It is our pleasure to announce that the following workshop has been accepted at Multikonferenz Wirtschaftsinformatik – Data driven X, Turning Data into Value (MKWI 2018) at Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany:

Designing Just-in-time Adaptive Interventions and Healthcare Chatbots with the Open Source Platform MobileCoach

Organizer: Tobias Kowatsch

Abstract: MobileCoach (http://www.mobile-coach.eu) is an open source behavioural intervention platform for just-in-time adaptive interventions (JITAIs) (Nahum-Shani et al. 2016) that employ scalable healthcare chatbots to deliver these interventions (Filler et al., 2015; Haug et al., 2017a; Haug et al., 2017b; Kowatsch et al., 2017a; Kowatsch et al., 2017b; Paz et al., 2017). It provides sensing and support capabilities via self-reports and sensor data. Domain experts such as general practitioners or health psychologists can apply the talk-and-tools paradigm (Beun et al., 2017) in MobileCoach, i.e. a chat-based interface and dedicated tools for user interaction. The logic of the talk and tools components is provided by domain experts with the help of rules. These rules can be used to trigger chat dialogs in combination with interactive elements like health games, health exercises or social challenges. This MKWI workshop has the following objectives: (1) To give an overview of the platform, its talk-and-tools paradigm and various MobileCoach-based interventions with a focus on physical activity, diet behavior, childhood obesity, problem drinking, life skills, personality change and health literacy, (2) To identify and discuss novel features and open research questions with the workshop participants and, (3) To motivate IS researcher, health psychologists and computer scientists to join the MobileCoach open source community and to exchange ideas about innovative interventions and potential research collaborations.

Max. # of Participants: 20

Duration: 2 x 90min

Date & Time: Wednesday, March 7 2018, 2pm-5pm

Registration: MKWI – Workshop Page | Google/MKWI – Registration Page

Additional Information: No special technical requirements; workshop participants should have a strong interest in interdisciplinary research at the intersection of information systems research, computer science and health psychology.

References

• Beun, R. J., S. Fitrianie, F. Griffioen-Both, S. Spruit, C. Horsch, J. Lancee and W.-P. Brinkman (2017). “Talk and Tools: the best of both worlds in mobile user interfaces for E-coaching.” Personal and Ubiquitous Computing 21 (4), 661-674.
• Filler, A., T. Kowatsch, S. Haug, F. Wahle, T. Staake and E. Fleisch (2015). “MobileCoach: A Novel Open Source Platform for the Design of Evidence-based, Scalable and Low-Cost Behavioral Health Interventions – Overview and Preliminary Evaluation in the Public Health Context.” In: Proceedings of the 14th annual Wireless Telecommunications Symposium (WTS 2015), USA, New York.
• Haug, S., R. Paz, T. Kowatsch, A. Filler, M. Dickson-Spillmann, M. Dey and M. P. Schaub (2017a). “Efficacy of a web- and text messaging-based intervention to reduce problem drinking in adolescents: Results of a cluster-randomised controlled trial.” Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 85 (2), 147-159.
• Haug, S., R. Paz, C. Meyer, A. Filler, T. Kowatsch and M. P. Schaub (2017b). “A Mobile Phone-Based Life Skills Training Program for Substance Use Prevention Among Adolescents: Pre-Post Study on the Acceptance and Potential Effectiveness of the Program Ready4life.” JMIR Mhealth Uhealth 5 (19:e143).
• Kowatsch, T., M. Nißen, C.-H. I. Shih, D. Rüegger, D. Volland, A. Filler, F. Künzler, F. Barata, S. Haug, D. Büchter, et al. (2017a). “Text-based Healthcare Chatbots Supporting Patient and Health Professional Teams: Preliminary Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial on Childhood Obesity.” In: Proceedings of the Persuasive Embodied Agents for Behavior Change (PEACH2017) Workshop, co-located with the 17th International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents (IVA 2017), Stockholm, Sweden.
• Kowatsch, T., D. Volland, I. Shih, D. Rüegger, F. Künzler, F. Barata, A. Filler, D. Büchter, B. Brogle, K. Heldt, et al. (2017b). Design and Evaluation of a Mobile Chat App for the Open Source Behavioral Health Intervention Platform MobileCoach. in: Designing the Digital Transformation. DESRIST 2017. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 10243, M. A., v. B. J. and H. A. (eds.), Springer, Berlin; Germany, 485-489.
• Nahum-Shani, I., S. N. Smith, B. J. Spring, L. M. Collins, K. Witkiewitz, A. Tewari and S. A. Murphy (2016). “Just-in-Time Adaptive Interventions (JITAIs) in Mobile Health: Key Components and Design Principles for Ongoing Health Behavior Support.” Annals of Behavioral Medicine ePrint ahead doi:10.1007/s12160-016-9830-8.
• Paz, R., S. Haug, A. Filler, T. Kowatsch and M. P. Schaub (2017). “Engagement within a Mobile Phone-based Smoking Cessation Intervention for Adolescents and Its Association with Participant Characteristics and Outcomes.” Journal of Medical Internet Research 19 (10:e356).

Thank you all, it was a great pleasure!