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Learning how to manage time efficiently is something that many people struggle with, college students in particular. The purpose of this study was to examine if personalization via self-experimentation of strategies to improve time management skills is a useful strategy for achieving this goal. This study used a multiple baseline approach with three phases: phase one, the baseline, phase two, which included individuals receiving examples of plausible strategies to improve time management skills, and phase three, which involved the self-experimentation component. Results of this study suggest no significant changes in time management based on self-reported completion of tasks but do indicate a trend towards improved time management skills overall based on the time management questionnaire taken at the beginning and end of the study. These results suggest that further exploration in the use of self-experimentation strategies for improving time management is likely warranted but that current strategies likely require additional research. Results from the interviews indicate that the self-experimentation strategy, as delivered via PACO does increase awareness and thinking about time management.
ContributorsCope, Breanna (Author) / Hekler, Eric (Thesis director) / Buman, Matthew (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Tools that accurately assess physical activity and sedentary behaviors have broad implications relative to understanding the association of adverse health outcomes and these behaviors. Given the ease of distribution and inexpensive nature of self-report tools, they are the most widely used means to assess human behavior in large-scale populations. The purpose of this study was to validate the ACT24 online self-report recall for measures of sedentary and active behavior against criterion measure. Participants of a larger study were asked to complete the ACT24 recall on a random day in three different weeks during which they were wearing the criterion device. A total of 16 recalls were completed that were used to assess ACT24 measures of sedentary, active, and MVPA behavior. Four different comparisons afforded this analysis: criterion sitting time to ACT24 sedentary time, criterion standing time to ACT24 active behavior, criterion stepping time to ACT24 active behavior, and criterion stepping of 3.0+METs to ACT24 MVPA. Results for the comparisons made between ACT24 sedentary time versus criterion sitting time and ACT24 active time to criterion active time showed little systematic differences at the group level, but the limits of agreement were relatively wide. The comparisons made between ACT24 active time to criterion stepping time and ACT24 MVPA to criterion stepping time at 3.0+ METs both showed a positive systematic difference. Increased incidence of physical activity was correlated with more difference between the measures, likely due to an underestimation of criterion active time measurement. These results are important in the preliminary validity analysis of ACT24 measures of active and sedentary time. Future directions include implementing validation protocols in larger and more diverse samples.
ContributorsBrinkman, Joseph Connor (Author) / Buman, Matthew P. (Thesis director) / Hekler, Eric (Committee member) / Matthews, Charles E. (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
With the population size growing rapidly at Arizona State University, students are more likely to get sick and miss school when living on campus. The purpose of this project was to design a mobile web application called, SeeSick, that would visualize the spread of illness on the ASU Tempe campus. This application would provide students with information that could help prevent the spread of illness and allow them to take actionable steps for staying healthy. To accomplish the design and testing of this application, research was conducted on how technology is currently used by students when they are sick, how to design an effective user interface for ASU students, how to physically visualize the spread of the flu on an app, and if an application like this would be useful. The visualizations are created from a user input form and from Twitter data scraping and are displayed on a heat map of the Tempe campus. 126 students were surveyed before the development of the application and once the application was functional, 87 students were interviewed for user testing. Through trial-and-error design and testing, the application was analyzed to determine if it would be used and change behavior. The design of SeeSick successfully provided users with a way to visualize the spread of symptoms on campus and presented them personalized feedback about their symptoms. 62% of students interviewed found the application to be useful and 84% of participants found it easy to use. However, 57% of students said their behavior would not change while using SeeSick. Of the students who tested the application, SeeSick was found to be useful, easy to use, but would not cause behavior change. The current version supports the goal to create a mobile application that tracks the spread of the flu on campus, however it was not tested enough to determine if it would change behavior. With further development and larger testing groups, SeeSick could be improved to not only track the spread of illness on a hyper-local level, but also create actionable steps to prevent the spread of illness.
ContributorsChartier, McKinsey Lynne (Author) / Hekler, Eric (Thesis director) / Maciejewski, Ross (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2014-12
Description
BACKGROUND: Biotechnology can improve vitamin deficiencies, farming practices and yields, yet it is surrounded by controversy. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to better understand opinions Americans have about genetically modified organisms (GMOs), across multiple perspectives including scientists, farmers, and perceptions shared via social media. METHODS: A Google Scholar search for the term "genetically modified" (GM) produced 1,420,000 results in 0.05 seconds from the year 1988 to present, a portion of this literature was used for this study. In addition a quasi-experimental study on social media (i.e. a blog and Twitter) was performed to inspire reactions of social media users who followed the accounts @Biofortified and @BiotechFood. The study lasted for approximately three months. The analytics website, Topsy was also used to track the number of conversations that included terms like "GMO". Furthermore a plant biologist, sustainability scientist, and local farmers were interviewed to gain insights on their perceptions of GM products. RESULTS: Results generally suggest that there was no stance shared by social media users, local farmers, and researchers. It was clear however that conversation about GMOs happens daily on social media. These conversations however lack the evidence that can be learned through literature and conversations with local farmers. DISCUSSION: A plausible possible reason for the confusion and mixed opinions is that regardless of the resources (like scientific literature and agriculture workers available on GMOs), individuals appear to use moral reasoning \u2014 as defined by Jonathan Haidt \u2014 to defend their stance on GMOs, not necessarily any empirical evidence.
ContributorsHubbard, Shayla Briann (Author) / Hekler, Eric (Thesis director) / Wharton, Christopher (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Community Resources and Development (Contributor) / School of Public Affairs (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
As the prevalence of childhood obesity in the United States rises, opportunities for children to be physically active become more vital. One opportunity for physical activity involves children walking to and from school. However, children that live in areas with a pedestrian-unfriendly built environment and a low degree of walkability are less likely to be physically active and more likely to be overweight. The purpose of this study was to study walking routes from schools in low-income neighborhoods in Southwestern United States to a local community center. Walking routes from the three study schools (South Mountain High School, Percy Julian Middle School, and Rose Linda Elementary School) were determined by distance, popularity, and the presence of a major thoroughfare. Segments and intersections, which formed the routes, were randomly selected from each school's buffer region. The walking routes as a whole, along with the segments and intersections, were audited and scored using built environment assessments tools: MAPS, PEQI and Walkability Checklist. These scores were utilized to develop interactive mapping tools to visualize the quality of the routes, segments and intersections and identify areas for improvement. Results showed that the routes from Percy Julian to the Kroc Center were, overall, rated higher than routes from the other two schools. The highest scoring route, from the seven routes studied, was route 2 from Percy Julian to the Kroc Center along Broadway Road. South Mountain High School was overall the worst starting point for walking to the Kroc Center as those three walking routes were graded as the least walkable. Possible areas for improvement include installing traffic calming features along major thoroughfares and reducing the perceived risk to pedestrian safety by beautifying the community by planting greenery. Future directions include studying the built environment in South Phoenix communities that surround the Kroc Center.
ContributorsZeien, Justin Lee (Author) / Buman, Matthew (Thesis director) / Hekler, Eric (Committee member) / Fellows, Brian (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Translating research has been a goal of the Department of Health and Human Services since 1999. Through two years of iteration and interview with our community members, we have collected insights into the barriers to accomplishing this goal. Liberating Science is a think-tank of researchers and scientists who seek to create a more transparent process to accelerate innovation starting with behavioral health research.
ContributorsRaghani, Pooja Sioux (Author) / Hekler, Eric (Thesis director) / Buman, Matthew (Committee member) / Pruthi, Virgilia Kaur (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor) / Biomedical Informatics Program (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
The purpose of this project is to understand how wearable technology can improve a person's practice of self-tracking, or monitoring one's data. Self-tracking is regularly recording information about one's different life patterns (such as diet, activities, or sleep). Some technology that helps users record personal data are seen today as devices (FitBit, Smart Watches) or as applications (MyFitnessPal). Data is collected for the user to observe certain habits that he/she would like to improve upon. Their personal data that is collected and this helps keep the person self-tracking. This data can be converted to show personal behavioral patterns which a person analyzes so that they can make changes that lead to a healthier lifestyle. People self-track in order to analyze their behavior patterns, so that they can make changes to those patterns that lead to a healthier lifestyle. However, some people are not motivated to continue self-tracking, or use their data to make positive behavioral changes. To better understand this problem, we are conducting four co-design sessions with four users who have shown varying levels of self-tracking. Sessions' activities included: storyboarding, reviewing existing user interfaces, generating feedback on prototypes and discussion into thoughts and feelings about the prototype and self-tracking in general. Current findings highlight the importance of customization and simplicity within the application. We are developing an Apple Watch prototype application for self-tracking that incorporates features tailored to those needs in order to better motivate users to track and improve their well-being. Our main goal is to gain a better understanding of our participants and their need and usage with self-tracking. More information can be found on our website at ani6gup.me/CareTrack.
ContributorsFoote, Michaela (Co-author) / Gupta, Anisha (Co-author) / Walker, Erin (Thesis director) / Hekler, Eric (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Arts, Media and Engineering (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
This honors thesis utilizes smart home components and concepts from Dr. Burleson's Game as Life, Life as Game (GaLLaG) systems. The thesis focuses on an automated lifestyle, where individuals utilize technology, such as door sensors, appliance and lamp modules, and system notifications, to assist in daily activities. The findings from our efforts to date indicate that after weeks of observations, there is no evidence that automated lifestyles create more productive and healthy lifestyles and lead to overall satisfaction in life; however, there are certain design principles that would assist future home automation applications.
ContributorsRosales, Justin Bart (Author) / Burleson, Winslow (Thesis director) / Walker, Erin (Committee member) / Hekler, Eric (Committee member) / Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering Programs (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
A study was undertaken to examine and test the effectiveness of a self-experimentation model, guided by a mobile app called PACO, in helping college students improve behaviors associated with sleep. Thirteen participants were enrolled in this study and their nightly sleep quality and sleep duration were measured via PACO as they underwent three conditions: a baseline non-intervention phase, an expert-developed intervention phase, in which pre-made intervention examples were provided and used in PACO, and a self-experimentation phase, during which users were invited to develop their own sleep-behavior interventions using PACO. The participants were randomly placed into three groups, and the points of transition between phases was staggered across five weeks according to a multiple baseline design. The goal and hypothesis was to determine if sleep duration and sleep quality (sleep satisfaction) were improved in the final self-experimentation phase compared to the expert-developed experimentation phase and baseline phase, as well as in the expert-developed experimentation phase compared to the baseline phase. The results show little change, and nearly no improvement in the outcome measures between phases, leaving us unable to support the hypothesis. However, the existence of several limitations considered in retrospect, such as the small sample size, the short study time period, and technical difficulties with the PACO application means that no concrete conclusions should be made regarding the effectiveness of the self-experimentation model, nor the usability of PACO. Additional research should be made toward user motivation and modes of teaching the underlying behavioral science principles to casual users to increase effectiveness.
ContributorsNazareno, Alexandra Nicole (Author) / Hekler, Eric (Thesis director) / Walker, Erin (Committee member) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Background: Physical inactivity is a major cause of obesity, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes and has become a major public health problem. Physical inactivity is detrimental to one's health, but it has also created a significant healthcare burden. Within the past decade, many health-based interventions have been implemented to encourage physically inactive individuals to adopt a more active lifestyle. These health-based interventions have used social media websites, particularly Facebook, to establish social support between the participants of those interventions. There is currently limited research on this topic. This study aims to add to that literature by exploring strategies to encourage participants of health-based interventions to interact with a Facebook group. Purpose: An exercise and nutrition-based intervention called Athletes for Life (AFL) has been using a Facebook page over the past 2.5 years to establish social support between participants of the program, among other functions. The level of interaction that participants had with the Facebook page has declined over the past year. The objective of this study is to redesign and refine the AFL Facebook page so that it is more appealing and interactive to AFL participants. Methods: Redesigning and refining the AFL Facebook page were achieved through three strategies. The first strategy was to recruit approximately twenty participants to the new AFL Facebook group. The next strategy was to select a participant to become the group champion who would post encouraging content on the Facebook group wall. The final strategy was to maintain the consistency with which participants liked and viewed posts on the group wall. Results: The results of this study showed nine participants joined the group and these participants had a combined total of 62 likes and 110 views on the group wall over an eleven-week period. Participants interacted with the content posted by the Facebook group administrators on a consistent basis, but only one participant posted a recipe to the group wall. Measuring the level of interaction for each individual post was significant because it illustrated that the level of interaction participants had with posts depended on the identity of the posts' author. Conclusions: Future research should test the effectiveness of a Facebook group page for promoting physical activity and implementing the suggestions from study participants to increase Facebook usage.
ContributorsNasef, Amr Sherif (Author) / Crespo, Noe (Thesis director) / Hekler, Eric (Committee member) / School of Nutrition and Health Promotion (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05