Facilitation of goal-setting and follow-up in an internet intervention for health and wellness
Chronic work-related stress and insufficient recovery from workload can gradually lead to problems with mental and physical health. Resources in healthcare are limited especially for preventive treatment, but low-cost support can be provided by Internet-based behavior change interventions. This paper describes the design of an Internet intervention which supports working-age people in managing and preventing stress-related health and wellness problems. The intervention is designed for early prevention and aims to motivate individuals to take responsibility for their own well-being. It allows them to choose the approach to take to address personally significant issues, while guiding them thr…
The effectiveness and applicability of different lifestyle interventions for enhancing wellbeing : the study design for a randomized controlled trial for persons with metabolic syndrome risk factors and psychological distress
Background: Obesity and stress are among the most common lifestyle-related health problems. Most of the current disease prevention and management models are not satisfactorily cost-effective and hardly reach those who need them the most. Therefore, novel evidence-based controlled interventions are necessary to evaluate models for prevention and treatment based on self-management. This randomized controlled trial examines the effectiveness, applicability, and acceptability of different lifestyle interventions with individuals having symptoms of metabolic syndrome and psychological distress. The offered interventions are based on cognitive behavioral approaches, and are designed for enhancing…
Feasibility of a personal health technology-based psychological intervention for men with stress and mood problems: Randomized controlled pilot trial
BackgroundWork-related stress is a significant problem for both people and organizations. It may lead to mental illnesses such as anxiety and depression, resulting in increased work absences and disabilities. Scalable interventions to prevent and manage harmful stress can be delivered with the help of technology tools to support self-observations and skills training. ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of the P4Well intervention in treatment of stress-related psychological problems. P4Well is a novel intervention which combines modern psychotherapy (the cognitive behavioral therapy and the acceptance and commitment therapy) with personal health technologies to deliv…
Empowering citizens for well-being and chronic disease management with wellness diary.
Chronic conditions closely related to lifestyles are the major cause of disability and death in the developed world. Behavior change is the key to managing well-being and preventing and managing chronic diseases. Wellness diary (WD) is a mobile application designed to support citizens in learning about their behavior, and both making and maintaining behavior changes. WD has been found acceptable, useful, and suitable for long-term use as a part of an intervention. When used independently, however, it does not seem to have enough engaging and motivating features to support adoption and long-term commitment. The main improvement needs identified based on a review of WD-related studies were: p…
A concept to empower self-management of psychophysiological wellbeing: preliminary user study experiences.
In prevention of chronic diseases, health promotion and early interventions based on self-management should be emphasized. Mental health problems and stress cause a significant portion of healthcare costs, and also complicate the management of other chronic conditions. In addition to physical health, psychophysiological and social wellbeing should be equally promoted. Thus, we have previously designed and reported the P4Well or Pervasive Personal and PsychoPhysiological management of WELLness concept for working-age citizens. The concept supports the stress and recovery management on a daily basis through improved health management strategies, and combines psychological methods with persona…
Personal health promotion through personalized health technologies — Nuadu experience
Poor lifestyles — overweight, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, sleep deprivation, and stress — are significant risk factors to chronic illnesses, which cause majority of the health care costs. Hence, behavioral change towards healthy lifestyles is one of the keys to health care cost containment. Personal health systems (PHS) offer tools to support behavioral change. As health risks, personal needs and preferences vary from an individual to another, personalization of the PHS is needed. In Nuadu project we have developed a PHS integrating several different personal health technologies. This system was studied in a large (N=354) randomized controlled trial where employees with several hea…
User experiences of a mobile mental well-being intervention among pregnant women
Postnatal depression affects 10 to 15 percent of women after childbirth. Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is associated with better mental well-being and lower levels of depression. Digital ACT solutions enable providing potentially cost-effective access to interventions. This paper reports the user experiences of an ACT-based mobile mental well-being intervention among pregnant women. Twenty-nine mothers were recruited to a 6-month study. Usage rates were collected via usage logs and user experiences via questionnaires and interviews. The total usage time of the application was about 53 min per user. The application was perceived easy to use. The most common barriers of use were: co…
A concept for personal wellness management based on activity monitoring
Lifestyle related health problems are increasing rapidly. Many of them could be prevented or alleviated by sufficient physical activity, enough sleep, and a balanced diet. Individual citizens have the main responsibility for their own health and wellness management in their daily lives. Motivational tools based on modern technologies can support people in this task. Vivago Personal Wellness Manager (PWM) is a concept for personal wellness management, based on continuous activity monitoring with a wrist-worn device combined with immediate feedback on daily activity, e.g., sleep and physical activity. The concept allows long-term monitoring of activity patterns and includes PC software for de…
Molecular mechanism of T-cell protein tyrosine phosphatase (TCPTP) activation by mitoxantrone.
T-cell protein tyrosine phosphatase (TCPTP) is a ubiquitously expressed non-receptor protein tyrosine phosphatase. It is involved in the negative regulation of many cellular signaling pathways. Thus, activation of TCPTP could have important therapeutic applications in diseases such as cancer and inflammation. We have previously shown that the α-cytoplasmic tail of integrin α1β1 directly binds and activates TCPTP. In addition, we have identified in a large-scale high-throughput screen six small molecules that activate TCPTP. These small molecule activators include mitoxantrone and spermidine. In this study, we have investigated the molecular mechanism behind agonist-induced TCPTP activation.…
Psychological flexibility mediates change in intuitive eating regulation in acceptance and commitment therapy interventions
AbstractObjectiveDespite the promising results related to intuitive eating, few studies have attempted to explain the processes encouraging this adaptive eating behaviour. The focus of the present study was on exploring mechanisms of change in intuitive eating and weight in acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) interventions. Mediation provides important information regarding the treatment processes and theoretical models related to specific treatment approaches. The study investigates whether psychological flexibility, mindfulness skills and sense of coherence mediated the interventions’ effect on intuitive eating and weight.DesignSecondary analysis of a randomized control trial. Mediati…
Mobile diary for wellness management--results on usage and usability in two user studies.
The prevalence of lifestyle-related health problems is increasing rapidly. Many of the diseases and health risks could be prevented or alleviated by making changes toward healthier lifestyles. We have developed the Wellness Diary (WD), a concept for personal and mobile wellness management based on Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Two implementations of the concept were made for the Symbian Series 60 (S60) mobile phone platform, and their usability, usage, and acceptance were studied in two 3-month user studies. Study I was related to weight management and study II to general wellness management. In both the studies, the concept and its implementations were well accepted and considered as…
A Concept for ICT Assisted Health Promotion in the Occupational Healthcare
Lifestyle related health risks, such as overweight, work stress, and physical inactivity, have become pervasive in most modern societies. These risk factors have a debilitating impact on the well being of citizens and play a major role in the onset of many chronic diseases. As a result, working life is affected due to impaired work ability, decreased productivity, absenteeism, and disability pensions. Lifestyle changes are the key to managing these problems, but they are often difficult to accomplish and maintain. We present a concept for ICT (Information and Communication Technology) assisted health promotion in the occupational healthcare. ICT tools are provided for employees participatin…
Nuadu Concept for personal management of lifestyle related health risks
Majority of the health risks and diseases in the modern world are related to lifestyles, e.g., overweight, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, sleep deprivation, and stress. Behavioral change towards healthy lifestyles is the key to the prevention and management of these risks, but early and efficient interventions are scarcely available. We present the Nuadu Concept, an ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) assisted wellness toolbox for the management of multiple, behavior-originated health risks. The concept is based on psychological models, which provide methods and motivation for behavior change. The individual is considered as the best expert of his/her own wellness. Thus, …
Use of a mobile phone diary for observing weight management and related behaviours
We studied self-observations related to weight management recorded with a Wellness Diary application on a mobile phone. The data were recorded by 27 participants in a 12-week study, which included a short weight management lecture followed by independent usage of the Wellness Diary. We studied the validity of self-observed weight, and behavioural changes and weight patterns related to weight management success. Self-observed weight data tended to underestimate pre- and poststudy measurements, but there were high correlations between the measures (r ≥ 0.80). The amount of physical activity correlated significantly with weight loss (r = 0.44) as did different measures representing healthy ch…
Mobile Mental Wellness Training for Stress Management: Feasibility and Design Implications Based on a One-Month Field Study
Background: Prevention and management of work-related stress and related mental problems is a great challenge. Mobile applications are a promising way to integrate prevention strategies into the everyday lives of citizens. Objective: The objectives of this study was to study the usage, acceptance, and usefulness of a mobile mental wellness training application among working-age individuals, and to derive preliminary design implications for mobile apps for stress management. Methods: Oiva, a mobile app based on acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), was designed to support active learning of skills related to mental wellness through brief ACT-based exercises in the daily life. A one-month …
Usage and Dose Response of a Mobile Acceptance and Commitment Therapy App: Secondary Analysis of the Intervention Arm of a Randomized Controlled Trial
Background: Mobile phone apps offer a promising medium to deliver psychological interventions. A mobile app based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) was developed and studied in a randomized controlled trial (RCT). Objective: To study usage metrics of a mobile ACT intervention and dose-response relationship between usage and improvement in psychological flexibility. Methods: An RCT was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of different lifestyle interventions for overweight people with psychological stress. This paper presents a secondary analysis of the group that received an 8-week mobile ACT intervention. Most of the analyzed 74 participants were female (n=64, 86%). Their me…
P4Well Concept to Empower Self-Management of Psychophysiological Wellbeing and Load Recovery
Chronic health problems related to mental wellbeing are rapidly growing, calling for novel solutions focusing on individual as a psychophysiological being. We describe a novel technology-based concept for empowering citizen towards holistic self-management of her wellbeing: “P4Well” (Pervasive Personal and PsychoPhysiological management of WELLness). The primary focus of the concept is on management of stress and recovery from stress caused by daily life through improved health management strategies. The P4Well concept combines modern psychological methods with personal health technologies. The technologies include a web-portal and web-based tools, mobile phone with mobile client applicatio…
Designing a Eustress Toolbox : From entrepreneur experiences to an online service
Stress is typically seen as a negative phenomenon. However, the positive side of stress (i.e., eustress) has the potential to improve well-being, productivity, and innovativeness, thus increasing individuals’ daily resources at work. Focusing on eustress could enhance work engagement by turning some of the negatively perceived stressors into positive challenges. We explored this possibility by interviewing 21 Finnish entrepreneurs from various fields regarding their experiences of eustress. Nine of the interviewed entrepreneurs also recorded a eustress diary. Based on thematic analysis of the interview data, six main themes supporting eustress were identified: (a) Selfreflection toward chan…