scholarly journals Theory Integration for Lifestyle Behavior Change in the Digital Age: An Adaptive Decision-Making Framework (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chao Zhang ◽  
Daniël Lakens ◽  
Wijnand A IJsselsteijn
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Behavior Change ◽  
Computational Models ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Digital Data ◽  
Lifestyle Behaviors ◽  
Lifestyle Behavior ◽  
Theory Integration ◽  
Digital Intervention ◽  
Adaptive Decision Making

UNSTRUCTURED Despite the growing popularity of digital health interventions, limitations of traditional behavior change theories and a lack of theory integration hinder theory-driven behavior change applications. In this paper, we aim to review theories relevant to lifestyle behavior change from the broader psychology literature and then integrate these theories into a new theoretical framework called adaptive decision-making to address two specific problems. First, our framework represents lifestyle behaviors at two levels—one of individual daily decisions (action level) and one of larger behavioral episodes (reflection level)—to more closely match the temporal characteristics of lifestyle behaviors and their associated digital data. Second, the framework connects decision-making theories and learning theories to explain how behaviors and cognitive constructs dynamically influence each other, making it a suitable scaffold for building computational models. We map common digital intervention techniques onto the behavioral and cognitive processes in the framework and discuss possible contributions of the framework to both theory development and digital intervention design.

scholarly journals Theory Integration for Lifestyle Behavior Change in the Digital Age: An Adaptive Decision-Making Framework

10.2196/17127 ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. e17127
Author(s):  
Chao Zhang ◽  
Daniël Lakens ◽  
Wijnand A IJsselsteijn
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Behavior Change ◽  
Computational Models ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Digital Data ◽  
Lifestyle Behaviors ◽  
Lifestyle Behavior ◽  
Theory Integration ◽  
Digital Intervention ◽  
Adaptive Decision Making

Despite the growing popularity of digital health interventions, limitations of traditional behavior change theories and a lack of theory integration hinder theory-driven behavior change applications. In this paper, we aim to review theories relevant to lifestyle behavior change from the broader psychology literature and then integrate these theories into a new theoretical framework called adaptive decision-making to address two specific problems. First, our framework represents lifestyle behaviors at two levels—one of individual daily decisions (action level) and one of larger behavioral episodes (reflection level)—to more closely match the temporal characteristics of lifestyle behaviors and their associated digital data. Second, the framework connects decision-making theories and learning theories to explain how behaviors and cognitive constructs dynamically influence each other, making it a suitable scaffold for building computational models. We map common digital intervention techniques onto the behavioral and cognitive processes in the framework and discuss possible contributions of the framework to both theory development and digital intervention design.

Theory Integration for Lifestyle Behavior Change in the Digital Age: An Adaptive Decision-making Framework

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chao Zhang ◽  
Daniel Lakens ◽  
Wijnand IJsselsteijn
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Behavior Change ◽  
Computational Models ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Digital Data ◽  
Lifestyle Behaviors ◽  
Lifestyle Behavior ◽  
Theory Integration ◽  
Digital Intervention ◽  
Adaptive Decision Making

Despite the growing popularity of digital health interventions, limitations of traditional behavior change theories and a lack of theory integration hinder theory-driven behavior change applications. In this article we review theories relevant to lifestyle behavior change from a broader psychology literature, and then integrate these theories to a new theoretical framework called adaptive decision-making to address two specific problems. First, our framework represents lifestyle behaviors at two levels, one of individual daily decisions (action-level), and one of larger behavioral episodes (reflection-level), to more closely match the temporal characteristic of lifestyle behaviors and digital data. Second, the framework connects decision-making theories and learning theories to explain how behaviors and cognitive constructs dynamically influence each other, making it a suitable scaffold for building computational models. We map common digital intervention techniques onto the behavioral and cognitive processes in the framework, and discuss possible contributions of the framework to both theory development and digital intervention design.

scholarly journals A Digital Intervention for Australian Adolescents Above a Healthy Weight (Health Online for Teens): Protocol for an Implementation and User Experience Study

10.2196/13340 ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. e13340
Author(s):  
Carly Jane Moores ◽  
Anthony Maeder ◽  
Jacqueline Miller ◽  
Ivanka Prichard ◽  
Lucy Kate Lewis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Behavior Change ◽  
User Experience ◽  
Healthy Lifestyle ◽  
Life Stage ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Trial Registration ◽  
Lifestyle Behaviors ◽  
Healthy Weight ◽  
Lifestyle Behavior

Background More than one-fourth of Australian adolescents are overweight or obese, with obesity in adolescents strongly persisting into adulthood. Recent evidence suggests that the mid-teen years present a final window of opportunity to prevent irreversible damage to the cardiovascular system. As lifestyle behaviors may change with increased autonomy during adolescence, this life stage is an ideal time to intervene and promote healthy eating and physical activity behaviors, well-being, and self-esteem. As teenagers are prolific users and innate adopters of new technologies, app-based programs may be suitable for the promotion of healthy lifestyle behaviors and goal setting training. Objective This study aims to explore the reach, engagement, user experience, and satisfaction of the new app-based and Web-based Health Online for Teens (HOT) program in a sample of Australian adolescents above a healthy weight (ie, overweight or obese) and their parents. Methods HOT is a 14-week program for adolescents and their parents. The program is delivered online through the Moodle app–based and website-based learning environment and aims to promote adolescents’ lifestyle behavior change in line with Australian Dietary Guidelines and Australia’s Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour Guidelines for Young People (aged 13-17 years). HOT aims to build parental and peer support during the program to support adolescents with healthy lifestyle behavior change. Results Data collection for this study is ongoing. To date, 35 adolescents and their parents have participated in one of 3 groups. Conclusions HOT is a new online-only program for Australian adolescents and their parents that aims to reduce cardiovascular disease risk factors. This protocol paper describes the HOT program in detail, along with the methods to measure reach, outcomes, engagement, user experiences, and program satisfaction. Trial Registration Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12618000465257; https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=374771 International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) DERR1-10.2196/13340

Antifragile Behavior Change through Digital Behavior Change Interventions (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin T Kaveladze ◽  
Sean D Young ◽  
Stephen M Schueller
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Behavior Change ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Real World ◽  
Change Process ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Health Behavior Change ◽  
Behavior Change Interventions ◽  
Future Work

UNSTRUCTURED Digital health behavior change interventions (DHBCIs) are popular and widely-accessible tools for helping people to pursue behavior change goals. However, their effectiveness tends to be low in real-world settings. Drawing from Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s concept of antifragility, we introduce antifragile behavior change, a strategy that leverages user-specific characteristics to make the behavior change process more efficient. Next, we propose two principles for designing DHBCIs to support antifragile behavior change: first, DHBCIs should provide personalized guidance that accounts for user-specific circumstances and goals; second, DHBCIs should prioritize user agency by refraining from using nudges that might manipulate user decision-making. We hope this paper will encourage researchers and product developers to reconsider DHBCI design through the lens of antifragility. Future work can examine if DHBCIs that are consistent with our principles of designing for antifragile behavior change lead to better mental health outcomes than other DHBCIs.

scholarly journals A Digital Intervention for Australian Adolescents Above a Healthy Weight (Health Online for Teens): Protocol for an Implementation and User Experience Study (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carly Jane Moores ◽  
Anthony Maeder ◽  
Jacqueline Miller ◽  
Ivanka Prichard ◽  
Lucy Kate Lewis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Behavior Change ◽  
User Experience ◽  
Healthy Lifestyle ◽  
Disease Risk ◽  
Life Stage ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Lifestyle Behaviors ◽  
Healthy Weight ◽  
Lifestyle Behavior

BACKGROUND More than one-fourth of Australian adolescents are overweight or obese, with obesity in adolescents strongly persisting into adulthood. Recent evidence suggests that the mid-teen years present a final window of opportunity to prevent irreversible damage to the cardiovascular system. As lifestyle behaviors may change with increased autonomy during adolescence, this life stage is an ideal time to intervene and promote healthy eating and physical activity behaviors, well-being, and self-esteem. As teenagers are prolific users and innate adopters of new technologies, app-based programs may be suitable for the promotion of healthy lifestyle behaviors and goal setting training. OBJECTIVE This study aims to explore the reach, engagement, user experience, and satisfaction of the new app-based and Web-based Health Online for Teens (HOT) program in a sample of Australian adolescents above a healthy weight (ie, overweight or obese) and their parents. METHODS HOT is a 14-week program for adolescents and their parents. The program is delivered online through the Moodle app–based and website-based learning environment and aims to promote adolescents’ lifestyle behavior change in line with Australian Dietary Guidelines and Australia’s Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour Guidelines for Young People (aged 13-17 years). HOT aims to build parental and peer support during the program to support adolescents with healthy lifestyle behavior change. RESULTS Data collection for this study is ongoing. To date, 35 adolescents and their parents have participated in one of 3 groups. CONCLUSIONS HOT is a new online-only program for Australian adolescents and their parents that aims to reduce cardiovascular disease risk factors. This protocol paper describes the HOT program in detail, along with the methods to measure reach, outcomes, engagement, user experiences, and program satisfaction. CLINICALTRIAL Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12618000465257; https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=374771 INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT DERR1-10.2196/13340

Mobile Health Applications, Cancer Survivors and Lifestyle Modification: An Integrative Review (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marjorie M. Kelley ◽  
Jennifer Kue ◽  
Lynne Brophy ◽  
Andrea L. Peabody ◽  
Randi E. Foraker ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Behavior Change ◽  
Cancer Survivors ◽  
Mobile Health ◽  
Lifestyle Modification ◽  
Lifestyle Behaviors ◽  
Design Development ◽  
Lifestyle Behavior ◽  
Traditional Approaches ◽  
Mhealth Apps

BACKGROUND In 2016, there were 15.5 million cancer survivors in the United States. Survivors’ mortality and well-being are threatened by the risk of cancer recurrence and the prevalence of chronic diseases resulting from cancer treatments. Improving lifestyle behaviors attenuates these risks. Traditional approaches to lifestyle modification (i.e., counseling), are expensive, require significant human resources, and are difficult to scale. Mobile health (mHealth) interventions offer a novel alternative to traditional approaches. Although mHealth interventions are a relatively new phenomenon (c. 2010), their presence and use have increased exponentially in the last few years. However, to date, systematic reviews have failed to examine the use of mHealth interventions in lifestyle behavior change among cancer survivors. OBJECTIVE : The specific objectives of this integrative review were to (1) identify and synthesize the research in the use of mHealth apps for lifestyle behavior modification among cancer survivors; (2) critically appraise the scientific literature; (3) examine the use of theory in mHealth app design, development and testing; and (4) identify cancer survivors’ preferences in using mHealth apps for lifestyle behavior change. METHODS The review process was guided by Whittemore and Knafl’s framework and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. We searched 8 databases and 3 journals for studies reported between January 1, 2007, and April 15, 2019, using concepts associated with mobile health, cancer, and lifestyle behaviors. The inclusion of studies and study quality were assessed by at least two research team members, using pre-established criteria and validated tools. We assessed theory use with a coding scheme developed by Michie and Prestwich. RESULTS Of the 1,351 manuscripts retrieved, 19 articles (17 studies) met eligibility requirements. Ten articles reported on the use of mHealth interventions while 9 described mHealth features and functions important to survivors. No RCTs were identified and only 2 quasi-experimental studies were included. Breast cancer survivors were over-represented in the studies as was the lifestyle behavior of physical activity (PA) (n=15). The 2 non-PA studies included in this review focused on stress. Survivors’ perceptions about using mHealth were synthesized into 6 common themes: App Functionality & Features, Social Relationships & Support, Provider Relationships, Support & Communications, Content, Acceptability, and Barriers to Use. The overall quality of the studies was low, except for 3 pilot studies (2 moderate, 1 strong). Only 1 study reported the use of theory in the design, development, or testing of the mHealth intervention. CONCLUSIONS Overall, the low-quality of studies included in this review validated a need for rigorous, theory-based pilot and efficacy studies before use of mHealth interventions can be safely and effectively recommended and used to improve lifestyle behaviors in cancer survivors.

scholarly journals Metacognitive impairments extend perceptual decision making weaknesses in compulsivity

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias U. Hauser ◽  
Micah Allen ◽  
Geraint Rees ◽  
Raymond J. Dolan ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Computational Models ◽  
Large Population ◽  
Computational Modelling ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Perceptual Decision Making ◽  
Perceptual Decision ◽  
Metacognitive Abilities ◽  
Adaptive Decision Making ◽  
Metacognitive Ability

AbstractAwareness of one’s own abilities is of paramount importance in adaptive decision making. Psychotherapeutic theories assume such metacognitive insight is impaired in compulsivity, though this is supported by scant empirical evidence. In this study, we investigate metacognitive abilities in compulsive participants using computational models, where these enable a segregation between metacognitive and perceptual decision making impairments. We examined twenty low-compulsive and twenty high-compulsive participants, recruited from a large population-based sample, and matched for other psychiatric and cognitive dimensions. Hierarchical computational modelling of the participants’ metacognitive abilities on a visual global motion detection paradigm revealed that high-compulsive participants had a reduced metacognitive ability. This impairment was accompanied by a perceptual decision making deficit whereby motion-related evidence was accumulated more slowly in high compulsive participants. Our study shows that the compulsivity spectrum is associated with a reduced ability to monitor one’s own performance, over and above any perceptual decision making difficulty.

University students� experiences of Fitbit use and interpretations of digital health data (Preprint)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marianne Irene Clark ◽  
Matthew Driller
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
University Students ◽  
Behavior Change ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Emotional Responses ◽  
Data Interpretation ◽  
Digital Data ◽  
Related Data ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Wearable Activity Trackers

BACKGROUND Wearable fitness trackers are becoming increasingly affordable and accessible making them an alluring tool for mHealth interventions and strategies. Research to date has focused primarily on issues of efficacy, accuracy and acceptability with equivocal conclusions, yet little is known about how individuals interpret and make sense of their personalized data in relationship to health. This knowledge could elaborate on existing understandings of user experience and enhance the design and implementation of mHealth initiatives involving self-tracking technology. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to gain an in-depth understanding of how university students respond to and interpret personalized data generated by wearable activity-trackers in relation to health. METHODS Data were collected through four focus groups (N=26) with university students in New Zealand who voluntarily wore a Fitbit for 7 days for a separate research study. Focus group questions sought to explore how students engaged with and made sense of their digital data in relationship to health and physical activity and their perceptions of the value of the Fitbit. RESULTS Findings suggest wearing an activity tracker can prompt both positive and negative emotional responses that influence interpretation of data and have implications for behavior change. Results also show that data interpretation is highly dependent on contextual factors and that meanings of health are highly individual. Participants suggested that the knowledge gained through self-tracking was not sufficient to prompt behavior change, and that further support around navigating barriers to physical activity was needed. CONCLUSIONS Acknowledging the emotional responses evoked by digital data may enhance the design of future mHealth initiatives involving self-tracking technologies. Providing guidance and support around data interpretation may also help maximize the usefulness of these technologies, as the meanings of health-related data appear to be contingent upon the context in which it is generated and interpreted.

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