Health Behavior Change Support Systems
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ItemThe Effects Playing Pokémon GO has on Physical Activity -A Systematic Literature Review( 2020-01-07)It is rare for a game to become such a phenomenon that almost 300 scientific papers are published about it in a span of three years. However, that is the case with the location-based game Pokémon GO. The game has been praised as a solution to the global inactivity crisis, but also criticized, for example, for only increasing physical activity in the short term. In order to gather together the findings of previous studies, a systematic literature review was conducted. Initially, 277 scientific articles which contained the term “Pokémon GO” in the title or the abstract were discovered. After categorizing the articles and removing those which did not focus on the effects Pokémon GO has on physical activity, 20 empirical studies remained. A majority (60%) of the studies showed an increase in the number of daily steps taken, whereas 30% of studies reported only short term improvements which diminished soon after. The beneficial effects were found to manifest more strongly on physically inactive individuals and were linked to playing retention. Furthermore, the results revealed that (1) most data used in studies is from 2016, after which the game has drastically changed and (2) longitudinal studies spanning over the course of a year are missing.
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ItemThe Exergame Enjoyment Questionnaire (EEQ): An Instrument for Measuring Exergame Enjoyment( 2020-01-07)Physical inactivity is on the rise. Exergames provide a new type of exercise that can be appealing to young people and possibly mitigate sedentary lifestyles. Unfortunately, no questionnaires exist to measure player enjoyment of exergames. We synthesized and validated the Exergame Enjoyment Questionnaire (EEQ), a new 20-item questionnaire for measuring how much players enjoyed an exergame. The EEQ was synthesized by combining questions from the GEQ and IEQ about the exergames game elements, and questions from PACES about the physical activity performed in the exergame. The EEQ was refined via focus groups and validated by comparing player responses on the EEQ to their coded responses in free form discussions about their gaming experience. For testing, the Pokémon Go and Just Dance Now exergames were selected. The EEQ score of participants corresponded to 85 percent of their coded responses in free form discussions about their gaming experience, suggesting the efficacy of our instrument. Subjects generally enjoyed Just Dance Now more (8 points higher EEQ scores on average) than Pokémon Go. However, a t-test suggests that we need EEQ scores from more subjects in order to conclude that Just Dance Now is more enjoyable than Pokémon Go.
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ItemThe Design of a Digital Behaviour Change Intervention for Third-Level Student Illicit Substance Use: A Persona Building Approach( 2020-01-07)Illicit substance use among third-level students is an issue of increasing concern. Digital behavioural change interventions have been developed to target this population, but reports of their effectiveness are mixed. The importance of end-user involvement in digital intervention development has been well established, but it appears that many interventions in this area did not engage end-users during development. This absence may have affected engagement, undermining their potential effectiveness. This paper describes the process and contributions of a persona-building approach in the development of a digital behaviour change intervention tailored to the needs of third-level students. Nine exploratory persona-building workshops were carried out with 31 students, and 7 project team members to develop personas for heavy, occasional and non-substance using third-level students. Early analysis has identified five archetypes which will contribute to the design of an acceptable and user-friendly intervention, and to the identification of targeted behavioural change techniques.
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ItemBuilding a Digital Platform for Behavioral Intervention Technology Research and Deployment( 2020-01-07)While there is demonstrated potential for behavioral intervention technologies (BITs) to improve access to beneficial mental health interventions, there is a continuing need for research to evaluate effectiveness of new and existing applications for specific population groups. This paper reports experience in developing a digital platform to support delivery of an ecosystem of online mental health screening and behavioral intervention technologies to promote the wellbeing of New Zealand youth. Key platform requirements center on identity management, usage and assessment tracking, and implementation of research protocol workflow. A reusable and scalable solution based on Web services is presented in the context of ongoing iterative development and end user studies. The platform is providing consistent research and service delivery support for multiple concurrent threads of the overall youth mental health program.
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