Successfully Promoting Volunteerism by Offering Extrinsic Rewards in a Personal Health Course: A Pilot Study

<p>The impact of social influences on food choices in college settings is of great importance because students are vulnerable to new forming identities at this time. The purpose of this pilot study is to determine the degree to which social influences impact food choices in a sample of college students. A 22-item survey instrument was created to determine the extent to which students have experienced being influenced by others when making food related purchasing decisions. A total of 257 out of a 323 students invited (80% response rate) in 11 sections of a personal health course responded to the survey. The overwhelming majority of respondents were reportedly comfortable ordering whatever they wanted when in the presence of their friends (n=249; 97%). Students were more likely to feel pressure to make a healthy choice than an unhealthy choice if everyone else was (45.1% vs. 31.5%), but fewer felt this way when asked specifically if their friends were ordering (28.4% vs. 21%). Social influences surrounding food choices are a topic that has gained momentum recently, however more research needs to be conducted to determine the reasons why social influences affect certain college students especially in comparing healthy versus unhealthy food choices.</p>

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Acceptability, Feasibility, and Preliminary Efficacy of a Theory-Based Relational Embodied Conversational Agent Mobile Phone Intervention to Promote HIV Medication Adherence in Young HIV-Positive African American MSM

AIDS Education and Prevention ◽

10.1521/aeap.2019.31.1.17 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 31 (1) ◽

pp. 17-37 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Mark S. Dworkin ◽

Sangyoon Lee ◽

Apurba Chakraborty ◽

Colleen Monahan ◽

Lisa Hightow-Weidman ◽

...

Keyword(s):

African American ◽

Health Literacy ◽

Pilot Study ◽

Self Efficacy ◽

African American Men ◽

Personal Health ◽

Conversational Agent ◽

Embodied Conversational Agent ◽

African American Msm

An embodied conversational agent can serve as a relational agent and provide information, motivation, and behavioral skills. To evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of My Personal Health Guide, a theory-based mobile-delivered embodied conversational agent intervention to improve adherence to antiretroviral therapy in young African American men who have sex with men, we conducted this prospective pilot study using a 3-month pre–post design. Outcome measures included adherence, acceptability, feasibility, pre versus post health literacy, and pre versus post self-efficacy. There were 43 participants. Pill count adherence > 80% improved from 62% at baseline to 88% at follow-up (p = .05). The acceptability of the app was high. Feasibility issues identified included loss of usage data from unplanned participant app deletion. Health literacy improved whereas self-efficacy was high at baseline and follow-up. This pilot study of My Personal Health Guide demonstrated acceptability and preliminary efficacy in improving adherence in this important population.

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