Alexis R. Dewar

Developing a measure of engagement with telehealth systems: The mHealth Technology Engagement Index.

Introduction Telehealth systems and mobile health (mHealth) devices allow for the exchange of both physical and mental healthcare data, as well as information from a patient to a practitioner, or care recipient to caregiver; but there has been little research on why users are motivated to engage with telehealth systems. Given this, we sought to create a measure that satisfactorily assesses human motivation to use telehealth devices. Methods 532 survey responses were used in an exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis, which tested and retested the feasibility of this new measure. Convergent and divergent validity analyses indicated that the mHealth Technology Engagement Index (mTEI) is a unique measure of motivation. Results The results indicated that autonomy, competence, relatedness, goal attainment, and goal setting underpin motivation to use telehealth systems. Discussion The mTEI shows promise in indexing human motivation to use telehealth technologies. We also discuss the importance of developing measurement tools based on theory and how practitioners can best utilize the mTEI.

Individual Differences in Video Gaming: Defining Hardcore Video Gamers

The purpose of this study is two-fold: 1) replicate the results of Phan, Jardina, Hoyle, and Chaparro (2012), and 2) extend their work on video gamers by understanding how female and male hardcore gamers differ from those who play casually, as well as examine the differences between hardcore gamers. Two hundred and twenty-five undergraduate students completed an online survey related to gaming behaviors, technology usage, and demographics. The outcomes of our study aligned with a majority of the findings of Phan and colleagues (2012). However, we extend these results by explaining the differences between females and males who play often (e.g., hardcore) and those who play occasionally (e.g., casually). The results indicated that men were more likely to be hardcore gamers than women. Hardcore female and hardcore male gamers did not significantly differ on most of the outcome measures. The implications of these results will be discussed at greater length.

Using Self-Determination Theory to Examine Differences in Motvation and Engagement in Video Gamers

The purpose of this study is to extend the work on video gamers by better understanding some of the motivational underpinnings of video gameplay. To do this, we have incorporated nontraditional measures of autonomy, competence, and relatedness, into a study of hardcore and casual video gamer behavior. Additionally, we incorporated an exploratory variable, meaningfulness, which could theoretically be involved in video game engagement. Two hundred and forty-eight undergraduate students at a large university completed an inventory of video game usage and behavior, as well as several surveys related to motivation. Overall, while there were significant correlations between these measures of motivation, hardcore and casual gamers did not differ in terms of motivation to play. Interestingly, there was a significant difference between female and male gamers in terms of their need for autonomy, but not on any other measures. The results of this research will be discussed in greater detail.

Effects of Social Facilitation on Perceived Workload, Subjective Stress, and Vigilance-Related Anxiety

Vigilance, or sustained attention, refers to the capability of an individual to maintain attention to a stimulus over extended periods of time. Typically, vigilance tasks are associated with high levels of workload and stress, which manifests as less task engagement, and greater distress. Several factors have been shown to affect vigilance and its associated workload and stress (i.e. signal saliency, task difficulty, etc.). However, one factor that has been neglected in previous research on workload, stress, and anxiety is the presence of someone in a supervisory role during the task. Therefore, the purpose of the present investigation was to determine how the presence of a supervisory figure influenced perceived workload, stress, and anxiety that is associated with vigilance tasks. It was hypothesized that the presence of a supervisory figure would decrease workload and distress, and would increase the levels of anxiety, when compared to a non-supervisor.

Performance in Vigilance Tasks is Related to Both State and Contextual Motivation

Vigilance, or sustained attention, is the ability to maintain attention to stimuli over a prolonged period of time. Synonymous with the study of sustained attention is the vigilance decrement, which is a decline in performance as a function of time on task. In the present study, we examined the effects of state motivation (i.e., motivation measured immediately prior to the task) and context-based motivation (i.e., motivation that stems from task instructions) on vigilance performance in a sensory-based vigilance task. Forty-three participants completed a 24-minute vigilance task, as well as measures of stress and workload. The results indicated that those higher in state intrinsic motivation and motivating instructions outperformed their peers in terms of hits and false alarms. We conclude that motivation may help facilitate vigilant attention.

Examining Measures of Mental Workload Across Cognitive- and Sensory-Based Vigilance Tasks

Vigilance refers to the ability of an observer to detect signals over a prolonged period of time. An important component of vigilance is the performance decrement, in which a decline in the correct detection of critical signals occurs as a function of time on task (e.g., Becker, Warm, Dember, & Howe, 1994). Typically, this decline in performance is accompanied by high perceived workload and stress (Warm, Parasuraman, & Matthews, 2008). One problem with traditional measures of mental workload, however, is these measures do not always converge on a single factor of workload. Instead, analyses indicate that workload is most likely multi-faceted (Matthews, Reinerman-Jones, Wohleber, Lin, Mercado, & Abich, 2015). The present research sought to compare two measures of mental workload, the NASA-TLX and Multiple Resource Questionnaire (MRQ), in terms of their respective abilities to measure mental workload in two different types of vigilance tasks (cognitive and sensory). We examined the factor analytic structure of both measures, as well as the intercorrelations of each measure’s scales. We also examined how the validity and reliability of each measure changed based on task type. Exploratory factor analyses (EFA) revealed the factor analytic structure of each mental workload measure to vary depending on task type. The scales of the NASA-TLX combined into one factor for the cognitive task, while the sensory task saw these same scales split between task-related and operator-related sources of workload. EFA for the MRQ scales revealed an emphasis on spatial resources in the sensory condition, whereas the cognitive condition evoked several factors involving the senses (auditory, location, visual). Reliability scores, measured using Cronbach’s α, were high for the MRQ for the cognitive and sensory tasks (α = .840 and α = .866, respectively). Reliability for the NASA-TLX, though, differed markedly for the two tasks, with α = .790 in the cognitive task but α = .439 in the sensory task. Finally, intercorrelations between the two measures showed the cognitive task to bring about both higher intercorrelations within each scale, as well as higher correlations between the scales, than the sensory task. Taken together, our results indicate that the NASA-TLX and MRQ are measuring different constructs depending on the task. Our work extends the results of Matthews et al. (2015) by showing that task parameters should be considered when choosing how to evaluate mental workload. It appears that some measures are reliable only in specific contexts.

Testing the Reliability of a Measure of Motivation to Engage With Telehealth Technology

Telehealth systems and devices allow for the exchange of important healthcare data between users and practitioners (Malvey & Slovensky, 2014). To date, there has been little research on the motivation underlying engagement and adoption of telehealth systems. Given this, the present study tested a new measure, the mHealth Technology Engagement Index (mTEI), across two student samples (N = 191). Participants interacted with two types of telehealth devices or two types of telehealth interfaces, then reported their motivation to engage with these devices or interfaces. The purpose of this research was to establish the reliability of the mTEI and validate its usefulness across differing devices and interfaces. We also discuss the importance of developing a measure based on strong theoretical support.

Motivation is Important in Game-Based Memory Recall

Motivation has been found to direct our attention across a number of studies. In the literature, this phenomenon is referred to as motivated cognition. The present study seeks to extend the work on motivated cognition to an applied setting: video gaming. We measured memory recall performance on a 20-minute game-based attention task. Forty-nine (27 females; 22 males) undergraduate students viewed a sequence of four game-based videos that required them to monitor the video for a number of enemy threats and non-threats, as well as contextual information. The results indicated that those higher in intrinsic motivation were more likely to correctly detect and subsequently recall threat, non-threat, and contextual information. Gamers significantly outperformed non-gamers in this task across all performance measures. We concluded that motivated cognition is indeed influenced by individual differences such as motivation and interest in the activity.

Individual Differences and Phablet Purchase Intent A Preliminary Study

A phablet, by definition, is the hybrid of both a cellular phone and tablet with a screen size measured diagonally between 5.3-6.9 inches. While phablets have existed since 2010, they have not been sold in millions of units until fairly recently. Given the limited amount of research on phablets, as these devices are still very new, the present study aims to better understand the perception of phablets in a college student population, as well as explore the perceived system usability. In this study 122 undergraduate students completed a measure of technology usage, measures of personality, trust, and usability, all of which have been implicated in previous studies on purchase intent. The results indicated a significant difference between high and low trust scores for purchase intent. Additionally, a thematic analysis was performed and specific trends on purchase intent emerged. We discuss the implications of this research for phablet developers and designers.

Learning Through Loss: Implementing Lossography Narratives in Death Education

Students may have a greater willingness to discuss issues of death and loss through written assignments; however, there is little guidance for instructors regarding how to manage these sensitive assignments, nor how students benefit from them. The authors implemented and evaluated a “lossography” assignment in an undergraduate thanatology course in which students wrote about their losses and anonymously shared these narratives with their classmates. Although many themes of loss emerged, the most frequently reported significant loss was death of a grandparent. Additionally, most significant losses occurred in childhood/adolescence. Prominent themes related to student learning included gaining self-awareness, knowledge about grief responses, and compassion for others. Students (N = 64) also completed a survey reflecting on their course learning. Of all aspects of course delivery, 44% identified the lossography as the most beneficial, whereas 97% recommended this assignment for future students. The implications of the assignment for death education are also discussed.