Physical Activity, Mind Wandering, Affect, and Sleep: An Ecological Momentary Assessment

Fanning, Jason; MacKenzie, Michael J.; Roberts, Sarah; Crato, Ines; Ehlers, Diane K.; McAuley, Edward

doi:10.2196/mhealth.5855

Cited by 20 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…Ehlers et al [48] demonstrated success in a 14-day pilot study with a low-cost approach that used participants’ mobile phones, text messaging, and mobile Internet to explore daily relationships between self-worth and physical activity in middle-aged women. Fanning et al [49] used a similar approach in a 7-day study of college-aged adults examining mind wandering.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological Momentary Assessment in Behavioral Research: Addressing Technological and Human Participant Challenges

et al. 2017

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BackgroundEcological momentary assessment (EMA) assesses individuals’ current experiences, behaviors, and moods as they occur in real time and in their natural environment. EMA studies, particularly those of longer duration, are complex and require an infrastructure to support the data flow and monitoring of EMA completion.ObjectiveOur objective is to provide a practical guide to developing and implementing an EMA study, with a focus on the methods and logistics of conducting such a study.MethodsThe EMPOWER study was a 12-month study that used EMA to examine the triggers of lapses and relapse following intentional weight loss. We report on several studies that informed the implementation of the EMPOWER study: (1) a series of pilot studies, (2) the EMPOWER study’s infrastructure, (3) training of study participants in use of smartphones and the EMA protocol and, (4) strategies used to enhance adherence to completing EMA surveys.ResultsThe study enrolled 151 adults and had 87.4% (132/151) retention rate at 12 months. Our learning experiences in the development of the infrastructure to support EMA assessments for the 12-month study spanned several topic areas. Included were the optimal frequency of EMA prompts to maximize data collection without overburdening participants; the timing and scheduling of EMA prompts; technological lessons to support a longitudinal study, such as proper communication between the Android smartphone, the Web server, and the database server; and use of a phone that provided access to the system’s functionality for EMA data collection to avoid loss of data and minimize the impact of loss of network connectivity. These were especially important in a 1-year study with participants who might travel. It also protected the data collection from any server-side failure. Regular monitoring of participants’ response to EMA prompts was critical, so we built in incentives to enhance completion of EMA surveys. During the first 6 months of the 12-month study interval, adherence to completing EMA surveys was high, with 88.3% (66,978/75,888) completion of random assessments and around 90% (23,411/25,929 and 23,343/26,010) completion of time-contingent assessments, despite the duration of EMA data collection and challenges with implementation.ConclusionsThis work informed us of the necessary preliminary steps to plan and prepare a longitudinal study using smartphone technology and the critical elements to ensure participant engagement in the potentially burdensome protocol, which spanned 12 months. While this was a technology-supported and -programmed study, it required close oversight to ensure all elements were functioning correctly, particularly once human participants became involved.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological Momentary Assessment in Behavioral Research: Addressing Technological and Human Participant Challenges

et al. 2017

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“…We acknowledge that it is difficult to generalize our findings because of small sample size and nonprobability sampling methods. However, prior usability studies have suggested that a small number of participants, as few as 5 to 20, with similar background show great potential for exploring a variety of perspectives that can identify a vast amount of design problems [ 54 , 55 ]. In addition, because of scheduling and transportation constraints of breastfeeding women, it is almost impossible to recruit probability samples.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Breastfeed-Promoting Mobile App Intervention: Usability and Usefulness Study

Wang¹,

Chaovalit²,

Pongnumkul³

2018

JMIR Mhealth Uhealth

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BackgroundBreastfeeding is proven to have lasting health benefits for both mothers and infants; however, 6-month exclusive breastfeeding rate remains below 20% in Thailand. Although the number of research literature and commercial apps for breastfeeding women is significantly growing, they are country-specific and restricted to English-speaking users. There exists a major knowledge gap on how mobile health apps could support breastfeeding in Thailand. To address these gaps, MoomMae has been developed with the intention to support Thai women in breastfeeding outside of their homes and in keeping their feeding records.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to evaluate the usability and usefulness of MoomMae, a mobile phone app designed to support breastfeeding women.MethodsOur study was reviewed and approved by Thailand’s National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) ethics committee. A total of 21 breastfeeding women with at least one Android phone or tablet were recruited via convenience and snowball sampling. The study process for each participant was as follows: the participant was requested to attend a preuse interview and given the app to use for 4 weeks. Following this period, a postuse interview was conducted to examine the usability and usefulness of the app. Both sessions were held individually and audiorecorded for qualitative analysis.ResultsThe mean scores of usability and usefulness from the postuse survey were 4.33 (SD 0.87; range 1-5) and 4.60 (SD 0.74; range 2-5). Our qualitative analysis revealed a total of 137 feedbacks: 71 related to usability and 66 associated with usefulness. A further sentimental analysis showed that comments on usability were generally negative (59 negative, 11 positive, and 1 neutral), and comments on usefulness were relatively positive (56 positive, 9 negative, and 1 neutral). We discovered 26 unique design issues and proposed recommendations for future improvement.ConclusionsOur usability and usefulness assessment of MoomMae demonstrated that MoomMae has a great potential to be a useful self-management tool for breastfeeding mothers in Thailand. The qualitative analysis suggested that the app is supportive of breastfeeding on demand, but the flow and inputs of the app should be redesigned to be more intuitive. For future implementations, the most desirable feature is a pump-reminding notification system.

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“…Another 2 EMA studies were conducted in a different population (college students), with 1 work focused on mind wandering [ 33 ] and the other on general time use (vs specific behavior/s), like this study [ 34 ]. These examinations differed from the prior 2 EMA studies as assessments were conducted via an app on mobile phones/PDAs designed to capture activities in the past hour or 20 min, respectively (involved less retrospection).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These examinations differed from the prior 2 EMA studies as assessments were conducted via an app on mobile phones/PDAs designed to capture activities in the past hour or 20 min, respectively (involved less retrospection). Comparisons with this study include similar or longer follow-up periods (hourly assessments for 1 week and twice daily assessments for 3 weeks, respectively) and the use of text messages [ 33 ] or push notifications with alarms [ 34 ] to prompt participant responses. Our study required participant initiation of the app to track time use.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Acceptability of a Mobile Phone App for Measuring Time Use in Breast Cancer Survivors (Life in a Day): Mixed-Methods Study

Ainsworth¹,

Pekmezi²,

Bowles³

et al. 2018

JMIR Cancer

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BackgroundAdvancements in mobile technology allow innovative data collection techniques such as measuring time use (ie, how individuals structure their time) for the purpose of improving health behavior change interventions.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to examine the acceptability of a 5-day trial of the Life in a Day mobile phone app measuring time use in breast cancer survivors to advance technology-based measurement of time use.MethodsAcceptability data were collected from participants (N=40; 100% response rate) using a self-administered survey after 5 days of Life in a Day use.ResultsOverall, participants had a mean age of 55 years (SD 8) and completed 16 years of school (SD 2). Participants generally agreed that learning to use Life in a Day was easy (83%, 33/40) and would prefer to log activities using Life in a Day over paper-and-pencil diary (73%, 29/40). A slight majority felt that completing Life in a Day for 5 consecutive days was not too much (60%, 24/40) or overly time-consuming (68%, 27/40). Life in a Day was rated as easy to read (88%, 35/40) and navigate (70%, 32/40). Participants also agreed that it was easy to log activities using the activity timer at the start and end of an activity (90%, 35/39). Only 13% (5/40) downloaded the app on their personal phone, whereas 63% (19/30) of the remaining participants would have preferred to use their personal phone. Overall, 77% (30/39) of participants felt that the Life in a Day app was good or very good. Those who agreed that it was easy to edit activities were significantly more likely to be younger when compared with those who disagreed (mean 53 vs 58 years, P=.04). Similarly, those who agreed that it was easy to remember to log activities were more likely to be younger (mean 52 vs 60 years, P<.001). Qualitative coding of 2 open-ended survey items yielded 3 common themes for Life in a Day improvement (ie, convenience, user interface, and reminders).ConclusionsA mobile phone app is an acceptable time-use measurement modality. Improving convenience, user interface, and memory prompts while addressing the needs of older participants is needed to enhance app utility.Trial RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT00929617; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00929617 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6z2bZ4P7X)

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Physical Activity, Mind Wandering, Affect, and Sleep: An Ecological Momentary Assessment

Cited by 20 publications

References 60 publications

Ecological Momentary Assessment in Behavioral Research: Addressing Technological and Human Participant Challenges

Ecological Momentary Assessment in Behavioral Research: Addressing Technological and Human Participant Challenges

A Breastfeed-Promoting Mobile App Intervention: Usability and Usefulness Study

Acceptability of a Mobile Phone App for Measuring Time Use in Breast Cancer Survivors (Life in a Day): Mixed-Methods Study

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