Using socio-ecological model to inform the design of persuasive applications

Diverse persuasive applications that aim for behavioural changes have been developed. However, the method in which particular persuasive design principles are chosen over others remains unclear. Meanwhile, the use of socio-ecological model has been widely utilized in clinical research, as a basis to understand the factors in the entire ecological system that influences behavioural patterns. Because persuasive technology aims to change the behaviour and attitudes of users, we believe that the use of socio- ecological model would be beneficial to inform the design of persuasive applications. Accordingly, in this paper, we attempt to demonstrate the mapping of the socio-ecological factors and persuasive design principles by conducting interviews and expert reviews. Based on our approach, 12 socio-ecological factors that influence physical activity behaviour, and corresponding relevant persuasive design principles to deal with these factors, are identified

Smartphone application for physical activity enhancement at workplace: would office workers actually use It?

The proliferation of smartphone into daily life could potentially become an effective medium for the delivery of workplace-based physical activity intervention. Based on Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model (UTAUT), this study investigates factors influencing office workers’ intention to use smartphone application to enhance their physical activity at workplace. A total of 195 valid surveys were collected and subsequently analyzed using Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) approach. The outcome demonstrated that both Performance Expectancy (PE) and Social Influence (SI) have significant positive effect on Behavioural Intention. Effort Expectancy (EE) in contrast has no significant influence on office workers’ intention to use. This study provides a preliminary evidence on factors that should be consider by researchers, developers and employers in developing smartphone applications aiming to enhance physical activity at workplace among office workers

Challenges of self-directed clinical skill learning: experience among undergraduate nursing students in Malaysia

Purpose: This study aimed to explain the challenges experienced in self-directed clinical skill learning specifically in clinical skill laboratory among undergraduate nursing students in Malaysia. Methodology: A qualitative study using in-depth interview was conducted with 16 students attending Bachelor of Nursing in one of the public universities in Malaysia. The interview was open-ended to explore the overall perspective of the participants concerning their view about the problems and challenges they experienced on the self-directed clinical skill learning. Main Findings: Three major themes have been found on self-directed clinical skill learning which are ‘lack of self-management’, ‘lack of desire for learning’ and ‘lack of self-control of learning’. The subthemes for ‘lack of self-management’ are poor time management, lack of communication with educator and lack of assessment of learning needs. The subthemes for ‘lack of desire for learning’ are not open to new ideas, lack of internal motivation, educator-dependent for seeking new knowledge and low quality of supporting learning materials. Lastly, the subtheme for ‘lack of control of learning’ is not realizing the importance of self-evaluation among undergraduate nursing students. Applications: Our findings informed academicians on various problems and challenges that occur in self-directed learning activities in clinical skill laboratory. These findings would assist them in preparing appropriate learning environment and clinical skill activities, which would improve the efficiency of knowledge and skill transfer and also enhance students’ academic performance. Novelty/Originality: Previous studies have identified many challenging factors affecting clinical skill learning among nursing students such as clinical learning environment (e.g. physical, psychosocial, organizational) and students’ learning process based on broad spectrum of perspective without highlighting student-centred point of view. Thus, in our study, we have attempted to explore how nursing students describe the challenging experience of undertaking the process of learning clinical skills from the perspective of a self-directed learner

Web-based physical activity interventions for older adults: a review

Most web-based physical activity interventions were built based on the principles of universal design but may have overlooked age-related impairments experienced by older adults. Thus, it is important to know how successful such web-based interventions are in enhancing older adults’ physical activity levels despite these shortcomings. The objective of this study is to review published literature regarding interactive web-based interventions promoting physical activity among older adults. EBSCOhost, ISI Web of Science and ScienceDirect databases were searched to identify relevant peer-reviewed papers. Results were summarized in a qualitative way. We included 15 papers reporting on web-based interventions with physical activity components. Ten and two studies respectively indicated positive and negative outcomes, while the outcomes of the remaining three studies are unclear. Despite the fact that computer illiteracy and age-related impairments can both be experienced, there is preliminary evidence that suggests that web-based interventions are effective in encouraging physical activity among older adults

Islamic approach toward purification of transaction with cryptocurrency

This paper presents a qualitative study that examine the perception of users on Islamic approach toward purification of transaction with cryptocurrency. Bitcoin is has been used as a case study which is one of the type of cryptocurrency. There are huge discrepancies from many Islamic school of thought about transaction with bitcoin. Specifically, some school of thought viewed it as a tool used for illegal purposes and that the global public already uses Bitcoin mostly for illegal and non-Shari’ah-compliant purposes under Islamic perceptions. As a result, this study developed an interview-qualitative research approach in order to examine how the negative perceptions of cryptocurrency from Islamic views cnd be purify. Sample of Eight informant were used in the study. The finding of this study indicated that the use of cryptocurrency as a legitimate as any payment method. It is also argued that it facilitated transactions and cut the normal cost of international money transfer, and some Muslim countries are actively encouraging the use of cryptocurrency due to its easy use and transparency. This has been also supported by “hadith”. Finally, the analysis also confirmed that from the Shari'ah point of view, cryptocurrencies are as compliant as fiat money and ought to be accepted as another mode of payment that can be used in transaction as its value can be measured and quantified. Therefore, this study has contributed in understanding the Islamic views behind the implementation of cryptocurrency

Empirical investigation on the barriers of adoption of cryptocurrency-based transaction from an Islamic perspective

Purpose: This paper presents a user study of “perception of the cryptocurrency-based transaction from the Islamic views”. Bitcoin is considered the special type of cryptocurrency used in this study. Users view bitcoin is as an app that provides a personal currency in a digital wallet through which transactions can occur in order to either send, receive, buy, or sell the currency (bitcoins). Information System is an enabler of this mode of transaction, unfortunately, some users raised concern about the nature of transactions with Bitcoin. Specifically, some argued that Bitcoin can be easily used for illegal purposes and that the global public already uses Bitcoin mostly for illegal and Shari’ah non-compliant purposes under Islamic views. Design/methodology/approach: This study adopted “Technological Acceptance Model” and utilized quantitative research methodology, in order to formulate and test some hypotheses that will lead to an establishment of a model. A sample of 306 participants was used in the study. Findings: The result of the hypothesis testing indicate that “Behavioral Intention to Use Cryptocurrency from the Islamic perspective” is influenced directly by Shari’ah Compliance, Perceived Ease of Use, Emotionality, Perceived Usefulness, and Financial Concern. As evident from the analysis, Emotionality is influenced directly by Financial concern and Shari’ah Compliance. Whereas, Behavioral Intention is influenced indirectly by Financial Concerns. Research limitations/implications: The sample is general and does not specify a specific group of study. Practical implications: This study has contributed to understanding the Islamic issues behind the implementation of Cryptocurrency Originality/value: The study formulates and tests a theory for cryptocurrency-based transaction from an Islamic view

A conceptual framework for moderating effect of COVID-19 on e-learning predictors: an empirical study on student's perspective in Sindh, Pakistan

The COVID-19 epidemic affected each aspect of life in the world; among them, the education sector was the most affected. The sudden shift from physical class teaching to online mode faced by students brought several challenges, and these challenges need to be investigated and researched to find out the effects on student performances, especially students in underprivileged countries like Pakistan. This study aims to investigate the problems faced by students during COVID-19, emphasized by scholarly literature on the key issues and variables, such as System Characteristics, Computer-anxiety, computer Self-Efficacy, facilitating-conditions, social-influence, and COVID-19. Moreover, this study also aims to formulate a conceptual framework using the UTAUT model for finding the moderating impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on e-Learning Factors. The initial findings indicate that the questionnaire tool selected for this study is appropriate for further study since coefficient alpha (α) values are below the specified level. The analysis indicates that System Characteristics, Computer Anxiety, Computer Self-Efficacy, facilitating conditions, social influence, and COVID-19 variables under investigation carry insightful (Quantitative data) BI (0.902), SI (0.941) FC (0.780), SC (0.950), CA (0.876), CSE (0.852), and CVD (0.904) investigation and needs further extensions to study deeper in the domain

Prophetic framework as a guideline for social media use during the pandemic

The spread of COVID-19 throughout communities around the world has now caused drastic shifts in the dynamics of how the whole world operates. These changes undeniably cause major issues in various aspects of our lives including social communication. As face-to-face communications had been minimized and restricted, people largely depend on social media to access the latest news, information and communicate with family, friends, and the community. However, it is apparent that the surge of social media use during the pandemic also witnessed over-sharing and the widespread of inaccurate news and information that leads to community divergence and huge societal arguments in the community. Thus, it is highly imperative for the Muslim community to reflect and revisit the guidelines of ethical social media use based on Islamic perspectives. Amongst the most ideal references in dealing with these issues are the Hadiths as it records various aspects of the Prophet's life as a guidance including those relating to ethics of social communication and the widespread sharing of news and information. There are various works relating to ethics on social media usage. However, research which tackles these specific issues by referring to the Hadiths are still inadequate. Therefore, this study aims to construct a framework on how to use social media ethically by extracting information from related Hadiths. The data and information will mainly be collected through library research revolving around authentic accounts from selected books of Hadiths and accounts from both the Prophetصلى الله عليه وسلم himself as well as his companions. A practical and feasible framework will then be constructed suited to the needs of the current situation after thorough analysis of the collected Hadiths

A conceptual integrated persuasive behavioral change framework based on Maqasid al-Shariah to encourage green practices of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) disposal

Waste disposal has been a worldwide concern for several decades and the situation is worsening in developing countries including Malaysia due to the progressive increase in waste generation in recent years. Improper waste disposal causes a detrimental effect on the environment and human health. In many developing countries, environmentally friendly practices (reduce, reuse and recycle) have been introduced to reduce the amount of waste generated and alternative methods of final waste disposal are increasingly used to reduce environmental impact. However, most Malaysians have weak awareness of such green practices of MSW disposal despite numerous efforts made by the government. Therefore, how to motivate Malaysians to adopt green practices has been of concern. Within sustainable HCI, persuasive technology has been used to intentionally change user’s behaviors and attitudes through persuasion. However, one of the major limitations of persuasive technologies is, it does not consider how one’s culture and religious views shapes their behavior. As Malaysia is a Muslim-majority country and largely influenced by religious views in guiding and making a positive change in their attitudes and behaviors, we believed integrating persuasive technology with Maqasid al-Shariah would enhance its persuasive power at encouraging green practices of solid waste disposal. Accordingly, in this paper we are proposing a conceptual integrated persuasive behavioral change framework based on Maqasid al- Shariah aiming to encourage green practices of MSW disposal among Malaysians. We hypothesized this framework will be beneficial to increase Malaysian community awareness on the importance of disposing MSW based on Maqasid al-Shariah and eventually reduce risks to health and the environment due to improper waste disposal

A study of smartphone usage and barriers among the elderly

A wide range of smartphone applications aimed at encouraging healthy diets and active lifestyles have been developed in recent years. However, the use of these smartphone applications among the elderly population that should benefit the most from them remains low. This paper reports on the barriers to smartphone usage among the elderly. In-depth interviews were conducted with the elderly to gather information about their demographics, experiences and the perceived barriers to using smartphones. Twenty-one participants were interviewed using a semi-structured interview method. Results show that the elderly have difficulties in using smartphones due to multiple reasons such as financial limitations, vision impairments, and lack of interest and knowledge in using technological devices and their advanced functionalities