Co-designing digital tools to support students' social challenges during and beyond COVID-19

The sudden emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic impacted everyone’s way of life, but it took an especially heavy toll on college and university students' mental health and well-being, in part due to the limited social interactions and increased isolation. With the evolving nature of the pandemic, students must balance social engagements with the risks to themselves and loved ones. This preliminary work focuses on understanding college students' current and desired social interactions, social challenges they have faced during COVID-19, and anticipated social challenges beyond COVID-19 and explores the potential of mobile apps to support their social needs moving forward. As a first step, we conducted two human-centered design workshops with nine students to better understand their experiences, concerns, and generate ideas for digital solutions. Participants discussed the value of social relationships, the ways they adapted during COVID-19 in order to maintain some level of social interaction, and the challenges to engaging in social interactions even as more activities move in person. Priorities for digital tools centered around assessing risk and increasing visibility about vaccination status and mask use in order to make informed decisions about their participation in social activities

Information Presentation in Health Apps and Devices: The Effect of Color, Distance to Goal, Weight Perception, and Interest on Users' Self-Efficacy for Accomplishing Goals

Colors elicit different emotions and can impact behavior. However, few studies have examined the effects of color in health apps and devices. While these devices are becoming increasingly popular, little research has examined how the presentation of feedback within these technologies impacts users’ beliefs, such as self-efficacy. Yet understanding how information presentation affects users’ self-efficacy is important as self-efficacy is linked to successful behavior change. This study explores how manipulating the color of an exercise progress bar within a simulated health device influences users’ self-efficacy for completing today’s exercise goal and future exercise goals. This preliminary study aims to better understand how color choice, distance to goal, users’ weight perception, and interest in completing an exercise goal affect users' self-efficacy by simulating health app exercise progress bars. By understanding what influences self-efficacy, we can design better health apps and devices to increase the likelihood that users will reach their goals.ye

A content analysis of popular diet, fitness, and weight self-tracking mobile apps on Google Play

Mobile health applications, especially diet, weight, and fitness apps, have become increasingly popular over the years. However, the content and quality of these apps is not well understood. In order to address this, we performed a preliminary content analysis of the diet, weight, and fitness mobile apps on the Google Play Store to better understand the features of such apps. We conducted a descriptive analysis of 159 relevant apps and analyzed the top free 15 for tracked indicators, goal setting, types of input, reminders and notifications, social and community features, and connecting to experts. Based on these preliminary findings, we identify gaps and discuss their importance to future research in this space

Conducting Research with Stigmatized Populations: Practices, Challenges, and Lessons Learned

Conducting research with communities who are at risk of being stigmatized can be a challenging endeavor. It is often difficult to reach and recruit individuals for research purposes regarding a stigmatized condition or situation. Yet, researchers in our field have recognized the importance of work in this area and have individually developed a range of strategies to reach, recruit, and work with these populations. This workshop will invite researchers and practitioners to present, discuss, and compare strategies and experiences when working with stigmatized communities in the context of the ever-evolving nature of technology. The outcomes of the workshop will include an outline for an article that will summarize the strategies and practices discussed as well as identify the approaches that have led to the best outcomes across different populations

Recovery and maintenance: How women with eating disorders use Instagram

Research tends to consider either the positive or negative impact of technologies on eating disorders but rarely considers how technology can be used to aid in recovery as well as exacerbate users’ conditions. Social media is not overtly harmful or helpful within this context, but rather, Instagram, like other spaces, serves as a double-edged sword that can both help recovery and enable pro-eating disorder behaviors. We conducted semi-structured interviews about ICTs and social networking sites with 16 women with eating disorders. Instagram emerged as the most commonly used ICT. We found Instagram can aid in recovery by helping women: (1) learn about the recovery process, (2) track their own recovery, (3) learn about healthy foods and exercises, and (4) reduce stigma, increase awareness, and create a community for social support. Instagram can also (1) be used to maintain eating disorder symptoms and (2) promote comparisons, which can trigger and exacerbate eating disorders. This research has implications for design, healthcare, and education

The Use of General Health Apps Among Users with Specific Conditions: Why College Women with Disordered Eating Adopt Food Diary Apps.

There is a myriad of mobile health applications designed to address a variety of health conditions. While these apps hold significant promise for the management of these conditions, users sometimes turn to general health apps, rather than those designed with their specific condition in mind, which can lead to unmet needs and worsened conditions. We outline one example by focusing on college women with disordered eating behaviors and their use of general food diary apps, rather than eating disorder-specific apps. We investigate the types of health apps they use and how they choose them, focusing on the role of motivations and search behavior. We found their initial motivation informs their search process, which results in their selection of general food diary apps. Researchers should consider app adoption as influenced by user motivations and navigation behavior, particularly when determining how and why general apps are used and how clinicians can help

The Use of General Health Apps Among Users with Specific Conditions: Why College Women with Disordered Eating Adopt Food Diary Apps.

There is a myriad of mobile health applications designed to address a variety of health conditions. While these apps hold significant promise for the management of these conditions, users sometimes turn to general health apps, rather than those designed with their specific condition in mind, which can lead to unmet needs and worsened conditions. We outline one example by focusing on college women with disordered eating behaviors and their use of general food diary apps, rather than eating disorder-specific apps. We investigate the types of health apps they use and how they choose them, focusing on the role of motivations and search behavior. We found their initial motivation informs their search process, which results in their selection of general food diary apps. Researchers should consider app adoption as influenced by user motivations and navigation behavior, particularly when determining how and why general apps are used and how clinicians can help

Facilitators of and barriers to County Behavioral Health System Transformation and Innovation: an interview study.

BACKGROUND: Inadequate and inequitable access to quality behavioral health services and high costs within the mental health systems are long-standing problems. System-level (e.g., fee-for-service payment model, lack of a universal payor) and individual factors (e.g., lack of knowledge of existing resources) contribute to difficulties in accessing resources and services. Patients are underserved in County behavioral health systems in the United States. Orange Countys (California) Behavioral Health System Transformation project sought to improve access by addressing two parts of their system: developing a template for value-based contracts that promote payor-agnostic care (Part 1); developing a digital platform to support resource navigation (Part 2). Our aim was to evaluate facilitators of and barriers to each of these system changes. METHODS: We collected interview data from County or health care agency leaders, contracted partners, and community stakeholders. Themes were informed by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research. RESULTS: Five themes were identified related to behavioral health system transformation, including 1) aligning goals and values, 2) addressing fit, 3) fostering engagement and partnership, 4) being aware of implementation contexts, and 5) promoting communication. A lack of fit into incentive structures and changing state guidelines and priorities were barriers to contract development. Involving diverse communities to inform design and content facilitated the process of developing digital tools. CONCLUSIONS: The study highlights the multifaceted factors that help facilitate or hinder behavioral health system transformation, such as the need for addressing systematic and process behaviors, leveraging the knowledge of leadership and community stakeholders, fostering collaboration, and adapting to implementation contexts