The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

The effect of timing and frequency of push notifications on usage of a smartphone-based stress management intervention: an exploratory trial

The effect of timing and frequency of push notifications on usage of a smartphone-based stress management intervention: an exploratory trial
The effect of timing and frequency of push notifications on usage of a smartphone-based stress management intervention: an exploratory trial
Push notifications offer a promising strategy for enhancing engagement with smartphone-based health interventions. Intelligent sensor-driven machine learning models may improve the timeliness of notifications by adapting delivery to a user’s current context (e.g. location). This exploratory mixed-methods study examined the potential impact of timing and frequency on notification response and usage of Healthy Mind, a smartphone-based stress management intervention. 77 participants were randomised to use one of three versions of Healthy Mind that provided: intelligent notifications; daily notifications within pre-defined time frames; or occasional notifications within pre-defined time frames. Notification response and Healthy Mind usage were automatically recorded. Telephone interviews explored participants’ experiences of using Healthy Mind. Participants in the intelligent and daily conditions viewed (d = .47, .44 respectively) and actioned (d = .50, .43 respectively) more notifications compared to the occasional group. Notification group had no meaningful effects on percentage of notifications viewed or usage of Healthy Mind. No meaningful differences were indicated between the intelligent and non-intelligent groups. Our findings suggest that frequent notifications may encourage greater exposure to intervention content without deterring engagement, but adaptive tailoring of notification timing does not always enhance their use. Hypotheses generated from this study require testing in future work.
1932-6203
1-15
Morrison, Leanne G.
920a4eda-0f9d-4bd9-842d-6873b1afafef
Hargood, Charlie
9c24b7b0-ee48-41ba-9868-5b97b804f7d3
Pejovic, Veljko
0b89aa2b-546b-45ce-8d11-2c07b8fb3157
Geraghty, Adam W. A.
2c6549fe-9868-4806-b65a-21881c1930af
Lloyd, Scott
6eb089a5-8d3c-440e-9f27-2e0f3742da35
Goodman, Natalie
c7c72ff7-d4ce-42ad-a84b-e8ee6bf7be0b
Michaelides, Danius T.
a6df5175-d71a-4cd4-befc-26c48235fb92
Weston, Anna
96f3b126-bee2-45c5-82ff-8316a3c819cb
Musolesi, Mirco
7f92392b-4581-408e-a05c-c08c3e184955
Weal, Mark J.
e8fd30a6-c060-41c5-b388-ca52c81032a4
Yardley, Lucy
64be42c4-511d-484d-abaa-f8813452a22e
Morrison, Leanne G.
920a4eda-0f9d-4bd9-842d-6873b1afafef
Hargood, Charlie
9c24b7b0-ee48-41ba-9868-5b97b804f7d3
Pejovic, Veljko
0b89aa2b-546b-45ce-8d11-2c07b8fb3157
Geraghty, Adam W. A.
2c6549fe-9868-4806-b65a-21881c1930af
Lloyd, Scott
6eb089a5-8d3c-440e-9f27-2e0f3742da35
Goodman, Natalie
c7c72ff7-d4ce-42ad-a84b-e8ee6bf7be0b
Michaelides, Danius T.
a6df5175-d71a-4cd4-befc-26c48235fb92
Weston, Anna
96f3b126-bee2-45c5-82ff-8316a3c819cb
Musolesi, Mirco
7f92392b-4581-408e-a05c-c08c3e184955
Weal, Mark J.
e8fd30a6-c060-41c5-b388-ca52c81032a4
Yardley, Lucy
64be42c4-511d-484d-abaa-f8813452a22e

Morrison, Leanne G., Hargood, Charlie, Pejovic, Veljko, Geraghty, Adam W. A., Lloyd, Scott, Goodman, Natalie, Michaelides, Danius T., Weston, Anna, Musolesi, Mirco, Weal, Mark J. and Yardley, Lucy (2017) The effect of timing and frequency of push notifications on usage of a smartphone-based stress management intervention: an exploratory trial. PLoS ONE, 12 (1), 1-15, [e0169162]. (doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0169162).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Push notifications offer a promising strategy for enhancing engagement with smartphone-based health interventions. Intelligent sensor-driven machine learning models may improve the timeliness of notifications by adapting delivery to a user’s current context (e.g. location). This exploratory mixed-methods study examined the potential impact of timing and frequency on notification response and usage of Healthy Mind, a smartphone-based stress management intervention. 77 participants were randomised to use one of three versions of Healthy Mind that provided: intelligent notifications; daily notifications within pre-defined time frames; or occasional notifications within pre-defined time frames. Notification response and Healthy Mind usage were automatically recorded. Telephone interviews explored participants’ experiences of using Healthy Mind. Participants in the intelligent and daily conditions viewed (d = .47, .44 respectively) and actioned (d = .50, .43 respectively) more notifications compared to the occasional group. Notification group had no meaningful effects on percentage of notifications viewed or usage of Healthy Mind. No meaningful differences were indicated between the intelligent and non-intelligent groups. Our findings suggest that frequent notifications may encourage greater exposure to intervention content without deterring engagement, but adaptive tailoring of notification timing does not always enhance their use. Hypotheses generated from this study require testing in future work.

Text
PONE-D-16-32583R1_accepted.docx - Accepted Manuscript
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.
Download (87kB)
Other
file_id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0169162&type=printable - Version of Record
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.
Download (823kB)

More information

Accepted/In Press date: 16 December 2016
e-pub ahead of print date: 3 January 2017
Published date: 3 January 2017
Organisations: Electronics & Computer Science, Primary Care & Population Sciences, Psychology

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 404088
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/404088
ISSN: 1932-6203
PURE UUID: 26dc7f3a-3906-4e1a-bc9f-d76f44da0594
ORCID for Leanne G. Morrison: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-9961-551X
ORCID for Adam W. A. Geraghty: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-7984-8351
ORCID for Anna Weston: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-1675-0466
ORCID for Mark J. Weal: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-6251-8786
ORCID for Lucy Yardley: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-3853-883X

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 21 Dec 2016 11:52
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 04:03

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: Charlie Hargood
Author: Veljko Pejovic
Author: Scott Lloyd
Author: Natalie Goodman
Author: Danius T. Michaelides
Author: Anna Weston ORCID iD
Author: Mirco Musolesi
Author: Mark J. Weal ORCID iD
Author: Lucy Yardley ORCID iD

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×