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Lopes SL, Ferreira AI, Prada R. The Use of Robots in the Workplace: Conclusions from a Health Promoting Intervention Using Social Robots. Int J Soc Robot 2023; 15:1-13. [PMID: 37359429 PMCID: PMC10123460 DOI: 10.1007/s12369-023-01000-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/30/2023] [Indexed: 06/28/2023]
Abstract
Workplace wellness programs constitute a preventive measure to help avoid healthcare costs for companies, with additional benefits for employee productivity and other organizational outcomes. Interventions using social robots may have some advantages over other conventional telemedicine applications, since they can deliver personalized feedback and counseling. This investigation focused on a health-promoting intervention within work environments, and compared the efficacy of the intervention on two distinct groups, one guided by a human agent and the other by a robot agent. Participants (n = 56) were recruited from two Portuguese organizations and led through eight sessions by the social agent, the goal being to encourage health behavior change and adoption of a healthier lifestyle. The results indicate that the group led by the robot agent revealed better post-intervention scores than the group led by the human agent, specifically with regard to productivity despite presenteeism and regard of their level of mental well-being. No effects were found concerning the work engagement level of participants in either group. By demonstrating the potential of using social robots to establish therapeutic and worth relationships with employees in their workplaces, this study provides interesting new findings that contribute to the literature on health behavior change and human-robot interaction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara L. Lopes
- Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (Iscte-IUL) & Business Research Unit (BRU-IUL), Iscte-IUL, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Aristides I. Ferreira
- Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (Iscte-IUL) & Business Research Unit (BRU-IUL), Iscte-IUL, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Rui Prada
- INESC-ID & Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
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Jiménez-Mérida MR, Vaquero-Abellán M, Alcaide-Leyva JM, Cantón-Habas V, Raya-Cano E, Romero-Saldaña M. Effectiveness of Multicomponent Interventions and Physical Activity in the Workplace to Reduce Obesity: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Healthcare (Basel) 2023; 11:healthcare11081160. [PMID: 37107994 PMCID: PMC10137796 DOI: 10.3390/healthcare11081160] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2023] [Revised: 04/13/2023] [Accepted: 04/16/2023] [Indexed: 04/29/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Overweight and obesity are public health problems that affects the workplace. This paper aims to analyse the effectiveness of workplace health promotion interventions in reducing Body Mass Index (BMI); Methods: Following PRISMA guidelines, a systematic review was conducted using PubMed, MEDLINE, and SCOPUS databases. The inverse variance statistical method was used for the meta-analysis with a random effects analysis model and standardised means. The results have been represented by Forest Plots and Funnel Plots graphs; Results: The multicomponent approach had the best results for reducing BMI (-0.14 [-0.24, -0.03], 95% CI; p = 0.009) compared to performing physical activity only (-0.09 [-0.39, 0.21], 95% CI; p = 0.56). However, both methods resulted in positive changes in reducing BMI in the general analysis (-0.12 [-0.22, -0.02], 95% CI; p = 0.01). The GRADE evaluation showed low certainty due to the high heterogeneity between interventions (I2 = 59% for overall analysis). CONCLUSIONS The multicomponent approach could be an effective intervention to reduce obesity in the working population. However, workplace health promotion programs must be standardised to conduct quality analyses and highlight their importance to workers' well-being.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Rocío Jiménez-Mérida
- Departamento de Enfermería, Farmacología y Fisioterapia, Facultad de Medicina y Enfermería, Universidad de Córdoba, 14014 Córdoba, Spain
| | - Manuel Vaquero-Abellán
- Departamento de Enfermería, Farmacología y Fisioterapia, Facultad de Medicina y Enfermería, Universidad de Córdoba, 14014 Córdoba, Spain
| | - José M Alcaide-Leyva
- Departamento de Enfermería, Farmacología y Fisioterapia, Facultad de Medicina y Enfermería, Universidad de Córdoba, 14014 Córdoba, Spain
| | - Vanesa Cantón-Habas
- Departamento de Enfermería, Farmacología y Fisioterapia, Facultad de Medicina y Enfermería, Universidad de Córdoba, 14014 Córdoba, Spain
| | - Elena Raya-Cano
- Departamento de Enfermería, Farmacología y Fisioterapia, Facultad de Medicina y Enfermería, Universidad de Córdoba, 14014 Córdoba, Spain
| | - Manuel Romero-Saldaña
- Grupo Asociado de Investigación GA16 Estilos de Vida, Tecnología y Salud, Instituto Maimónides de Investigación Biomédica de Córdoba (IMIBIC), Departamento de Enfermería, Farmacología y Fisioterapia, Facultad de Medicina y Enfermería, Universidad de Córdoba, 14014 Córdoba, Spain
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Konsolakis K, Banos O, Cabrita M, Hermens H. COVID-BEHAVE dataset: measuring human behaviour during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sci Data 2022; 9:754. [PMID: 36473876 PMCID: PMC9726931 DOI: 10.1038/s41597-022-01856-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2022] [Accepted: 11/21/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Aiming to illuminate the effects of enforced confinements on people's lives, this paper presents a novel dataset that measures human behaviour holistically and longitudinally during the COVID-19 outbreak. In particular, we conducted a study during the first wave of the lockdown, where 21 healthy subjects from the Netherlands and Greece participated, collecting multimodal raw and processed data from smartphone sensors, activity trackers, and users' responses to digital questionnaires. The study lasted more than two months, although the duration of the data collection varies per participant. The data are publicly available and can be used to model human behaviour in a broad sense as the dataset explores physical, social, emotional, and cognitive domains. The dataset offers an exemplary perspective on a given group of people that could be considered to build new models for investigating behaviour changes as a consequence of the lockdown. Importantly, to our knowledge, this is the first dataset combining passive sensing, experience sampling, and virtual assistants to study human behaviour dynamics in a prolonged lockdown situation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kostas Konsolakis
- grid.6214.10000 0004 0399 8953Biomedical Signals and Systems Research Group, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Twente, Enschede, 7522NB The Netherlands
| | - Oresti Banos
- grid.4489.10000000121678994Research Center for Information and Communication Technologies, University of Granada, Granada, E-18071 Spain
| | - Miriam Cabrita
- Innovation Sprint, Drienerlolaan 5, Enschede, 7522NB The Netherlands
| | - Hermie Hermens
- grid.6214.10000 0004 0399 8953Biomedical Signals and Systems Research Group, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Twente, Enschede, 7522NB The Netherlands
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Virtual Coaches. BUSINESS & INFORMATION SYSTEMS ENGINEERING 2022. [PMCID: PMC9278312 DOI: 10.1007/s12599-022-00757-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
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Bai Y, Burns R, Gell N, Byun W. A randomized trial to promote physical activity in adult pre-hypertensive and hypertensive patients. J Sports Sci 2022; 40:1648-1657. [PMID: 35830497 DOI: 10.1080/02640414.2022.2099179] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
Abstract
The purpose of the pilot study was to determine the effectiveness of wearable activity trackers alone or in combination with behaviour change strategies for promoting physical activity (PA) among individuals with pre-hypertension or hypertension. A sample of 44 adults (68% female and mean age 55) were randomized to receive either a Fitbit Charge HR 3 alone (FB) or the Fitbit in combination with behaviour change strategies (i.e., goal setting, behaviour goal review, adaptive feedback) delivered by a trained health coach (FB+) for 12 weeks. Moderate and vigorous PA (MVPA), steps, and sedentary time (ST) were assessed using ActiGraph wGT3X-BT. The FB+ group significantly increased PA [+1854 (2518) steps/day, p < .01] and MVPA [+26 (34) mins/day, p < .05], and decreased their ST [-63 (73) mins/day, p < .01]. The FB group significantly increased MVPA [+11 (16) mins/day, p < .05], and decreased their ST [-87 (117) mins/day, p < .01]. Participants in FB+ had a significantly greater increase in MVPA/day compared to FB only with a between-group effect size of 0.6 (p < .05). Using Fitbit for self-monitoring is effective in increasing PA and reducing ST among pre-hypertensive and hypertensive participants. Additional behaviour change support amplified the intervention effectiveness for promoting MVPA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yang Bai
- Department of Health and Kinesiology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.,Department of Rehabilitation and Movement Science, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, USA
| | - Ryan Burns
- Department of Health and Kinesiology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
| | - Nancy Gell
- Department of Rehabilitation and Movement Science, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, USA
| | - Wonwoo Byun
- Department of Health and Kinesiology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
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Beinema T, op den Akker H, Hurmuz M, Jansen-Kosterink S, Hermens H. Automatic topic selection for long-term interaction with embodied conversational agents in health coaching: A micro-randomized trial. Internet Interv 2022; 27:100502. [PMID: 35198412 PMCID: PMC8842031 DOI: 10.1016/j.invent.2022.100502] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2021] [Revised: 01/27/2022] [Accepted: 02/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/03/2022] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Embodied Conversational Agents (ECAs) can be included in health coaching applications as virtual coaches. The engagement with these virtual coaches could be improved by presenting users with tailored coaching dialogues. In this article, we investigate if the suggestion of an automatically tailored topic by an ECA leads to higher engagement by the user and thus longer sessions of interaction. METHODS A Micro-Randomized Trial (MRT) was conducted in which two types of interaction with an ECA were compared: (a) the coach suggests a relevant topic to discuss, and (b) the coach asks the user to select a topic from a set of options. Every time the user would interact with the ECA, one of those conditions would be randomly selected. Participants interacted in their daily life with the ECA that was part of a multi-agent health coaching application for 4-8 weeks. RESULTS In two rounds, 82 participants interacted with the micro-randomized coach a total of 1011 times. Interactions in which the coach took the initiative were found to be of equal length as interactions in which the user was allowed to choose the topic, and the acceptance of topic suggestions was high (71.1% overall, 75.8% for coaching topics). CONCLUSION Tailoring coaching conversations with ECAs by letting the coach automatically suggest a topic that is tailored to the user is perceived as a natural variation in the flow of interaction. Future research could focus on improving the novel coaching engine component that supports the topic selection process for these suggestions or on investigating how the amount of initiative and coaching approach by the ECA could be tailored.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tessa Beinema
- eHealth Group, Roessingh Research and Development, Enschede, the Netherlands,Biomedical Signals and Systems Group, University of Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands,Corresponding author at: Biomedical Signals and Systems Group, University of Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands.
| | - Harm op den Akker
- eHealth Group, Roessingh Research and Development, Enschede, the Netherlands,Biomedical Signals and Systems Group, University of Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands,Innovation Sprint, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Marian Hurmuz
- eHealth Group, Roessingh Research and Development, Enschede, the Netherlands,Biomedical Signals and Systems Group, University of Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands
| | - Stephanie Jansen-Kosterink
- eHealth Group, Roessingh Research and Development, Enschede, the Netherlands,Biomedical Signals and Systems Group, University of Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands
| | - Hermie Hermens
- eHealth Group, Roessingh Research and Development, Enschede, the Netherlands,Biomedical Signals and Systems Group, University of Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands
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