Ching Chiuan Yen

A study on Singaporean women's acceptance of using mobile phones to seek health information.

OBJECTIVE This paper is an exploratory study that investigates Singaporean womens acceptance of using mobile phones to seek health information. METHOD A mobile web containing health topics was developed to track Singaporean womens actual use of their mobile phones to seek health information. A survey questionnaire measured variables hypothesized to predict Behavioural Intention. The survey responses were then matched to the data collected on actual use. Correlation analysis and hierarchical regression were used to analyze the data collected. RESULTS Findings revealed that Perceived Usefulness and Self-efficacy positively predicted the intention to use mobile phones to seek health information. The study also confirmed the presence of an intention-behaviour gap among participants. The conversion of intention to actual behaviour hinges on technical concerns and design factors. Prior experiences with health information seeking reinforced womens evaluations of the usefulness of the mobile web application and helped them to feel more self-efficacious about using their mobile phones to seek health information. Using mobile phones to seek health information was found to be complementary to online health information seeking and can be regarded as an alternative source to the internet for seeking health information. CONCLUSION This study contributes to the existing literature by applying the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) in the context of mobile health information seeking, for which there has been a lack of studies, and demonstrated that the inclusion of additional variables can enhance TAMs predictive power. The empirical presence of an intention-behaviour gap calls for future research to investigate the reasons behind the gap. Finally, the findings from this study can serve as input to promote womens use of mobile phones for better self-management of health.

Lights Out: An Interactive Tangible Game for Training of Post-Stroke Reaching

We present a work-in-progress design of an interactive game to support the training of upper limb reaching for elderly post-stroke survivors so as to improve their motivation and adherence toward rehabilitation exercises. Consisting of 64 tactile buttons and 64 Red, Green, Blue (RGB) Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs) that are equally distributed across a (8 x 8) grid structure of translucent acrylic cubes, the gameplay guides players to perform directional reaching motions for therapeutic effect through the selective or randomized controlled lighting of cubes across the physical board. This is immediately followed by pressing each of them to turn them off. Varied LED colors provide additional playful or cognitive challenges, e.g. using each hand for a specific color. The user interface of the game prototype was tested by four elderly stroke survivors with initial feedback indicating that it may be sufficiently intuitive to create engaging rehabilitation experiences for this user base.

Mobile phone-based health application for women: a Singapore study

The purpose of this paper is illustrate why and how a mobile-phone based application was proposed to explore how women react and their acceptance toward well-being management after interacting with the application. It was organized by considering the Female-focused Design Strategy (FDS) and designed to have three features: a description of health topics, a self-help diagnosis through step-by-step questions and quizzes about health topics to test general health knowledge. The paper reports the qualitative user feedback and discusses the recommendations and trends for future design and implementation for womens health.

Designing Two-player Competitive Games for the Rehabilitation of Upper-Limb Motor Function after Stroke

This paper outlines the design and preliminary user testing of a two-player competitive game system for the training of post-stroke upper limb motor functions. The system consists of two tangible gaming boards (with 64 RGB rotary encoders on each) that support the training of shoulder reaching functions and fine motor skills. Two games were developed and tested on ten stroke survivors. System usability and player motivation were measured by questionnaire. The preliminary results indicated the system is easy to use. Participants perceived a high level of enjoyment with the game. The challenges, design strategies and future directions are also discussed.

Factors associated with mobile health information seeking among Singaporean women

ABSTRACT This study examined effects of age and social psychological factors on women’s willingness to be mobile health information seekers. A national survey of 1,878 Singaporean women was conducted to obtain information on women’s mobile phone usage, experiences of health information seeking, and appraisals of using mobile phones to seek health information. Results showed that young, middle-aged, and older women exhibited distinct mobile phone usage behaviors, health information-seeking patterns, and assessments of mobile health information seeking. Factors that accounted for their mobile information-seeking intention also varied. Data reported in this study provide insights into mobile health interventions in the future.

Virtual Interactive Human Anatomy: Dissecting the Domain, Navigating the Politics, Creating the Impossible

Cadaveric dissection has been the gold standard in the teaching of anatomy in medical schools around the world. Cadaveric dissection allows a medical student to understand the spatial relationships of different parts in the body in ways that a typical 2D representation cannot, due to its ability to provide an authentic learning experience which engages all the senses. However, in the modern times that we live in, the availability of suitable cadavers for medical education is low, and there is an urgent need to supplement the practice of cadaveric dissection with more sustainable and economical methods of teaching. Virtual Reality (VR) may serve as a suitable supplement owing to its ability to simulate an immersive 3D environment. However, the authentic learning experience is difficult to recreate in VR, due to the lack of design guidelines. This project is an early exploration into designing active learning interactions for learning anatomy.