| Description |
Topic of the seminar:
Digital behavior change interventions (DBCIs) (e.g., smartphone apps) represent a flexible, effective and scalable way to enable health-related behavior change. The application of DBCIs range from supporting medication adherence to reducing alcohol consumption, promoting smoking cessation, and improving physical activity and dietary behavior. This seminar will address two primary - and interconnected - aspects of DBCIs: the development and evaluation process.
- The development process aims to implement the actual content of the DBCI (e.g., the features of a smartphone app, the modules of a website). This process requires a comprehensive understanding of behavior change theories, human-centered design approaches and principles of information and communication technologies. Students will be introduced to the most commonly adopted methods and frameworks in the field of digital health.
- The evaluation phase aims to test which intervention or intervention component(s) is effective when it comes to promoting behavior change. Students will be introduced to key experimental study designs (e.g., factorial trials, micro-randomised trials) and emphasis will be placed on their technical implementation and the corresponding analytical methods to assess the effectiveness of DBCIs and their components.
During the course of the seminar, students will have to provide two deliverables as the result of group activities: (1) at the end of the first half, students will be asked to provide a report about the theoretical and methodological conceptualization of a DBCI targeting a health-related behavior of their choice, and (2) by the end of the seminar, students will be asked to deliver a presentation about how they have implemented the same DBCI into an actual smartphone app and planned out the evaluation of the app. The implementation of the DBCI will be facilitated by “Self-Help”, an easy-to-use tool for intervention development powered by the Technology Platform of the Faculty of Human Sciences at the University of Bern.
Format of the seminar:
This course is a Virtual Exchange Seminar and it is accessible to students from both the University of Bern (Switzerland) and Tampere University (Finland). The aim of this teaching format is to foster international collaboration and experiences among students, while engaging in activities related to highly innovative research topics. Two lecturers, one from the University of Bern and one from Tampere University, will hold the course virtually so that students from both the universities can attend. Each lesson will be organized into a short theoretical introduction followed by hands-on activities that students will have to perform in groups and finalize by the following lesson. In this seminar, group activities that showcase collaborative efforts between students from the two universities is strongly encouraged.
Preparatory readings before the beginning of the seminar:
• Hankonen, N., & Hardeman, W. (2020). Developing Behavior Change Interventions. In (pp. 300-317). doi:10.1017/9781108677318.021
• Rothman, A., Klein, W., & Sheeran, P. (2020). Moving from Theoretical Principles to Intervention Strategies: Applying the Experimental Medicine Approach. In (pp. 285-299). doi:10.1017/9781108677318.020
• Matthews, L., & Simpson, S. (2020). Evaluation of Behavior Change Interventions. In (pp. 318-332). doi:10.1017/9781108677318.022 |
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