Virtual Coaches

Weimann, Thure; Schlieter, Hannes; Brendel, Alfred

doi:10.1007/s12599-022-00757-9

Cited by 17 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 72 publications

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“…Furthermore, a variety of synonymous terms exist in the literature (e.g., ''e-coach'' or ''virtual trainer'';Tropea et al 2019). A holistic and integrative view of VCs and related system classes was recently given by Weimann et al (2022). In this work, VCs were defined as adaptive software systems that target goal-directed transformations of the coachee's (i.e., patient's) cognition, affection, and behavior to achieve improvements on the individual and societal level.…”

Section: Virtual Coaches and Related System Classesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Instead, another perspective posits that all three modes of care delivery can be complemented by the widespread adoption of digital technologies (e.g., using sensors, decision support systems, or virtual reality tools during in-person coaching; Philpot et al (2023)). While remote and standalone delivery modes can be summarized as VC in a broader sense, prior literature argues that VCs go beyond mere computer-mediated communication tools by being at least semi-autonomous software agents (Weimann et al 2022). Further, VCs emphasize the conversational character and context of the coaching process.…”

Section: Virtual Coaches and Related System Classesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They have the potential to support the continuity of care and allow for the partial replacement or complement of traditional in-person coaching, esp. for rehabilitation at home (Ding et al 2010;Kyriazakos et al 2020;Graßmann and Schermuly 2021;Weimann et al 2022). In particular, they could motivate the patient to adhere to physical activities, set incentives to be active, monitor vital signs, support health literacy (Kyriazakos et al 2020), and be a companion of trusted guidance (Allen et al 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Designing Virtual Coaching Solutions

Schlieter,

Gand,

Weimann

et al. 2024

Bus Inf Syst Eng

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Especially older persons are prone to disabilities and chronic diseases. These chronic conditions pose a worldwide challenge, leading to deteriorating health, economic strain, loss of life, and a decline in the quality of life (QoL). Therefore, healthcare institutions seek to enhance their strategies for disease prevention and management to uphold the well-being of the community. This leads to the need to regain independence and improve QoL to properly rehabilitate the patients. Virtual Coaches (VCs) in the form of Embodied Conversational Agents are seen as a relevant digital intervention to support the continuity of care. The paper at hand reports on a Design Science Research project about implementing a VC solution to support older patients' home rehabilitation. The study underpins four pivotal design principles: Adaptivity, Coaching Strategy, Multi-user Interface, and Sustainable Infrastructure. The final artifact was tested with 80 patients which were supported in continuing their inpatient rehabilitation at home by using a VC. The evaluation shows both positive results for usability and acceptance of the intervention for four different use cases and a positive impact on the QoL. Given the comprehensive clinical evaluation, the system represents a safe and appealing solution for ensuring the continuity of medical rehabilitation care and the access to personalized cognitive and motor function treatments.

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Section: Virtual Coaches and Related System Classesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Virtual Coaches and Related System Classesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Designing Virtual Coaching Solutions

Schlieter,

Gand,

Weimann

et al. 2024

Bus Inf Syst Eng

Self Cite

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“…For example, motion capturing via smartphone cameras, as with Kaia Health, produces large data amounts for designing personalized training programs, and validates and optimizes these programs over time via real-world evidence. As another example, virtual bots have been introduced to mimic/emulate human/therapists' behaviors (Makin 2019;Weimann et al 2022). Beyond research into the potentials of AI, we also need a careful evaluation of when to use AI at all, for what purpose, 13 how decisions supported by AI are reached, how accurate such conclusions are, and whether there is a demonstrable clinical benefit from AI applications with DTx (Liu et al 2020).…”

Section: Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Digital Therapeutics (DTx)

2023

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Including those whose primary purpose is directed towards patients and that entail both patients and therapists. 2 European countries are currently working out own regulatory frameworks, the European Medicines Agency has not yet designed a regulatory pathway for evaluation and reimbursement of DTx. 3 Denmark and other Nordic countries are taking a coordinated approach by stepwise integrating other main aspects of health care digitalization like electronic health records and platforms implementing mobile apps along the process (Nordic Innovation 2018).

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“…Behavioral aspects are relevant across various IS environments, including but not limited to crowdsourcing, recommendation and personalization systems, electronic marketplaces, augmented reality, and gamifcation (Goes, 2013). Digital behavior change interventions across the diferent environments use a broad spectrum of approaches, including gamifcation (Schmidt-Kraepelin, Toussaint, Thiebes, Hamari, & Sunyaev, 2020), nudging (Beermann, Rieder, & Uebernickel, 2022), feedback , and virtual coaching (Weimann, Schlieter, & Brendel, 2022).…”

Section: Information Systems For Behavior Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Leveraging Information Systems to Foster Sustainable and Healthy Behavior Change

Graichen

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In recent decades, technology has emerged as a beacon of hope to aid humanity in addressing two pressing issues of our time: human health and climate change. However, despite advances in medicine and climate technology, rates of infectious diseases (Jones et al., 2008) and carbon dioxide emissions (Olivier & Peters, 2020) continue to rise. Alongside technological and systemic regulations, it is also the behavior of each individual that contributes to curtailing infectious diseases and carbon dioxide emissions. Yet, individuals often struggle to align their good intentions with their actual behavior. This gap underscores the complexity of breaking ingrained habits and adopting new behaviors, demanding more than mere intention. The question of how to achieve behavior change in the context of health and climate change is not easily answered; it requires extensive interdisciplinary research. Information Systems research can support and advance the study of behavior change through digital interventions. Digital interventions, due to their availability and scalability, stand as promising tools for facilitating behavior change and research. The inclusion of measurement instruments within technological devices furthermore allows for the collection of real-world behavioral data. Consequently, Information Systems research can not only contribute but also enhance the empirical validation and expansion of behavioral theories. Despite the potential that Information Systems hold in the realm of behavioral research, it remains a domain far from being fully explored. The main objectives of this dissertation are to provide insights into the effectiveness of digital interventions in fostering healthy and environmentally sustainable behavior within the real-world context, alongside the empirical validation of behavioral and motivation theories. To accomplish this, the dissertation adopts an interdisciplinary approach encompassing two experimental field studies and one survey field study. The field studies are centered on behavior change in the realms of health and sustainability behavior among children and employees. The first two chapters revolve around the outcomes of two large-scale field experiments, investigating hand washing behavior of children in day care centers. Within Chapter 1, a digital intervention is designed and the applicability and effectiveness of the intervention are affirmed across day care centers in Finland and Germany. The data indicate that soaping time of children, a proxy for hand washing quality, can be improved by 62% while the digital behavior intervention is in place. In Chapter 2, the intervention subsequently serves as a tool to empirically validate and expand behavioral theory, specifically the Motivation Crowding Theory. The results provide empirical evidence for the efficacy of digital rewards in children. This underscores the value of digital rewards while disproving potential negative effects as suggested by the Motivation Crowding Theory. The findings of Chapters 1 and 2 underscore the effectiveness of digital behavior change interventions leveraging digital rewards both in research and in practice. The research undertaken in this context can serve as a blueprint for Information Systems researchers venturing into behavioral research, particularly with children. Moreover, it offers practitioners guidance for the design of effective and scalable systems tailored to children. Chapter 3 presents the results of a field study that examines the motivations of train drivers to use Green Information Systems in the workplace and thus to contribute to energy savings in the transportation sector. The results of the interviews and surveys conducted for this purpose confirm the applicability of the Protection Motivation Theory in the context of Information Systems. The collected data show that employees’ moti- vation to engage in climate-protective behavior depends on their perception of their own response efficacy and the severity of climate change. The identified motivations provide important starting points for the development of digital behavior interventions aimed at promoting environmentally friendly behavior among employees. Overall, this thesis illustrates that Information Systems can support human behavior change, and serve as a tool to measure and examine behavior change and underlying behavioral theories. The conducted field studies underscore the effectiveness of digital interventions in real-world settings. With the chosen interdisciplinary approach and a combination of different methods, existing behavioral theories are utilized in the field of Information Systems, empirically validated, and expanded. The research emphasizes that Information Systems have the potential to assist individuals in changing their health and sustainability behavior, addressing two pressing issues of our time.

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Virtual Coaches

Cited by 17 publications

References 72 publications

Designing Virtual Coaching Solutions

Designing Virtual Coaching Solutions

Digital Therapeutics (DTx)

Leveraging Information Systems to Foster Sustainable and Healthy Behavior Change

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