Background: App-based mobile health exercise interventions can motivate individuals to engage in more physical activity (PA). According to the Fogg Behavior Model, it is important that the individual receive prompts at the right time to be successfully persuaded into PA. These are referred to as just-in-time (JIT) interventions. The Playful Active Urban Living (PAUL) app is among the first to include 2 types of JIT prompts: JIT adaptive reminder messages to initiate a run or walk and JIT strength exercise prompts during a walk or run (containing location-based instruction videos). This paper reports on the feasibility of the PAUL app and its JIT prompts.Objective: The main objective of this study was to examine user experience, app engagement, and users' perceptions and opinions regarding the PAUL app and its JIT prompts and to explore changes in the PA behavior, intrinsic motivation, and the perceived capability of the PA behavior of the participants.Methods: In total, 2 versions of the closed-beta version of the PAUL app were evaluated: a basic version (Basic PAUL) and a JIT adaptive version (Smart PAUL). Both apps send JIT exercise prompts, but the versions differ in that the Smart PAUL app sends JIT adaptive reminder messages to initiate running or walking behavior, whereas the Basic PAUL app sends reminder messages at randomized times. A total of 23 participants were randomized into 1 of the 2 intervention arms. PA behavior (accelerometer-measured), intrinsic motivation, and the perceived capability of PA behavior were measured before and after the intervention. After the intervention, participants were also asked to complete a questionnaire on user experience, and they were invited for an exit interview to assess user perceptions and opinions of the app in depth.Results: No differences in PA behavior were observed (Z=-1.433; P=.08), but intrinsic motivation for running and walking and for performing strength exercises significantly increased (Z=-3.342; P<.001 and Z=-1.821; P=.04, respectively). Furthermore, participants increased their perceived capability to perform strength exercises (Z=2.231; P=.01) but not to walk or run (Z=-1.221; P=.12). The interviews indicated that the participants were enthusiastic about the strength exercise prompts. These were perceived as personal, fun, and relevant to their health. The reminders were perceived as important initiators for PA, but participants from both app groups explained that the reminder messages were often not sent at times they could exercise. Although the participants were enthusiastic about the functionalities of the app, technical issues resulted in a low user experience.Conclusions: The preliminary findings suggest that the PAUL apps are promising and innovative interventions for promoting PA. Users perceived the strength exercise prompts as a valuable addition to exercise apps. However, to be a feasible intervention, the app must be more stable.
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Introduction: Many adults do not reach the recommended physical activity (PA) guidelines, which can lead to serious health problems. A promising method to increase PA is the use of smartphone PA applications. However, despite the development and evaluation of multiple PA apps, it remains unclear how to develop and design engaging and effective PA apps. Furthermore, little is known on ways to harness the potential of artificial intelligence for developing personalized apps. In this paper, we describe the design and development of the Playful data-driven Active Urban Living (PAUL): a personalized PA application.Methods: The two-phased development process of the PAUL apps rests on principles from the behavior change model; the Integrate, Design, Assess, and Share (IDEAS) framework; and the behavioral intervention technology (BIT) model. During the first phase, we explored whether location-specific information on performing PA in the built environment is an enhancement to a PA app. During the second phase, the other modules of the app were developed. To this end, we first build the theoretical foundation for the PAUL intervention by performing a literature study. Next, a focus group study was performed to translate the theoretical foundations and the needs and wishes in a set of user requirements. Since the participants indicated the need for reminders at a for-them-relevant moment, we developed a self-learning module for the timing of the reminders. To initialize this module, a data-mining study was performed with historical running data to determine good situations for running.Results: The results of these studies informed the design of a personalized mobile health (mHealth) application for running, walking, and performing strength exercises. The app is implemented as a set of modules based on the persuasive strategies “monitoring of behavior,” “feedback,” “goal setting,” “reminders,” “rewards,” and “providing instruction.” An architecture was set up consisting of a smartphone app for the user, a back-end server for storage and adaptivity, and a research portal to provide access to the research team.Conclusions: The interdisciplinary research encompassing psychology, human movement sciences, computer science, and artificial intelligence has led to a theoretically and empirically driven leisure time PA application. In the current phase, the feasibility of the PAUL app is being assessed.
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Despite increased interest in applying psychological theory to the practice of designing behavioral change interventions, design professionals often lack adequate knowledge and resources to do so. In this paper, we present a tool to help professionals in the creative industries design evidence-based health interventions, the Persuasive by Design model. This paper describes the contents and application of the model as well as plans for further development and testing.
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The Saxion University of Applied Sciences recently started the project “Safety atWork”. The objective of the project is to increase safety at the workplace by applyingand combining state of the art artifacts Ambient Intelligence, Industrial & ProductDesign and Smart Functional Materials [1].There is a human factor involved as well. Preliminary, safety is related to incidentshappening to persons who get injured or even die. In 97% of the cases where an injuryoccurs [2] that what happens is within someone’s control. Many incidents at work areoften the result of human behavior, how people interact with each other and howpeople cope with risks and guidelines. Industrial environments need to be organizedin such a way that people behave safely in an automatic way and that safety becomesa habit. Forcing safe behavior starts with safe products. However, in many cases thisis not sufficient, and incidents still occur. Therefore communication is often a moreeffective medium. One cost effective, asynchronous, and persisting way ofcommunicating to people is through ICT. The effort of changing behavior throughICT is called Persuasive Technology. In this paper we focus on ambient aspects ofsafety: influencing people in an invisible way to make industrial environments safer.Based on literature we work towards a model to systematically select measures toinfluence behavior to enhance safety. The model is a rudimentary framework still tobe filled out, which is the subject of our current research projects.
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The shift toward prevention and self-management in health hinges upon a massive realization of behavior change, which involves the use of virtual coaches. Increasing availability of data from mobile devices and techniques for real time analysis provide new opportunities for personalizing virtual coaches. We propose an architecture that takes advantage of those developments. We identify the required knowledge and methods to develop a flexible ecosystem for rapid prototyping of personalized virtual coaches.
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The Saxion University of Applied Sciences recently started its “Safety at Work” project. Its objective is to increase safety in the workplace by combining and applying state-of-the-art factors from Ambient Intelligence, Industrial & Product Design and Smart Materials [1].The human factor plays a significant role in safety. Safety is related to incidents happening to people who get injured or even die. 97% of the cases in which an injury occurs [2] concerns something that happens is within someone’s control. Many incidents at work are often the result of human behavior: how people interact with each other, and how people cope with risks and guidelines. Industrial environmentsneed to be organized in such a way that people behave safely in an automatic way and that safety becomes a habit. Encouraging safe behavior starts with safe products.However, in many cases this is not sufficient, and incidents still occur. Therefore, communication is often an effective medium that target people’s conscious mind. One cost-effective, asynchronous, and persistent way of communicating with people is through ICT. The approach to changing behavior through ICT is termed PersuasiveTechnology. We focus on ambient aspects of safety: influencing people in an invisible (unconscious) way so as to make industrial environments safer.Literature distinguishes between individual aspects of safety (attitudes, individual differences) on one end, and environmental aspects of safety (safety climate, supervision, work design) on the other end [3, 4]. Depending on several factors, like the safety culture of a company, type of workers, and management involvement, theseaspects contribute to safe behavior. Looking at these factors, we argue that a right mix of them contributes to improving safe behavior. Hence, our main research question is: In which ways can people in work environments be influenced to behave more safe, with the use of technology? This paper was written for and presented on the International Conference on Persuasive Technology in Sydney Australia, 3-5 April 2013.
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Kennis maken met het begrip van persuasieve eHealth ter ondersteuning van gedragsverandering
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Het vakgebied van de persuasieve technologie richt zich op design, ontwikkeling en evaluatie van interactieve technologieën die bedoeld zijn om de houding of het gedrag van de patiënt/ cliënt te veranderen door middel van overtuiging en sociale invloed. Het is bij uitstek een interdisciplinair onderzoeksgebied waar psychologie, mens-computer interactie en vakgebieden uit zorg en welzijn samen opereren. Het doel van de workshop was om gezamenlijk te verkennen hoe impactmeting van persuasieve technologie uitgevoerd kan worden.
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Het project PreciSIAlandbouw heeft precisielandbouwtechnieken ontwikkeld en gevalideerd op vijf thema's: sensortechnologie, kennis en advies, robotisering, digitalisering, en verdienmodellen. Dit rapport bevat de resultaten van onderdeel kennis en advies. Het beschrijft de resultaten van de behoeften van akkerbouwers en loonwerkers op het gebied van de adoptie van PL2.0.Trefwoorden: kennis en advies, PL2.0
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Het project PreciSIAlandbouw heeft precisielandbouwtechnieken ontwikkeld en gevalideerd op vijf thema's: sensortechnologie, kennis en advies, robotisering, digitalisering, en verdienmodellen. Dit rapport bevat de resultaten van onderdeel kennis en advies. Het beschrijft de resultaten van de behoeften van akkerbouwers en loonwerkers op het gebied van de adoptie van PL2.0.Trefwoorden: kennis en advies, PL2.0
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