The purpose of this study was to investigate how some elected established coaching models works in practice, and how the respondents perceived the situation of having a coach. There were three participants in the study, two men and one woman.   The first part of the study was to investigate how some established coaching models work in practice, which was inspired by action research. The coaching process was grounded in Höigard and Jörgensens (2002) four-stage model, while the transtheoretical model was used as a complement to describe and analyze the participants incline to change. Both of these models emphasize the weight of using a good goal setting strategy and the SMART-model (Faskunger, 2002) was used to meet this. The data collection was performed on qualitative grounds when notes of the coaching interviews were taken to notice the participants willingness to change. This could for example be something that the participants had sad or something they’ve done to move between the different stages according to the transtheoretical model. The second part of the study was to investigate how the participants experienced the situation of having contact with a coach. This part was executed on qualitative grounds were an interview met the purpose.   The result indicated that the coaching process might have influenced the participants motivation to change their behavior. This was presumed to depend on the techniques and methods that had been used (i.e., target strategies, empowerment and the confidence shown from the coach). Initially it was shown that the participants motivation to change seems to be extrinsic. During the process the motivation factors changed and the participants seems to have acquired a motivation of a more internal character. This because the participants after some time described that they changed their behavior for their own sake. According to the transtheoretical model the participants advanced from the preparation stage to the action stage, with hope to reach all the way to the activity stage. / Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur några utvalda etablerade coachingmodeller fungerar i praktiken, samt hur respondenterna upplevde situationen att ha haft kontakt med en coach. Tre respondenter deltog i studien, varav två män och en kvinna.   Första delen av syftet var att undersöka hur några utvalda etablerade coachingmodeller fungerar i praktiken, vilket var inspirerat av aktionsforskning. Coachingprocessen tog sin grund i Høigaard och Jørgensens (2002) fyrastegsmodell, medan den transteoretiska modellen användes som ett komplement för att beskriva och analysera respondenternas förändringsbenägenhet. Båda dessa modeller betonar vikten av att använda sig av en god målsättningsstrategi och SMART- modellen (Faskunger, 2002) användes för att tillgodose detta. Datainsamlingen skedde på kvalitativa grunder då anteckningar av coachingsamtalen togs för att notera respondenternas förändringsbenägenhet. Detta kunde exempelvis vara något som respondenterna sagt eller något som respondenterna gjort för att förflytta sig mellan de olika stadierna enligt den transteoretiska modellen. Den andra delen av syftet var att ta reda på hur respondenterna upplevt situationen av att ha haft kontakt med en coach. Även denna del genomfördes på kvalitativa grunder där en intervju tillgodosåg syftet.   Resultatet visar att coachingprocessen tycks ha haft en inverkan på respondenternas motivation till att förändra sitt beteende. Detta antas bero på de tekniker och metoder som har använts, exempelvis målsättningsstrategier, självbestämmande samt en upplevd trygghet från coachen. Till en början visade det sig att respondenternas motivation till förändring tycktes bestå av yttre karaktär. Allt efter processens gång förändrades motivationsfaktorn och respondenterna verkar ha skaffat sig en motivation av mer inre karaktär. Detta eftersom respondenterna efter en tid beskrev att de förändrade sitt beteende för sin egen skull. Enligt den transteoretiska modellen avancerade respondenterna från förberedelsestadiet till handlingsstadiet, med en förhoppning om att nå hela vägen fram till aktivitetsstadiet.

Ces travaux, menés en région PACA, visent à comprendre comment amener les individus à se protéger du risque sismique. Dans ce cadre, nous avons exploré les effets comportementaux de la substitution de soi à autrui, puis observé les comportements effectifs de protection lors d’une étude de terrain. En interprétant la consigne de substitution en termes de comparaison sociale, le paradigme repose sur une distinction entre la contrôlabilité des effets d’un séisme et l’incontrôlabilité de son occurrence. Après avoir activé un élément central ou périphérique de la représentation sociale des séismes, il s’agit dans un premier temps d’inviter les individus à évaluer la probabilité des effets d’un séisme en consigne de substitution, et ensuite à évaluer la probabilité d’occurrence d’un séisme en consigne standard. Sous l’effet d’un biais d’optimisme comparatif, les individus déclarent systématiquement une probabilité des effets d’un séisme supérieure en consigne de substitution qu’en consigne standard. De même, selon un principe de consistance cognitive, ils déclarent une probabilité d’occurrence d’un séisme supérieure après avoir évalué la probabilité de ses effets selon une consigne de substitution. Les comportements de protection étaient ensuite mesurés à l’aide de la version française de l’échelle de préparation aux séismes. Les comportements de protection auto-déclarés sont significativement plus favorables suite à une réponse en consigne de substitution plutôt que standard. Toutefois, les effets du paradigme sur les comportements effectifs de protection sont plus mitigés. / The goal of this research, conducted in the PACA region, was to understand how to lead individuals to adopt earthquake protection behaviour. To this end, we explored the behavioural effects of self-other substitution, and observed actual protection behaviours in a field study. By interpreting self-other substitution in terms of social comparison, the paradigm relies on a distinction between the uncontrollability of an earthquake and the controllability of its consequences. After having activated a central or peripheral element of the social representation of earthquakes, participants are required to evaluate the probability of an earthquake’s effects in a substitutive context, and then the probability of an earthquake in a standard context. Comparative optimism leads participants to declare that the effects of an earthquake are more probable in a substitutive rather than standard context. Furthermore, a cognitive consistency principle seems to lead participants to declare that an earthquake is more likely after having evaluated the probability of its effects in a substitutive rather than standard context. Protection behaviours were measured using the French version of the Earthquake Readiness Scale. Self-declared protection behaviours were more favourable after a substitutive rather than standard answer. However, the effects on actual behaviours are mixed.

One of the challenges fairly common in motivational interviewing is patient resistance to health behavior change. Hence, automated dialog systems aimed at counseling patients need to be capable of detecting resistance and appropriately altering dialog. This thesis focusses primarily on the development of such a system for automatic identification of patient resistance to behavioral change. This enables the dialogue system to direct the discourse towards a more agreeable ground and helping the patient overcome the obstacles in his or her way to change. This thesis also proposes a dialogue system framework for health behavior change via natural language analysis and generation. The proposed framework facilitates automated motivational interviewing from clinical psychology and involves three broad stages: rapport building and health topic identification, assessment of the patient’s opinion about making a change, and developing a plan. Using this framework patients can be encouraged to reflect on the options available and choose the best for a healthier life.

The purpose of this study was to find out how fitness applications should be designed to help Quantified-selfers to change a behavior. This was investigated by interviewing users of the fitness-tracking application Runkeeper, and focused on users experiences, how they use it and in what way their behavior has changed. The study showed that the application had overall improved the users training behavior, but it differed in the way in which it had succeeded. The app was seen as a positive resource that allowed the users to follow and compare their results, which led to that they progressed in their training. What features the users used, which they did not use and which they wanted was individually and depended on the users desired outcome of their training. Finally, it is suggested how future wearable tech regarding fitness can be designed to help Quantified-selfers further to change a behavior. / Syftet med denna studie var att ta reda på hur träningsapplikationer bör utformas för att hjälpa Quantified-selfers att förändra ett beteende. Detta undersöktes genom att intervjua användare av applikationen Runkeeper, där fokus låg på användarnas erfarenheter av appen, hur användningen sker och på vilket sätt deras beteende har förändrats. Det utfördes även en innehållsanalys på vad användarna själva såg för förbättringspotential i appen, genom att de gav förslag på nya funktioner. Studien visade att applikationen överlag hade förbättrat användarnas träningsbeteende, men att det skiljde sig åt på vilket sätt den hade lyckats med detta. Appen sågs som ett positivt hjälpmedel som gjorde att användarna kunde följa och jämföra sina resultat, vilket ledde till att de utvecklades i sin träning. Vilka funktioner användarna använde, vilka de inte använde och vilka de ville ha var individuellt och berodde på vad användaren ville ha ut av sin träning. Slutligen föreslås hur framtida aktivitetsmätare för Quantified-selfers kan utformas för att hjälpa användaren ytterligare mot en beteendeförändring.

These master's thesis "Use of mobile technologies for personal goals achievement" deals with a comprehensive, multifaceted view of mobile applications designed to support physical acti- vity in the general population. The four main chapters are devoted to physical activity in relation to mental health, a detailed introduction to the Transtheoretical model of behavior change, the development of digital technologies and the issue of implementing theoretical concepts in mo- bile applications. The empirical part presents qualitative research, which deals with the intentions of the authors of selected mobile applications and analysis of the presence of psychological concepts of beha- vior change in these applications. The research goal was only partially achieved because it was not possible to get answers to the submitted questions from the addressed respondents. The analysis of mobile applications themselves using behavior change techniques shows the appli- cation of some processes of change. Keywords Behavior change, motivation, processes of change, mobile applications, digital technologies.

<p><b><u>Introduction</u></b>: Mobile health applications (mHealth apps) have the potential to assist patients in adhering to their physician’s advice in chronic disease management through the use of persuasive nudge. However, systematically developing the persuasive features of a mHealth app for the major user demographic of older adults is challenging. The current usability engineering framework could ensure the user-friendliness of the app but not the persuasiveness. It is necessary to extend the current framework with appropriate measures to better understand the effectiveness of persuasive design elements in an iterative design process.</p><p> </p><p><b><u>Methods:</u></b> A pilot design project was run, a persuasive mHealth app for dietary management was developed using the user-centered design approach (persona, use scenario, task analysis, and cognitive walkthrough), the pilot testing result showed high potential of technology acceptance of older adults. To further evaluate persuasiveness, a food choice experimental protocol and human decision performance metrics based on Signal Detection Theory (SDT) were proposed. A mixed-methods, full factorial user testing study was conducted with twenty older adults aged over 60 and twenty students age 18-35. Critical persuasive User Interface (UI) design variables included decision paradigm (digital nudge), nutrition information format (information nudge), and the system default pre-selection (default nudge). The proposed SDT metrics to evaluate persuasiveness were then compared with confusion matrix metrics which are frequently used to validate system decision-making performance. The relationship between the human performance, subjective workload, and perceived usability of the proposed mHealth app was also investigated.</p><p> </p><p><b><u>Results:</u></b> The ‘Two Alternative Forced Choice’ layout significantly increased the d-prime and accuracy (persuasiveness), the system default pre-selection decreased persuasiveness. The interpretative FSA Nutri-scores label reduced time of response and workload, and increased perceived ease of use, perceived ease of learning, and satisfaction. Among older adults, results differed by age, computer proficiency, and health literacy.</p><p><b><u> </u></b></p><b><u>Conclusion:</u></b> The findings of this study imply the proposed framework is a valid persuasive design research approach. And digital nudge is an effective persuasive design for mHealth app, while default nudge may give rise to negative effects. A generalized human-centered digital nudge design framework along with ageing-centered guidelines were suggested for the similar research and design projects for persuasive technology performed in the future.

The population of older adults with chronic disease is increasing, yet little is known about their perception of chronic disease and self-management. To develop successful and sustainable chronic disease self-management interventions in the older adult population, health care providers must first understand older adults’ attitudes toward health status and behavior change. This pilot study was conducted to determine the feasibility of the study design. The purpose of this pilot study was to assess the appropriateness of using a mixed-methods research design to investigate Appalachian older adult’s attitude toward the chronic disease experience and health behavior change. A convergent, parallel mixed-method design included a quantitative questionnaire and qualitative focus groups in churches in northeast Tennessee. The aim of the study was met, and the methodology of the study was found to be feasible for larger studies. Divergence of data was found when evaluating qualitative and quantitative data. The study instrument was found to be reliable for future use. The implications of the results suggest that the study design is appropriate for the purpose of the study.

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Workplace wellness programs (WWP) were developed to support employees’ health behaviors and well-being. Although physical activity is incorporated into the definition of wellness and is a modifiable behavior that can both reduce the risk for chronic disease and lifestyle-related diseases and enhance health and well-being, performance of physical activity is often overlooked within WWP and the workplace in general. Rather than investigating organizational aspects of the WWP, this grounded theory-based study explored employees’ perceptions concerning how their organization facilitated their participation in physical activity within WWP. To provide a theoretical framework, Self-Determination Theory (SDT) from Ryan and Deci (2000) offered the lens to understand the employees’ motivation to participate in physical activity and Social Ecological Model (SEM) by Bronfenbrenner (1977) described the multiple levels of interaction between the employee and their organizational environment. The employees’ perceptions elucidated their decision-making process. The emergent themes were time management, advantageousness, need for movement, supervisor ambivalence, social / “gregarious” connection, messages from leadership, limited awareness, culture of health, and incentives and reimbursements. Three levels (individual, relational, and organizational) and three facets (barriers, bolsters, and facilitators) illustrated the relationships among these themes. These themes, levels, and facets are exemplified in the grounded theory model. Consequently, six implications for practice were illuminated for organizations to employ for encouraging their employees to join and actively participate in physical activity in the WWP and in the workplace in general, providing better health outcomes for employees and improving the organizations’ bottom line. / Kinesiology

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