Gamifying Health Data Collection

Gamifying Health Data CollectionMariko Wakabayashi & RJ KundeDepartment of Computer ScienceUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Collaborators: Jason Cho, Tom Olson, Shravan Gupta, and Seungchul Lee

MotivationHealth data collection is dependent on a users motivation to participateE.g. Health diaryIncreasing number of tools which can assist in identification, correlation and eventual care for patients and their diseasesGrowing opportunity for health professionals

2APPROACHAim for continuous user engagement Gamification to maintain users participation, and collect health data from numerous sources e.g. heart monitor sensor, accelerometer sensorPrototype:Developed a gamified mobile application that collects physical activity and users health informationFocused on two types of health dataData from smartphones accelerometer sensorData from users health question answers

Bruces comments: Go from general approach to specific (prototype) In this case, the general approach is to gamify health data collection and maintain user engagement. The specific approach is our prototype Dr.Pocket.

3What is Gamification?Gamification: The application of game mechanics (e.g. competition, rewards) to a particular task or goal in order to create motivation among participants

Location-based Social Network: FoursquareEducation: Khan AcademyProfessional Network; LinkedIns Profile Completeness Circle These are not games Make sure that these are just game elements

4Examples of Gamification in Medical literature (1)Task 1: Educating the general public about healthy behaviorExample: OrderUP! players learn how to make healthier meal choices

Field Study Conclusion Encouraged participants to live healthier lifestylesParticipants engaged in four process of change identified by the Trans Theoretical Model

5Examples of Gamification in Medical literature (2)Task 2: Health diary annotation completed by particular demographicsE.g. Pain Squad mobile application that encourages young cancer patients to fill out pain reports.Raised the compliance rate in annotating pain reports from 11% to over 80%.

6DR.POCKET Prototype HEALTH MOBILE APPLICATIONGoal: To accomplish Task 1 and 2 with our mobile application.Health Diary Annotation by adultsEducate about healthy behavior and encourage a healthier lifestyle

Dr. Pocket: Asks users anxiety related questionsTracks daily movement Integration of two types of health data to understand users anxiety levels

Thanks Mariko,

Id like to introduce our prototype application, Dr. Pocket. Its core functions are to prompt users with health questions relating to anxiety and well-being, and also tracks their daily movement.

It integrates two types of health data: Active (Health Questionaires), and Passive (Movement Tracking).7Dr.Pocket Gamification Framework

Dr. Pocket implements the technique that Mariko covered earlier: gamification.

Users gain points in our game in one of two ways: answering health questions, and engaging in physical activity.

We convert these points into Healthy lifestyle points, which serve as currency in our application.

Currency, can then be used in our marketplace. You can buy items from two different categories, boosters which positively impact you ability to earn points, and sabotage items which negatively impact the points of other players.

For example, if you purchase Track Shoes shown above, your points earned while walking or running will increase for a given time period.

8DR.POCKET HEALTH Related QuestionsModeled after the Institute of Medicines main determinants of healthCompiled surveys and scales from Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and Ian McDowells Measuring Health - A Guide to Rating Scales and QuestionnairesDr. PocketFocus on anxiety One of the most common mental illness in the USPrevalent amongst studentsConsists 102 questions from 6 different categories: stress, sleep, fatigue, anxiety, pain, and depression

As I mentioned, our application contains health questions, which users are prompted with while interacting with our application.

Our health questions are modeled after the Institute of Medicines main determinants of health, and our scales and surveys are derived from Ian McDowels guide to rating scales and questionnaires.

Dr. Pocket focuses on anxiety, as it is one of the most common mental illnesses in the United States, and also prevalent amongst students.

Our question bank consists of 102 questions, from six different categories: stress, sleep, fatigue, anxiety, pain and depression.

9Health Question Examples

10DR.POCKET Tracking MovementTracks movement with accelerometer and gyroscope Goal is to obtain enough data to study the integration between health questions with physical activity and train application for feedbackGame elements added to step countProgress Wheel (Competition)Setting goalAwarding Points for Participation (Rewards)

Dr. Pocket tracks users movement using the accelerometer and gyroscope

Our goal is to obtain enough data to study the integration between health questions and physical activity, eventually training our application to provide feedback to users.

To make Dr. Pocket more exciting, we gamified the step count component, by adding a progress wheel, the ability to set goals, and awarding participation points.11DR.POCKET Statistical FeedbackProvided Information for the user:Daily and accumulated scoreCalories BurnedStep countsDistance TraveledQuestions Answered Game Elements encouraging Competition:Number of points obtainedTangible visuals to understand calculated numbers Acquired marketplace items and its duration

In conjunction with the gamified components, Dr. Pocket provides users with statistical feedback.

Specifically, it shows users:Daily and accumulated scoresCalories burnedStep CountDistance Traveled

Weve also incorporated additional game elements, such as:Number of points obtainedTangible visuals depicting calories burned (apple for example), or distance traveled, 370ft (Statue of Liberty).Users can also see which items theyve purchased from the marketplace, and how long these items will remain in their inventory.12Pilot study HypothesesGoal 1: Gamification in health data collection is effectiveGoal 2: Integration of passive and active data collection is more effective than either approach on its own.Procedure15 subjects used prototype application for 2 weeksSubjects description: 18-25 age group, 5 females/10 males, studentsResultsCollected 1,380 responses and over 747,000 step counts. Participants enjoyed and vouch for gamificationThe concept of earning "points" for walking more or answering more questions is really what motivated me.The application showed me how much lower than the target I was at on a daily basis so it prompted me to walk more., Now that Ive discussed the application and how it works, we can talk more about our research.

Over the summer of 2014, we conducted a pilot study. We hypothesized two things:Gamification is effective when applied to health data collection2. Integration of passive and active data collection is more effective than either approach on its own.

We asked 15 subjects to use our prototype application for two weeks. The subjects ranged in age from 18-25 years old, comprised of 5 females, and 10 male students.

Results:Nearly 1400 question responses750,000 steps counted

Through an exit survey, participants vouched for gamification. They are quoted saying:The concept of earning "points" for walking more or answering more questions is really what motivated me.AndThe application showed me how much lower than the target I was at on a daily basis so it prompted me to walk more.,

13Conclusion - Future WorkFuture Work:Improve user interfaceExpand on current featuresIncrease of questions from 100 to 500Implement adaptive questionsAdd network functionality to increase competition

Conduct Larger Study200 person, IRB sanctioned human studyMonitor user engagement, and train application to detect anxiety levelsDevelop a feedback system based on results

So, where will we go next?

Our team is already working to improve the user interface to be self explanatory and easy to use.

Then we will expand on current features, by increasing our questions from 1 to 500. Next, we will implement adaptive questions, which are selected based on a users' previous responses, creating a truly unique and targeted experience for each user.

A key component is the finalization of the network capabilities, which allow users to compete all over the world.

Finally, we recently earned IRB approval, and will proceed with a much larger, 200 person human study, allowing us to monitor user interaction in depth, and train our application to detect anxiety levels and provide useful statistical feedback to end users.

Our team is very excited about the future, and the potential of our research. We all imagine it growing to become a vital tool, used by millions of people around the world to improve their health.

14Questions?Questions

People might ask about battery, storage, and data transmission 15