Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'App-intervention'

Includes bibliographical references.
This descriptive single subject intervention study aimed to describe the outcomes of an application (app)-based intervention for five children with reading difficulties. All participants were required to have a grade one reading level. Each participant’s language and literacy profiles are detailed in accordance with developmental and information processing models, and intervention was designed based on each child’s specific level of difficulty. Following a baseline control period, each child received approximately six weeks of intervention using the Reading TherAppy and/or Comprehension TherAppy app (Tactus Therapy Solutions) on an iPad ® mini, which was mediated by the researcher on a 1:1 basis. Treated and untreated probe items were administered at three points in the study (baseline, pre, post) in order to determine the effects of intervention on treated and untreated, matched items. Each child’s reading on standardized literacy measures was re-evaluated post intervention. This was followed by an interview with each participant to obtain information about his or her experience of the intervention. Results show that all participants improved their reading of items treated in the intervention. In addition, some of the participants’ standardized reading and spelling scores improved in relation to typically developing peers from pre to post intervention testing. Changes are detailed for each participant using the theoretical models. Child interviews indicated that all children enjoyed a positive experience of intervention. This study aimed to explore and contribute to the limited knowledge base on efficacy, optimal dosage and outcomes of app-based intervention for children with reading difficulties. The implications of the study are discussed in relation to Speech Language Therapists working in educational settings, the functional application of models of reading, and the reading intervention literature.

Health and fitness apps have become ubiquitous as smart devices become a major necessity in day-to-day life. However, an obvious issue with mobile health (mHealth) apps is that a substantial portion of them lack a scientific foundation and instead utilize  experiential  stratagems.  Hence,  the  acquired  data  becomes  unreliable.  In sports, where data collection is extensive, this becomes a vital factor for success due to  the  increasing  usage  of  mHealth.  Therefore,  the  Swedish  School  of  Sport  and Health Sciences has, in collaboration with other organizations, created the Perceived Load  and  Fitness  Scale  Questionnaire.  The  purpose  of  this  questionnaire  is  to function as a marker for overtraining, and thus injury prevention and intervention will become a simpler and more efficient task. A computer software was developed for the questionnaire; however, a mobile version was required, and thus requested. Consequently, the mHealth prototype app eValuate was developed. Research, in the form of literature studies, and dissection of other apps, for additional information, contributed  to  the  development  of  it.  The  prototype  was  developed  using  the programming language Java with Android Studio as the Integrated Development Environment  and  Cloud  Firebase  Firestore  as  a  database  solution.  The  finished prototype, eValuate, had to be trialled to ensure that it satisfies the criteria. Thus, the Mobile Application Rating Scale was employed as the most appropriate means of evaluation. A small-scale study was planned to trial the prototype by utilizing this scale.  However,  due  to  unforeseen  events,  only  four  respondents  could  provide feedback. The prototype performed admirably and scored 3.8 stars out of 5 stars. Nonetheless, the testing sample is too small to draw any real conclusions.

Technology and psychological treatments have increasingly been used together to increase the reach of psychotherapy and potentially reduce treatment costs. This research focused on how technology has been used to deliver or facilitate treatments focused on behavioral parent training. Behavioral parent training is a research-supported method of improving parenting skills and child behavior. We first reviewed any existing research on the topic, and found that treatments that used technology to teach parenting skills were generally successful at improving parent and child behavior. The review also identified many research questions that have yet to be answered about the cost of such interventions, how they work with diverse groups of people, and what makes someone likely to stay with the treatment. The next study in this research project tested a shortened version of a technology-based treatment adapted from a group-based manual that was created for Spanish-speaking families. The program was called Padres Preparados Online (Prepared Parents Online), and it taught three parenting skills on a system that was available online or using an app. Parent coaching, typically carried out in in-person groups or on the phone, was also conducted online. Parents uploaded videos of themselves to an online system and the therapist would record and post video, audio, and text coaching comments to support parents in strengthening the skills they were learning. Results showed that parents and children improved in a variety of ways, ranging from decreased problematic child behavior to decreased parenting stress. This study demonstrated that technology can be used to deliver a parenting program to Latinx families, and helped the study team identify limitations and questions for future research. This research was financially supported by the Utah State University Psychology Department and Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services.

College counseling centers (CCCs) have experienced funding and staffing setbacks in recent years, resulting in higher caseloads, counselor burnout, and bloated waitlists. Mobile Health (mHealth) interventions may offer a cost-effective and innovative solution. The authors developed ACT Daily, a prototype mHealth app based in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). This study examined the feasibility and possible efficacy of ACT Daily as a brief intervention for individuals placed on CCC waitlists. A sample of 11 depressed/anxious clients waitlisted at a local CCC enrolled in the study, which followed a pre-post, open trial design. Participants received a brief online training that covered the basics of ACT and introduced the app’s functions and features. For the following 2 weeks, participants were asked to use ACT Daily every day. Results displayed high acceptability, usability, and satisfaction ratings across users. Significant improvements were observed on most ACT process measures, including overall psychological inflexibility. Findings from app usage and self-report measures supported ACT Daily’s ability to promote skill use in the moment. Analyses of in-app data indicated that ACT Daily’s skills were potentially effective in the moment and increased in strength over time. Furthermore, ACT Daily appeared to serve as a helpful pre-therapy tool due to significant reductions in depression and anxiety symptoms, as well as improvements in emotional self-awareness. Finally, the online training appeared to equip users with a sufficient comprehension of core ACT components and app training. While this pilot study suffered from a low sample size, this pattern of results encourages the application and dissemination of ACT mHealth apps as an added support for waitlisted CCC clients suffering from depression or anxiety. Moreover, it appears that ACT Daily may have enabled users to acquire, strengthen, and potentially generalize useful ACT skills. It is theorized that the app facilitated in-the-moment learning of skills that could then be applied directly to real-world contexts. Future research is advised to target larger, more diverse samples, implement a randomized controlled trial design, add objective behavioral and physiological measures, incorporate all six ACT processes, and integrate client feedback into future iterations of ACT Daily.

L’attuale avanzamento tecnologico ha portato una serie di benefici (es. flessibilità) e svantaggi (es. sovraccarico di informazioni) a lavoratori e studenti. I fattori avversi possono aumentare le possibilità di sviluppare problemi di salute psicofisica. Inoltre, la diffusione del COVID-19 ha peggiorato le esistenti problematiche stress-correlate. Le aziende e le università sono ancora alla ricerca di nuovi approcci per la promozione del benessere di lavoratori e studenti, poiché gli interventi tradizionali in presenza sembrano essere non sempre efficaci e poco utilizzati. Le mobile-app permettono di erogare interventi non-intrusivi, anonimi e di coinvolgere un maggior numero di partecipanti. Tuttavia, l’efficacia di tali interventi è ancora poco chiara. Inoltre, fattori come user engagement, usabilità e accettazione della tecnologia, spesso sottovalutati, potrebbero influenzare l’intenzione di utilizzare gli interventi erogati tramite app e influenzarne l’efficacia. La presente tesi di dottorato si è concentrata sugli interventi mobile-based, visti come una soluzione volta a diminuire lo stress e promuovere il benessere, e sui facilitatori e le barriere coinvolte nell’utilizzo e nell’efficacia di tali interventi. Abbiamo considerato sia i lavoratori, sia gli studenti universitari, due categorie particolarmente soggette al rischio stress. Il primo capitolo consiste in una revisione sistematica della letteratura, focalizzata sugli studi esistenti riguardo gli interventi smartphone-based in ambito lavorativo. I risultati indicano che gli interventi si focalizzano principalmente sulla salute fisica e che l’user engagement, l’accettazione della tecnologia e l’usabilità dovrebbero essere considerati nella progettazione di interventi mobile-based e nella valutazione della loro efficacia. Il secondo capitolo valuta l’invarianza di misura e strutturale del Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), da una prospettiva cross-nazionale, considerando un campione di studenti universitari italiani e tedeschi. I risultati confermano l’invarianza di misura, e l’influenza della percezione di facilità d’uso (PU) e dell’utilità (PU) degli studenti sulla loro intenzione d’utilizzo (INT) di una app per la promozione del benessere e gestione dello stress. Lo studio ha dimostrato la relazione diretta tra PEOU e PU solo nel campione di studenti italiani. Il terzo capitolo riguarda l’integrazione del TAM con variabili personali e contestuali che potrebbero influenzare l’accettazione di una app per la promozione del benessere e la gestione dello stress in azienda. I risultati mostrano che l’innovatività personale ha un impatto diretto su INT e che l’autoefficacia percepita nell’uso dello smartphone e il supporto organizzativo all’innovazione influenzano indirettamente l’INT, via PU e PEOU. Il quarto capitolo si focalizza sullo studio dell’efficacia di WellBe!, una app per la promozione del benessere e la gestione dello stress di studenti universitari, sviluppata dal Bicocca Center for Applied Psychology. I risultati mostrano che il gruppo sperimentale ha riportato buoni livelli di user engagement e di usabilità. L’utilizzo dell’app sembra aver avuto un effetto sul miglioramento dei livelli di salute, soddisfazione e mindfulness subito dopo l’intervento. Tuttavia, WellBe! non ha diminuito lo stress percepito e non ha aumentato il capitale psicologico. In conclusione, gli studi presentati hanno messo in luce un cambio di paradigma, dagli interventi faccia-a-faccia a un approccio mobile-based. Questo cambiamento deriva anche dalla necessità di interventi più efficaci per gestire lo stress. Questa tesi sottolinea alcune questioni aperte che le organizzazioni e le università dovrebbero affrontare prima di adottare interventi mobile-based, in modo da aumentare le probabilità di successo, e dopo l’implementazione degli stessi, per comprendere le ragioni della loro efficacia o inefficacia.
The moment in which we live is dominated by notable technological advancements, leading to a series of benefits (e.g., flexibility) and disadvantages (e.g., information overload) for workers and university students. The adverse factors may raise their chances of getting psychophysical health problems. Moreover, the current spread of the COVID-19 may have worsened antecedent stress-related disease. For several years, organizations and universities have been looking for new approaches to promote the wellbeing of workers and students, as traditional face-to-face interventions do not always seem to be effective or seem not to be used. Mobile apps make it possible to deliver unobtrusive, anonymous interventions and reach a broader range of participants. To date, the effectiveness of mobile-based app interventions is still unclear. In addition, there is a need to clarify the role of user engagement, usability, and technology acceptance, which are often neglected, but could influence the intention to use mobile-app interventions and impact their effectiveness. To advance the limited research on this topic and fill the current gaps, this dissertation focuses on mobile-based interventions as a solution to decrease stress and improve wellbeing, as well as on facilitators and barriers involved in the use of such interventions and their effectiveness. Chapter 1 systematically reviews studies on workplace smartphone-based interventions. Results indicate that most of these interventions focused on physical health and that user engagement, usability and technology acceptance should be considered in designing mobile-based interventions and evaluating their effectiveness. Chapter 2 tests the measurement invariance of the Technology Acceptance Model scale among university students from Italy and Germany and whether TAM is structurally invariant across countries. Results support the measurement invariance of the TAM scale. The structural invariance of the TAM model is only partially confirmed. Although perceived usefulness (PU) and ease of use (PEOU) impact students' intention to use mobile apps in both countries, PEUO is positively related to PU in the Italian sample only. These results allow a cross-national perspective to understand students' intention to use mobile apps for stress management. Chapter 3 integrates the TAM with personal and contextual factors affecting the acceptance of mobile-based apps for workplace stress management and well-being promotion. Results show that personal innovativeness impacts INT, while smartphone-related self-efficacy and organizational support for innovation indirectly affect INT via PU and PEOU. These results shed light on factors contributing to users’ acceptance of app-based interventions for mental health. Chapter 4 investigates the effectiveness of a mobile app named WellBe! that the Bicocca Center for Applied Psychology developed to provide students with well-being promotion interventions. Results show that the intervention group reports good engagement levels and perceived usability, in addition to an increase in general health, life satisfaction scores and mindfulness level after the intervention. However, there are no statistically significant differences in psychological capital and stress levels reported by participants pre-and post-intervention. Overall, WellBe! displays promising results. In sum, a paradigm shift in intervention design is taking place from a face-to-face to a mobile-based approach. This shift results from society's need for more effective interventions to manage stress. This dissertation underlines some critical open issues that organizations and universities should address before adopting mobile-based intervention, in order to increase the chances of intervention success, and after the intervention delivery to capture the reasons for its effectiveness.

The United States is a rapidly aging nation. Older adults have higher rates of falls than any other age group. One in four older adults fall each year. Many of these falls are associated with sedentary lifestyles and decreased muscular strength effecting balance and gait performance. Physical activity (exercise) can reduce the risk of falls among older adults, yet adherence remains low. Exergames can increase adherence to interventions that promote health and physical activity. Social engagement can increase self-efficacy and motivation to exercise. By design, the Bingocize® health promotion mobile application (app) increases social engagement, while providing a multi-factorial fall prevention intervention. The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the efficacy of the app to improve gait in community-dwelling older adults (N=38; mean age 72.42 years +12.58). Participants were clustered and randomly assigned to (a) experimental (n=20; using app with bingo game, health education and exercise) or (b) control (n=18; using app with bingo game, health education without exercise) condition. Each group completed a tenweek intervention that consisted of two- 45-60 minute sessions per week. Pre and post gait analysis, at self-selected (SS) and fast-walking speeds, measured using the GAITRite® Electronic Walkway (GWS). Gait analysis included parameters of velocity, cadence, step time, step length and width, and single and double support time. A mixedmodel ANOVA (p < .05) was used for statistical analysis. There were no main effects observed. Significant interactions (group x time) were observed at fast speed and SS speed compared to the control group. Significant interactions were observed at fast speed included velocity (λ = .886, F (1, 36) = 4.61, p = .039, 𝜼𝒑 𝟐 = .114); and step length (λ = .864, F (1, 36) = 5.64, p = .023, 𝜼𝒑 𝟐 = .136); and were observed at SS speed for single support time (λ = .887, F (1, 36) = 4.59, p = .039, 𝜼𝒑 𝟐 = .113). Post hoc analyses using paired and independent samples t-tests were conducted on gait variables with observed significant interactions. The independent samples t-test for Single Support Time (SS) post was significant (t (36) = 2.454, p = .019, two-tailed). None of the remaining post hoc analyses were significant. There was a meaningful detectable change (MDC) in mean velocity (>5 cm/s) over time, for both SS and fast walking speeds, within the experimental condition. MDC in gait speed ranges from 5 cm/s (small) to 10 cm/s (large). As for clinical significance, this should be considered a small, yet meaningful detectable change. It is the conclusion of the investigators, that the app, with the exercise intervention, can effectively produce a meaningful change in gait speed (5 cm/s), which has the potential for reducing the risk of falls in older adults. This investigation was funded by The Retirement Research Foundation.

This study examined the efficacy of a newly developed way to help people build and sustain their motivation for healthy behavioural changes using imagery about positive effects of the change, past successes, and ways to solve challenges. It compared effects on physical activity, from accessing the intervention immediately or after a delay. Only those randomly allocated to receive the intervention immediately increased duration of physical activity during the controlled phase. The approach may have potential to address any behaviour change that people see a need to make.

Current trends indicate that 75 per cent of Australians will be overweight or obese by 2025 unless an innovative and effective strategy is implemented. This thesis incorporates design thinking and behaviour theory to design and evaluate a digital approach to reduce added sugar consumption in the Australians’ diet relative to the World Health Organisation recommended guidelines.

Small numbers of pregnant women adhere to physical activity (PA) guidelines. Theoretically informed intervention may alter PA. Therefore, this research aimed to explore the effect of a theory-based (Health Action Process Approach, HAPA) intervention in reducing the magnitude of decline in PA during pregnancy. 109 primiparous, low risk women (mean age 29.9 +/-4.8 years) took part in an RCT in an urban maternity unit. Women were randomised to either usual care group or to intervention group, who received three individual PA consultations and an invitation to attend a weekly walking group after 20 weeks gestation. The primary outcome, change In PA, and secondary outcomes; mood, self-esteem, anxiety, social support, quality of life, perceived health, health service use, HAPA variables, gestational weight gain (GWG) and obstetric delivery outcomes were measured at weeks 10-14, 20-22 and 36-38 gestation. Ethical approval was granted by the Office for Research Ethics Committee, Northern Ireland (12/NI/0036) and the trial was registered (ISRCTN61829137). PA changes were analysed using Two-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests. Changes in secondary outcomes were analysed using Repeated Measures ANOVA or chi square tests. Minutes of Moderate , and Vigorous intensity PA (MVPA) significantly decreased over pregnancy in both groups, however, the intervention group demonstrated a lesser decline with a median decrease of 3.5 minutes per day compared to six in the control group. Those attending at least one walking group (N=13) indicated a trend towards a lesser decrease in MVPA (attenders two and non-attenders four minutes per day). The intervention group showed greater increases in positive mood and less increase in anxiety (mood 2.4 vs 1.2; anxiety 1.9 vs 2.4). There were no differences in obstetric outcomes between groups. Results suggest that the intervention can reduce the decline in PA during pregnancy, however further testing is recommended.

College students transitioning from adolescence into early adulthood may encounter new stresses, which may lead to unhealthy weight-related behaviors and weight gain. Students gain approximately 4-9 pounds during their first 2 years in college. Health behaviors in this population pose an increased risk because they tend to persist into adulthood. In Middle Eastern countries including Saudi Arabia, student obesity is on the rise. About 24% of female college students were overweight or obese in Saudi Arabia in 2015. This dissertation describes the development of a mobile intervention program using Instagram and a self-tracking app to minimize the risk of overweight/obesity in Saudi Arabian female college students by changing health behaviors, including increasing fruit and vegetable intake along with physical activity. More than 100 students were randomly assigned to either the control or the mobile intervention group. Students in the intervention group were asked to participate in the study Instagram account by adding comments, likes, and sharing the post in an effort to increase social support for healthy eating and physical activity habits for 6 weeks. Each day was focused on 1 topic: general nutrition, fruits and vegetables intake, physical activity, social support, and self-efficacy. These topics were driven from social cognitive theory. Finally, students were asked to input their diet and daily activity into a self-tracking app. Measures were taken three times during the study: pre and post intervention and at follow-up. While the study was not long enough to detect the changes in body mass and physical activity, it did find that the intervention significantly increased fruit and vegetable intake. A small interaction effect was found between the two groups where the intervention group increased fruit and vegetable intake, while the control group decreased their intake of fruit and vegetables. Additionally, repeated measures ANOVA indicated significant differences between the groups in nutrition knowledge, family social support and exercise, and increase in eating and exercise self-efficacy. The promising results of this study provide support for further evaluation of the program. Future studies are needed to better understand the factors that serve as motivation and predict weight loss success among college students.

Within the majority of learners' years in high school, bullying is one common experience that pervades those years of transitioning to adulthood. The bullying phenomenon has been studied over a few decades and we have basically come to understand that bullying is any situation where a perpetrator, over a period, continually behaves aggressively towards another individual who cannot defend themselves; here an imbalance of power is accentuated. This has been studied in recent years with the increasing reports of fatalities among high school learners who have resorted to suicide and self-harm as a solution. In the current digital age, the extent of bullying is faster and reaches further, and as such, more dynamics seem to be involved in the mix. The role of technology in improving the way we live and do things has also extended to the way crimes and injustice are being meted out in society. Youths and adolescents, particularly high school learners have been noted to have a phenomenal adoption of technology. They are also noted to increasingly acquire the most updated mobile technology devices and are therefore a fit sample for examining mobile bullying. In addition, more studies are finding out distinct classifications such as bully, victim and bully-victims, with the bully-victim studies just beginning to gain attention. As with the more familiar traditional bullying, fundamental psychological, social and economic factors largely predict the exhibiting of bully-victim characteristics. Some studies have found that the consequences are, however, more severe within the group but not without some inconsistencies in findings; hence the need to investigate and begin to proffer the right interventions or solutions. This current study set out to investigate characteristics of female mobile bully-victim behaviours amidst claims that they are a minority and so no special attention need be given to them. A pilot study, conducted by this researcher, examining the bully-victim subgroup from previous cyberbullying research studies (Kabiawu & Kyobe, 2016), found the group exists and is fast gaining more popularity in research. Further examination of literature found the discourse around age factor in prevalence, with gender variances, interventions, and country differences, among others. Many of the past studies on gender variance enquiries were conflicting, interventions were largely not technology-oriented, and studies were mostly from outside the continent of Africa. This stirred up the interest in studying female mobile bully-victims in South African high school students and the exploration of a general (i.e. non-gender-specific) technical intervention. The study followed a pragmatic philosophy and mixed method in collecting and analyzing the data. The study was carried out in Cape Town, South Africa; eight schools agreed to participate in the survey, and 2632 responses were collected from a range of schools (consisting both public and independent schools). Of these, 911 were females and 199 bully-victims, placing the group in a minority position. This maintained the keen interest in understanding the issues that face them rather than overlooking the subgroup as some studies would argue. Additionally, the study vii entailed the development of an IT artefact in the form of a mobile application, called “The BullsEye!” through a Design Science process. The aim of the artefact was to proffer a technical intervention and observe the usefulness of the artefact in dealing with general bullying as well as for addressing, mitigating and providing support for bullying. The study collected information quantitatively to explore the differences in age, school grade, type of school, family type, ethnicity and perceptions of interventions from students. This process was also used to recruit interested students in designing the mobile app intervention to address the secondary aspect of the research. The study predicted that at different ages and school grades, female mobile bullyvictim behaviours would be different. It also proposed that these behaviours exhibited by bully-victims would differ when the school type, ethnicity and family from which students come, are compared. When interventions by teachers, family and friends were compared, the study predicted that the female bully-victim behaviours exhibited would not be same, depending on the perception of the level of intervention the students received. These hypotheses were tested empirically using quantitative methods to check the analysis of the variance of the mean scores of the collected data. The results of the analysis of variance showed findings that resulted in some partial and some strong acceptance of the hypotheses. As expected, there were age and grade differences observed among the behaviours of the female bully-victims surveyed. The younger in age and grade these students were, the more of the behaviours were found to be exhibited by them. Students from conventional families with two parents were expected to exhibit fewer female bully-victim characteristics, but this was not necessarily the finding in the study and inconsistent with most previous studies. The prediction on ethnicity was also partially accepted due to mixed indications according to findings. Establishing the respondents' ethnicity showed a group of students who did not wish to reveal their ethnicity but were rife in bully-victim behaviour via phone calls, email and SMS's. This raised a question of whether their societal status affected their behaviour. The type of school was also found not to accurately predict female bully-victim behaviours in this study as expected or in accordance to majority of existing literature. There was, however, evidence of a distinct social media mechanism of bullying/victimization peculiar to an Independent school in relation to other schools. The prediction on interventions, while being partially supported, provided a useful insight into strengthening the need to appreciate and continually invest in the quality of interventions provided to address mobile bullying. Generally, the findings revealed that female mobile bully victims had significantly higher experience of being victims (i.e. had been bullied) than those who were not. This may be due to failings in the provision for reporting issues or the way reports are being handled, which is another useful insight into interventions. The artefact designed as an intervention in this study also showed high acceptance of the app. This can be attributed to the fact that the design process followed a methodology that is grounded in practice and in the body of knowledge. This was embellished by emerging methodologies of involving the intended users, though schoolchildren, in the evolution of the artefact design. The implication of these findings is that there may be current frameworks addressing female mobile bully-victim behaviour at school and family levels; however, focus of interventions should be on teaching the right culture with regards to mobile phone use. This gives credence to the second objective of this study, which was to design a digital intervention. The artefact was designed to empower victims and bystanders, the purpose of which seemed to have been achieved with a high rate of approval for the app. The knowledge gained from this phase, despite the limitations, points that visual appeal is important when designing for high school students. It also showed that students are interested in learning in an environment free of adult presence or supervision. However, many more strategies and principles can be applied to intervene from different perspectives to create a more wholistic solution. This knowledge is useful for future works that seek to include their input in design process. The understanding of these characteristic mechanisms is important in proffering relevant interventions as the distinct female bully-victim group is newly gaining attention. This is useful in theory development, especially feminist theories on violence as well as where and how to target interventions. This impacts practice in terms of knowledge of how female mobile bully-victims operate and how one can begin to empower them to protect themselves and reflect on their online and mobile phone behaviour. Therefore, for Information Systems practice, this study provides a worthwhile contribution, especially in answering questions such as, what information systems and interventions should be developed and how to maximize such systems for their intended learning purposes. From the lessons learned in this study, the research also contributes by proposing considerations for future and further research.

Cette thèse présente deux objectifs. Le premier consiste à évaluer l’efficacité d’une intervention éducative implémentée sur tablette tactile dans le contexte de la classe aux apprentissages des élèves en littératie émergente et en numératie émergente. Le second objectif consiste à étudier les relations synchroniques et diachroniques entre littératie et numératie émergentes. Ce travail s’inscrit dans le cadre du projet LINUMEN (LIttératie et NUMératie Emergentes par le Numérique) lauréat de l’appel à projets e-FRAN (PIA2). Durant les deux premières années du projet (mars 2017- octobre 2018) une équipe pluri-catégorielle constituée de chercheurs, d’acteurs éducatifs et d’ingénieurs en informatique ont participé à la co-conception de l’application éducative AppLINOU (Apprendre avec Linou en maternelle). La phase d’expérimentation de cette intervention (octobre 2018 – juin 2020) consistait à tester AppLINOU selon une méthodologie quasi-expérimentale et longitudinale. Pour cela, les élèves du groupe expérimental ont utilisé pendant plusieurs semaines l’application AppLINOU. Dans le groupe contrôle les élèves suivaient les programmes de l’école maternelle sans modification ou indications pour les enseignants. L’étude a porté sur 725 élèves de maternelle, scolarisés en moyenne section (356 filles et 369 garçons). Des mesures des compétences en littératie et en numératie émergentes ont été réalisées en début et en fin d’année.Des analyses de régressions multiniveaux ont montré que les enfants du groupe expérimental scolarisés dans des écoles hors réseau d’éducation prioritaire ont de meilleures performances en fin d’année que les autres. Des éléments d’explication des effets partiels de l’intervention sont discutés et des pistes d’amélioration sont évoquées. Par ailleurs, des modèles en pistes ont examiné les liens synchroniques et diachronique entre la littératie et la numératie émergentes. Les différents modèles testés mettent en avant l’influence de la littératie émergente sur la numératie émergente à ce niveau de scolarité. Dans le cadre de cette recherche, une première version d’une application à visée éducative a été développée (AppLINOU). Les premiers résultats nous encouragent à prolonger le développement itératif de cet outil. Par conséquent, nous poursuivons donc notre objectif initial afin d’obtenir une version améliorée de l’application qui pourrait être déployée et utilisée à plus grande échelle dans les classes de moyenne et de grande section de maternelle
This thesis has two objectives. The first consists of assessing the effectiveness of an educational intervention implemented on tablets in the classroom context to students' learning in early literacy and early numeracy. The second objective examines the synchronic and diachronic relationships between early literacy and early numeracy. This work belongs to the LINUMEN project (LIttératie et NUMératie Emergentes par le Numérique), laureate of the e-FRAN call for projects (PIA2). During the first two years of the project (March 2017-October 2018) a multidisciplinary team made up of researchers, educational actors and computer engineers were involved in the co-design of the educational application AppLINOU (Apprendre avec Linou en maternelle). The experimentation phase of this intervention (October 2018 - June 2020) tested AppLINOU with a quasi-experimental and longitudinal methodology. Students in the experimental group used AppLINOU for several weeks. In the control group, students followed the kindergarten curriculum without any modifications or instructions for teachers. The study involved 725 kindergarten students, enrolled in pre-kindergarten (356 girls and 369 boys). Measures of early literacy and early skills were conducted at the beginning and end of the year. Multilevel regressions analyses showed that the children in the experimental group enrolled in schools outside priority education networks performed better at the end of the year than the others. Elements that explain the partial effects of the intervention are discussed and ways of improvement are mentioned. In addition, lead models have examined the synchronic and diachronic links between early literacy and numeracy. Different models tested highlight the influence of early literacy on early numeracy at this educational level. As part of this research, an initial version of an educational application was developed (AppLINOU). The preliminary results encourage us to continue the iterative development of this tool. Therefore, we are pursuing our initial objective to obtain an improved version of the application that could be deployed and used on a larger scale in middle and large kindergarten classes

An estimated 1.3 billion tons of food is lost or wasted every year, adding to the growing problem of CO2 emissions and global warming. Consequently, there is an urgent need to address this issue. However, while a lot of research in Human-Computer-Interaction has been conducted about food waste in private households, there is still a lack of research about people’s food waste at a retail level in restaurants. This paper explores the potential of gamification in the design of apps intended to support more sustainable food consumption behavior. This study is centered on the existing Too Good To Go app and examines current user behavior and perception through quantitative and qualitative methods. Then through employment of design frameworks and iterative prototype cycles the potential to encourage active sustainable food consumption is examined. Findings show that there are many challenges stopping users from actively using the current app more often.  Findings also suggest that gamification has the potential to increase users’ motivation to use the app beyond reasons of only saving food. The implications of this paper could present new opportunities for applying gamification to reduce food waste that could inspire researchers and practitioners to explore the theme further.

碩士
國立中山大學
資訊管理學系研究所
106
People have become more dependent on smartphones than before because modern smartphone apps provide a great range of services including commerce, learning, and entertainment. However, this dependence might have negatively influenced users’ social interaction and cognitive functions. Mindfulness training is a potential solution for smartphone addiction because it has shown preliminary effect in treating addictions. This current study explores (1) the relationship between smartphone usage pattern and cognitive functions, and (2) the interventional effect of my mindfulness training app on smartphone users’ usage behavior and cognitive functions. In the first experiment, participants completed questionnaires (smartphone addiction and media multitasking) and computerized tasks (visual attention, task switching, and response inhibition). The results showed that smartphone addiction was significantly correlated with task switching score. In the second experiment, some of the participants from the first experiment completed the mindfulness scale and then were asked to regularly use the mindfulness training app. After eight weeks, these participants completed the same questionnaires and tasks for the second time. The results showed that the training app increased participants’ mindfulness score. Furthermore, the training app significantly decreased participants’ smartphone addiction score and media multitasking score, and increased their task switching score. The app did not significantly affect visual attention or response inhibition score. Taken together, this study provides preliminary evidence that smartphone users’ usage pattern correlates with their cognitive functions, and that a smartphone training app of mindfulness might help to increase mindfulness and decrease smartphone reliance.

abstract: College students experience a considerable amount of stress. Unmanaged stress is associated with poor academic performance, health risk behaviors (i.e., inadequate sleep and physical activity, alcohol consumption, poor dietary behaviors), and poor mental health. Coping with stress has become a priority among universities. The most tested stress-related programs to date have been mindfulness-based and face-to-face. These programs demonstrated significant improvements in stress, mindfulness, and self-compassion among college students. However, they may be burdensome to students as studies report low attendance and low compliance due to class conflicts or not enough time. Few interventions have used more advanced technologies (i.e., mobile apps) as a mode of delivery. The purpose of this study is to report adherence to a consumer-based mindfulness meditation mobile application (i.e., Calm) and test its effects on stress, mindfulness, and self-compassion in college students. We will also explore what the relationship is between mindfulness and health behaviors. College students were recruited using fliers on college campus and social media. Eligible participants were randomized to one of two groups: (1) Intervention - meditate using Calm, 10 min/day for eight weeks and (2) Control – no participation in mindfulness practices (received the Calm application after 12-weeks). Stress, mindfulness, and self-compassion and health behaviors (i.e., sleep disturbance, alcohol consumption, physical activity, fruit and vegetable consumption) were measured using self-report. Outcomes were measured at baseline and week eight. Of the 109 students that enrolled in the study, 41 intervention and 47 control participants were included in analysis. Weekly meditation participation averaged 38 minutes with 54% of participants completing at least half (i.e., 30 minutes) of meditations. Significant changes between groups were found in stress, mindfulness, and self-compassion (all P<0.001) in favor of the intervention group. A significant negative association (p<.001) was found between total mindfulness and sleep disturbance. An eight-week consumer-based mindfulness meditation mobile application (i.e., Calm) was effective in reducing stress, improving mindfulness and self-compassion among undergraduate college students. Mobile applications may be a feasible, effective, and less burdensome way to reduce stress in college students.
Dissertation/Thesis
Masters Thesis Exercise and Wellness 2018

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the leading cause of dementia. Amyloid plaques in the brain remain a pathological feature of AD. These plaques are primarily composed of amyloid β-protein (Aβ). It has been postulated that glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK3β) activity might exert a central role in the development of AD. GSK3β activity has been implicated in tau phosphorylation, APP processing, Aβ production and neurodegeneration. Quetiapine is frequently used to treat psychoses in AD patients at the late stage and has inhibitory effects on GSK3β activity in mouse brains after acute/subchronic treatment. Therefore, the proposed hypothesis is that chronic quetiapine administration after amyloid plaque onset reduces AD like pathology and alleviates AD like behaviours in APP/PS1 transgenic mice by inhibiting GSK3β activity. APP/PS1 transgenic mice were treated with quetiapine (2.5, 5 mg/kg/day) in drinking water starting from 3.5 months of age, for a period of 8 months. One week after behaviour testing, mice were sacrificed at 12 months of age. Half of the hemispheres were rapidly frozen for immunoblot and ELISA analyses and the other half were fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde for histological analyses. Quetiapine treatment reduced amyloid plaques formation in the cortex and hippocampus of AD mice. It also improved the behavioural deficits in these mice, including attenuating impaired memory and anxiety-like phenotypes. In addition, chronic quetiapine administration inhibited GSK3β, which resulted in reduced production of Aβ in cortices and hippocampi of transgenic mice. Quetiapine treatment also significantly decreased the activation of astrocytes and attenuated synapse integrity impairment in transgenic mice. These findings suggest that early application of quetiapine can alleviate memory deficits and pathological changes in the APP/PS1 transgenic mouse model of AD, and further support that modulation of GSK3β activity by quetiapine may be a therapeutic option for AD.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)
Medication nonadherence among middle-aged to older adults with chronic conditions often stems from forgetting to take or fill medications as prescribed. A pilot study indicated the feasibility of technology acceptance model (TAM)-based smartphone medication reminder app (SMRA) training as a way to promote their app use and medication adherence. This dissertation assesses the viability and effect size of the modified TAM-based SMRA training in promoting app use and medication adherence, as well as its delivery design in preparation for a larger efficacy study. A two-group pretest-posttest design was employed. Twenty-nine adults aged over 40 years and taking medications for chronic condition management were recruited from Midwestern university and community sites. The training group (n = 15) received the modified TAM-based SMRA training; whereas the non-training group (n = 14) self-navigated app features. The training group reported significantly higher levels of perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, positive subjective norm, and intention to use the app. In addition, the training group reported a higher proportion of active app use than the non-training group. Modified TAM-based SMRA training was not viable in increasing the levels of medication adherence variables. Effect sizes suggested at least 52 participants as a sample size for a larger efficacy study. Participants suggested that training could be improved by scheduling separate group training for iPhone and Android phone users, providing a live online training option, providing small group training with peer helper, tailoring training length to participant preference, and working with family members and healthcare providers as co-trainees and co-trainers.

Dissertação de Mestrado realizada ISPA – Instituto Universitário para obtenção de grau de Mestre na especialidade de Psicologia Social e das Organizações.
Dois estudos avaliam a eficácia de uma estratégia de intervenção para redução de preconceito a nível de atitudes implícitas e explícitas, através de um Jogo. No primeiro estudo é avaliada a eficácia do Jogo quando operacionaliza o processo de descategorização (Brewer & Miller, 1984) e quando operacionaliza o processo de recategorização (Gaertner et al, 1989). O estudo foi realizado junto de jovens de elevado estatuto étnico em condições de assimetria intergrupal e estruturado de acordo com um desenho experimental de 3 (controlo vs descategorização vs recategorização) tendo como medidas dependentes a atitude implícita (medida com um IAT) e uma medida de atitudes explícita. Os resultados demonstram uma eficácia relativa ao grupo controlo, apenas com medida implícita e do Jogo que operacionalizou a descategorização. No segundo pediram-se aos participantes para jogar o Jogo de descategorização e adicionou-se uma medida explícita estruturada: a escala de racismo moderno. Os dados obtidos não replicaram o primeiro estudo, não se verificando nenhuma evidência na eficácia na redução do enviesamento intergrupal em qualquer das medidas usadas.
Two studies evaluate the efficiency of an intervention strategy to reduce the prejudice to a level of implicit and explicit behaviors by the use of a game. In the first study, the efficiency of the game is evaluated when the process of uncategorization is operationalize (Brewer & Miller, 1984) and when the process of recategorization is operationalize (Gaertner et al, 1989). The study was performed among young people of an elevated ethnical status in intergroup asymmetry conditions and structured according to an experimental design of 3 (control vs uncategorization vs recategorization) having as dependent measures the implicit behavior (measured as IAT) and one measure of explicit behavior. The results show the efficiency related with the control group only as a structured implicit measure and of the game that operationalize the uncategorization. In the second study, the participants were asked to play the uncategorization game and it was added an explicit structured measure: the scale of the modern racism. The collected data do not replicate the data from the first study and it was not verified any evidence in the efficiency of the reduction of the intergroup bias in any of the used measures