Struggling to Keep Tabs on Capstone Projects: A Chatbot to Tackle Student Procrastination

Capstone projects usually represent the most significant academic endeavor with which students have been involved. Time management tends to be one of the hurdles. On top, University students are prone to procrastinatory behavior. Inexperience and procrastination team up for students failing to meet deadlines. Supervisors strive to help. Yet heavy workloads frequently prevent tutors from continuous involvement. This article looks into the extent to which conversational agents (a.k.a. chatbots) can tackle procrastination in single-student capstone projects. Specifically, chatbot enablers put in play include (1) alerts, (2) advice, (3) automatic rescheduling, (4) motivational messages, and (5) reference to previous capstone projects. Informed by Cognitive Behavioural Theory, these enablers are framed within the three phases involved in self-regulation misalignment: pre-actional, actional, and post-actional. To motivate this research, we first analyzed 77 capstone-project reports. We found that students’ Gantt charts (1) fail to acknowledge review meetings (70%) and milestones (100%) and (2) suffer deviations from the initial planned effort (16.28%). On these grounds, we develop GanttBot, a Telegram chatbot that is configured from the student’s Gantt diagram. GanttBot reminds students about close landmarks, it informs tutors when intervention might be required, and it learns from previous projects about common pitfalls, advising students accordingly. For evaluation purposes, course 17/18 acts as the control group ( N=28 ) while course 18/19 acts as the treatment group ( N=25 students). Using “overdue days” as the proxy for procrastination, results indicate that course 17/18 accounted for an average of 19 days of delay (SD = 5), whereas these days go down to 10 for the intervention group in course 18/19 (SD = 4). GanttBot is available for public usage as a Telegram chatbot.

Motivational Quotes on Social Media: A Rhetorical Appraisal

The world we live in has become an ocean filled with undulating waves of motivational messages. People ply the earth with vain looks; every unfortunate encounter seems to be welcomed with lots of bitterness. What can be done to remedy this situation? This is where motivational speakers come to the stage. When people face various life challenges, they often resort to a motivational quote for a bit of inspiration. This study sets out to look at the rhetoric in some motivational quotes in a bid to elicit those elements that make them more resonant to the extent that some have become celebrated parts of society's lexicon. Using the rhetorical theory by (Selzer 2003), we discovered from the 100 quotes analyzed from Facebook that a subtle combination of good words mitting, motivational psychology and rhetorical appeals inspire people. Well-structured messages that use figures of speech and appeal to our inspirational nature can be meaningful and powerful in shaping our thoughts hence aiding us to appreciate some valuable things in our lives that have been underestimated.

Diabetes mellitus patients’ fasting blood sugar levels and quality of life following brief pharmacist counseling with reminders and motivational messages

Background: For chronic disease patients, pharmacist counselling with motivating reminder messages has been developed throughout time to promote the success of patient treatment. Diabetes mellitus is a long-term condition. Blood sugar control and an improved quality of life are therapeutic goals in the treatment of diabetes mellitus. The objective of this study was to determine whether changes in fasting blood sugar and quality of life occurred in individuals with diabetes mellitus who received pharmacist counselling coupled by motivating reminder messages.Methods: This quasi-experimental study used a pre-test-post-test design with control and intervention groups. Data on patients with type 2 diabetes were obtained prospectively at Jetis 1 primary health care in Bantul, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Seventy-two respondents who met the inclusion criteria were separated into two groups: the control group (36 participants) and the intervention group (36 participants). The patients’ quality of life was assessed using the 36-item Short Form (SF-36) questionnaire.Results: Following pharmacist counselling coupled by motivating reminder messages, patients’ mean fasting blood sugar reduced significantly (∆ 34.85±63.36), while their mean quality of life score increased considerably (∆ 13.73±9.22).Conclusions: Pharmacist counselling combined with motivating reminder messages can help patients with type 2 diabetes lower their fasting blood sugar and enhance their quality of life. The provision of pharmacist counselling followed by brief reminders and motivational messages may be considered to improve type 2 diabetes patient management.

COVID-19 booster vaccine attitudes and behaviors among university students and staff: the USC Trojan Pandemic Research Initiative

IntroductionAlthough COVID-19 vaccines significantly reduce morbidity and mortality, recent evidence suggests that immunity wanes after 6-9 months, and that a third vaccine dose could further reduce COVID-19 transmission and severe illness. However, previous studies have not assessed attitudes about getting booster doses. This study examined COVID-19 booster vaccine attitudes and behaviors among university students and staff in the fall of 2021.MethodsParticipants responded to an email invitation and completed electronic surveys. Results. In our sample, 96.2% of respondents indicated willingness to get a COVID-19 booster shot at least once per year. In both bivariate and multivariate analyses higher trust in science was associated with having higher odds of booster willingness. Those who identify as Black, on average, reported trusting science less than other racial/ethnic groups.ConclusionsOur findings demonstrate high willingness to receive a COVID-19 booster shot and highlight the importance of educational and motivational messages that focus on trust in science to increase willingness to get the COVID-19 booster. More research is needed to better understand the impact of cultural beliefs on booster willingness and vaccine hesitancy. This understanding will help determine what messages and populations to target to increase booster willingness in the future.

The Development of a Smart Reminder System to Promote Adherence to Technology-Based Intervention and Assessment

The overarching aim of the National Institute on Aging funded Adherence Promotion with Person-centered Technology (APPT) Project is to promote adherence to technology-based solutions designed to enhance the early detection and treatment of cognitive decline. The goal is to build and evaluate adaptive, tailored, and integrated technology-based adherence support systems for mobile software platforms that assess and train cognitive skill. The symposium describes the various steps of the development process of the APPT smart adherence support system. N. Charness will present an overview of the APPT project, its aims, and the clinical trials designed to assess the effectiveness of the APPT smart reminder system compared to typical reminder systems. S. Chakraborty will present detailed analyses of past cognitive intervention data to inform understanding of who is likely at risk for poor adherence and how adherence lapses might be predicted in advance to provide just-in-time adherence support. D. Carr will present an exploration of motivating factors for participants to engage in research, and these motivations will be tapped to help develop motivational messages for the APPT adherence support system to be used in the two planned clinical trials. M. Dieciuc will provide additional insights into motivations for engaging in home-based cognitive assessment and training derived from a focus group study. Finally, S. Zhang will describe the results of an initial pilot study examining the effectiveness of motivational reminder messages that match vs. mismatch participants’ own motivations. All results inform the design of the APPT system to maximize adherence.

Feasibility of promoting physical activity using mHEALTH technology in rural women: the step-2-it study

Background Rural women are more likely to be obese and have a higher risk for chronic disease than their non-rural counterparts. Inadequate physical activity (PA) at least in part contributes to this increased risk. Rural women face personal, social and environmental barriers to PA engagement. Interventions promoting walking among rural women have demonstrated success; however, few of these studies use text messaging to promote PA. Methods Step-2-It was a pilot study to assess the feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of text-messaging combined with a pedometer to promote PA, specifically walking among English-speaking women, aged 40 and older, living in a rural, northwest Illinois county. Enrolled participants completed baseline assessments, received pedometers and two types of automated text messages: motivational messages to encourage walking, and accountability messages to report pedometer steps. Participants engaged in 3, 6, 9, and 12-week follow-ups to download pedometer data, and completed post-intervention assessments at 12 weeks. Results Of the 44 enrolled participants, 35 participants (79.5%) completed the intervention. Among completers, the proportion meeting PA guidelines increased from 31.4% (11/35) at baseline to 48.6% (17/35) at post-intervention, those with no PA decreased from 20% (7/35) to 17.1% (6/35). During weeks 1-12, when participants received motivational text messages, average participant daily step count was 5926 ± 3590, and remained stable during the intervention. Pedometer readings were highly correlated with self-reported steps (r = 0.9703; p < 0.001). Conclusion Step-2-It was a feasible and acceptable walking intervention for older rural women. Technology, including text messaging, should be investigated further as an enhancement to interventions for rural women. Trial Registration on Clinicaltrials.gov: NCT04812756, registered on March 22, 2021

Enhanced Learning Experiences Based on Regulatory Fit Theory Using Affective State Detection

Predicting learners' affective states through the internet has great impact on their learning experiences. Hence, it is important for an intelligent tutoring system (ITS) to consider the learners' affective state in their learning models. This research work focuses on finding learners' frustration levels during learning. Motivating the learners appropriately can enhance their learning experiences. Therefore, the authors also bring in a strategy to respond to learners' affective states in order to motivate them. This work uses Behavioral theory for goal generation, and frustration index is calculated. Based on the frustration level of the learner, motivational messages are displayed to the learners using Regulatory fit theory. The authors evaluated the model using t-test by collecting learners' data from MoodleCloud. The results of the evaluation demonstrate that 80% of the learners' performance significantly increases statistically as an impact of motivational messages provided in response to the learners' frustration.

Improving Depressive Symptoms through Personalised Exercise and Activation (IDEA): Study Protocol for a Randomised Controlled Trial

Individuals who suffer from depressive symptoms experience a substantial impact on psychosocial functioning, physical health, mortality, and quality of life. In the search for therapeutic strategies, exercise has been found to play a relevant part in its treatment. However, the promotion of exercise entails adherence difficulties that arose out of the tendency towards sedentarism led by symptomatology. Personalised exercise plans on top of usual care have the potential to enhance behavioural changes and mental health. The present study aims at evaluating the changes in functioning deriving from a blended intervention merging a psychological intervention with a personalised exercise programme based on medical assessment. We will conduct a three-arm randomised controlled trial in which 172 participants suffering from mild–moderate depressive symptoms will be allocated to Intervention A (personalised exercise group programme + app with motivational messages), B (personalised exercise group programme + app with no motivational messages) or control group (app with no motivational messages). Data regarding global functioning, well-being, symptoms, physical activity, and exercise capacity will be collected at baseline, 4, 12, and 36 weeks. The results of this trial will provide information about whether this physical activity support programme may be efficient for improving mental and physical health outcomes. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04857944 (accessed on 15 April 2021). Registered April 2021.

A Global Experiment on Motivating Social Distancing during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Effectively motivating social distancing—keeping a physical distance from others —has become a global public health priority during the COVID-19 pandemic. This cross-country preregistered experiment (n=25,718 in 89 countries) tested hypotheses derived from self-determination theory concerning generalizable positive and negative outcomes of different motivational messages encouraging social distancing. Participants were randomly assigned to three conditions: an autonomy-supportive message promoting reflective choices, a controlling message that was restrictive and shaming, or no message. Results partially supported experimental hypotheses: the controlling message increased defiance relative to the autonomy-supportive message and increased controlled motivation (which itself correlated with more defiance and less long-term behavioural intentions to engage in social distancing) relative to no message, but messages did not influence behavioural intentions. Despite small experimental effects on defiance and motivation (rs= .07 and .10), this work highlights the potential harm of controlling public health messages and potential benefits of autonomy-supportive ones.