specific implementations. Consequently, researchers and developers who implement BCSS lack structured and evidence-based guidance. They need to invest time and cognitive resources to analyze different design principles. Because the influence of persuasive systems links strongly to processual state of behavior change, we combine the PSD model with Prochaska and DiClemente’s (1983) transtheoretical model (TTM) and posit a model that recommends appropriate design principles for the five transitions along the behavior-change stages. We refined the model using a systematic literature review. The results specify the PSD model and guidelines to select effective design principles for developing BCSS

SLEEP TRACKING AS A STRESSOR: EXPERIENCES FROM SMART RING USERS

Lack of sleep hygiene is a widespread problem that drives the demand for sleep-tracking technologies. Prior research discussed the dark side of self-tracking technologies, but research specifically on sleep-tracking technologies is scarce. This study explores what potential stressors users attribute to sleep tracking executed through a smart ring. We conducted 38 semi-structured interviews and used thematic analysis to identify eight potential stressors in the context of sleep tracking. These stressors include complexity, invasion, inaccuracy, unreliability, data-feelings discrepancy, the pursuit of perfect data, vague guidance and interpretations, and overload with multiple self-tracking technologies. We further theorize these potential stressors using the person-technology fit model. The paper contributes to the nascent IS research on technostress in the context of sleep tracking

HOW SLEEP DISTURBANCES AFFECT THOSE WITH BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER AND THE IMPLICATIONS FOR TREATMENT

This thesis argues that there is limited research on Borderline Personality Disorder’s comorbidity with sleep disorders, and by pointing out the gaps in knowledge this will encourage researchers and doctors to consider this topic as important in the health care field. Sleep disorders can be anything from reduced total sleep time, fragmented sleep, and changes in sleep architecture, and all of these can cause and be caused by disruption of the circadian clock. There are various ways in which circadian clock disruption can cause diseases, cancer, and mental disorders through genes, sleep, and the environment. Borderline Personality Disorder comorbid with sleep disorders can cause a vicious cycle with one disorder increasing the other’s intensity. These two disorders together can lead to higher rates of depressive, anxious, and suicidal symptoms. The current treatment options for BPD and sleep disturbances are limited and there is no standard way to treat these. With this being the case, we need to discover a way to treat both of these disorders in a patient without causing severe side effects and without ignoring one of the disorders altogether. Through a holistic view of a whole person through treatment plans that are specific to each individual, it is possible to alleviate some of the symptoms of BPD and sleep disorders, grant these people back a sense of control and self-autonomy over their lives, and strive towards the possibility of recovery

Factors associated with adherence to an e-health ecological momentary assessment protocol in distressed young people.

This item is only available electronically.Background. Monitoring mental-health symptoms in young people informs early interventions and promotes positive long-term health outcomes. One promising e-health methodology that enables such monitoring is Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA), which captures everyday mood fluctuations and other mental-health symptoms in natural settings. However, low adherence rates threaten the efficacy of EMA. This study aimed to explore practically relevant factors that reveal who adheres to EMA protocols and possible reasons why. Methods. Young people (N=130, 16-27 years) were previously recruited from the ReachOut mental-health support website. Of the 65 who commenced a recommended 14-day EMA protocol, 49 (75.4%) responded to this follow-up study. Individual differences of personality and demographics, and two theoretically proposed predictors of adherence – motivational orientation and habit-formation – were examined using a mixed methods approach. Results. Participants in the EMA protocol were younger and reported lower stress and anxiety. The most efficient model (F(9, 36)=2.93, p=.01) explained 42.3% of the variance in adherence to EMA. Identifying with the integrated form of extrinsic motivation and an agreeable personality significantly predicted adherence (B=3.01, p=.009 and B=1.28, p=.029 respectively). Participants indicated that they valued and were interested in the EMA, however, repetitiveness of EMA items and forgetfulness inhibited adherence. Conclusions. The results distinguish who might adhere to and benefit from EMA, although additional research is required to characterise non-adherence. To realise the potential of EMA in managing young people’s mental-health, this study informs e-health design strategies that might improve adherence by bringing attention to aspects of motivational theory.Thesis (B.PsychSc(Hons)) -- University of Adelaide, School of Psychology, 201