Loneliness among young adults is a growing concern worldwide, posing serious health risks. While the human ecological framework explains how various factors such as socio-demographic, social, and built environment characteristics can affect this feeling, still, relatively little is known about the effect of built environment characteristics on the feelings of loneliness that young people experience in their daily life activities. This research investigates the relationship between built environment characteristics and emotional state loneliness in young adults (aged 18–25) during their daily activities. Leveraging the Experience Sampling Method, we collected data from 43 participants for 393 personal experiences during daily activities across different environmental settings. The findings of a mixed-effects regression model reveal that built environment features significantly impact emotional state loneliness. Notably, activity location accessibility, social company during activities, and walking activities all contribute to reducing loneliness. These findings can inform urban planners and municipalities to implement interventions that support youngsters’ activities and positive experiences to enhance well-being and alleviate feelings of loneliness in young adults. Specific recommendations regarding the built environment are (1) to create spaces that are accessible, (2) create spaces that are especially accessible by foot, and (3) provide housing with shared facilities for young adults rather than apartments/studios.
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Obesity is a fast growing societal threat, causing chronic conditions, physical and psychological health problems, as well as absenteeism and large healthcare costs. Despite numerous attempts to promote physical activity and healthy diet, existing interventions do not focus on often occurring emotional causes of obesity. There is a need for self-management support of this vulnerable target group: emotional eaters. This paper presents the results of the design case study focusing on a holistic development of a personalised virtual mHealth coach that provides self-management training ‘Denk je zèlf!’ (Dutch for ‘Develop a wise mind and counsel yourself’). Target group are young adults with emotional eating disorder and obesity. The contextual inquiry study was conducted to get insights into the needs and experiences of the target users, including interviews and questionnaires with emotional eaters, obesity treatment patients and healthcare practitioners. Personas and user stories were derived from these results and translated into a new ‘Denk je zèlf!’ virtual coach, based on Dialectical Behaviour Therapy and experience sampling measures to capture user experience and emotional state. This paper makes two main contributions: (a) combining holistic design with behaviour therapy in one virtual mHealth coaching application for emotional eaters; (b) applying Personas to guide the design. Preliminary results suggest that an online self-management training might be useful for the target group. Future research will be aimed at iterative evaluation and further development of the dialectical dialogues for the virtual coach and content for the education and instruction modules.
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Obesity is a fast-growing societal threat, causingchronic conditions, physical and psychological health problems,as well as sickness absence and heavy healthcare costs. Despitenumerous attempts to promote physical activity and healthydiet, existing interventions do not focus on the commonemotional causes of obesity. There is a need for self-managementsupport of this vulnerable target group: emotional eaters. Thispaper presents the results of the design case study focusing on aholistic design and evaluation of a personalised virtual mHealthcoach that provides self-management training ‘Denk je zèlf!’(Dutch for ‘Develop a wise mind and counsel yourself’). Thetarget group are young adults with an emotional eating disorderand who are obese. The contextual inquiry study was conductedto gain insights into the needs and experiences of the targetusers, including interviews and questionnaires with emotionaleaters, patients undergoing obesity treatment, and healthcarepractitioners. Personas and the use-case scenario were derivedfrom these results and translated into the new ‘Denk je zèlf!’virtual coach, based on Dialectical Behaviour Therapy andexperience sampling measures to capture user experience andemotional state. The main contributions of this paper are: (a)combining holistic eHealth design, behavior chain analysis, anddialectic behaviour therapy in one personalised virtual mHealthcoaching application for emotional eaters; (b) applying emotionenrichedPersonas to guide the design; (c) the results of theinitial user evaluation. Preliminary results suggest that the‘Denk je zèlf!’ virtual coach is useful for helping the targetgroup. Future research will be aimed at further iterative (re)-design and evaluation, as well as development of the dialecticaldialogues for the virtual coach and content for the education andinstruction modules.
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