Fish n Steps Harold Gonzales AT for the Well Well is basically the complement of the chronically ill People who have no current major health problems Some people are more well than others Paper presents an example of an application to reduce future risk of chronic illness Fish n Steps Application developed by Siemens research staff Lena Mamykina Ph D student at Georgia Tech is a big name in Assistive Technology Silvia M Lindtner Ph D student at UC Irvine Gregory Delajoux intern at Siemens now working in Switzerland James J Lin Siemens staff Henry B Strub Siemens staff Motivation Obesity is becoming more prevalent Contributing factors include a sedentary lifestyle combined with calorie dense foods Obesity is a contributing factor to many chronic diseases Behavior change is the first resort of treatment Behavior Change Behavior change can be very difficult Gym memberships have long terms and are expensive Healthy foods can be more expensive and less prevalent than calorie dense foods Attempts to change behavior can cause significant lifestyle disruption Big Question Can Assistive Technologies be used to provide motivation and monitoring of behavior changes and increase physical activity Evaluation Challenges Not just measuring activity Trying to quantify a desire and propensity to change habits Raw data is not enough need a way to model desire willingness and progress The Transtheoretical Model Introduces by James Prochaska Director Cancer Prevention Research Center Professor of Clinical and Health Psychology Model provides a means classifying an individuals desires and progress in changing a behavior Used with addiction and domestic violence Most popular state model of this kind in health psychology Fish n Steps Overview Develop a game environment that combines fun and motivation with the ability for people to monitor their progress Exercise that can be incorporated into everyday life thus decreasing disruptive effects Evaluate the efficacy of this game with TTM Experimental Stages Pre intervention Intervention Establish a baseline and improvement goals Have participants use game to monitor goals and receive motivation Post intervention See if behavioral changes and interest stick Fish n Steps Method Reinforcement provided by fish tank simulation Walking was chosen as the exercise activity Sportline 300 pedometer was used Central kiosk to take pedometer pictures Researcher would then enter data 2 study groups to study social and individual factors 19 Siemens Corporate Researcher staff participated The Application Simulated fish tank Group tank for social participants Fish grew as goals were reached Negative consequences included dirty tanks and unhappy fish Assessment Interview at beginning and end of intervention Step change indicated behavior change Classification into TTM level was performed before and after intervention Results Most subject advanced in TTM classification Some had extenuating circumstances which dropped step count but still were motivated One participant was sharply critical Competition was either an overriding factor or a detractor Gains were comparable between social and nonsocial participants Analysis Many subjects established a connection with the fish The game encouraged a contemplation of physical activity and promoted change Interest in the game was short lived Authors framed the game as merely a catalyst to change rather than a long term solution Potential Modifications Lack of content contributed to short lived excitement Not enough interaction with fish Competitive aspect with anonymous groups provides no chance for team to motivate eachother Fish tank is easy to code but not terribly interesting Lessons from the Gaming World Unlockable content and progression Achievements not specifically connected with fish Ability to interact with fish outside of step input Wii Fit model for in game tips and coaching Integration with an existing popular game has already been done