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Open Access
Article
Publication date: 10 August 2021

Xiaoyun Zhou, Matthew Bambling and Sisira Edirippulige

Eating disorders (EDs) is a major health condition affecting 9% of the global population and 10% of those with EDs lost their lives as a result. Text-based telehealth…

1335

Abstract

Purpose

Eating disorders (EDs) is a major health condition affecting 9% of the global population and 10% of those with EDs lost their lives as a result. Text-based telehealth interventions (TTIs) seem to provide a low-cost and convenient treatment option; however, the evidence is scarce. This study aimed to synthesize evidence relating to the use of TTIs for the management of EDs.

Design/methodology/approach

Five databases were searched published between January 2020 and May 2019. The authors used keywords relating to telehealth and EDs. The authors used Joanna Briggs Institute's (JBI's) critical appraisal instrument to assess the methodology quality of included studies.

Findings

Fifteen studies were included in this mix-method systematic review and assessed for methodology quality. Email, web-based texting, text-messaging and online chat room were used as mode for deliver healthcare for patients with EDs. In the treatment phase, all studies (nine studies; n = 860 participants) showed effectiveness (for RCTs) and usefulness (for non-RCT studies). In the aftercare phase (six studies; n = 364 participants), the results regarding the effectiveness of TTIs were mixed. Two studies showed effectiveness whilst four studies did not find statistically significant change of ED outcomes.

Research limitations/implications

The qualities of these studies varied; firstly, 66% (n = 10) of the studies were non-randomized studies (e.g. single-arm trial, case report) with small samples. Moreover, one-fourth (n = 4) of the studies did not use validated instruments or indicate the instrument. Also, half (n = 7) of the studies used TTIs as adjunct to face-to-face treatment or bigger online treatment, it is hard to make conclusion that the changes were due to TTIs' effect. In addition, follow-up rate is not satisfactory, thus results should be interpreted cautiously.

Practical implications

TTIs seem to be promising for management of EDs, particularly in the treatment phase. This provides an important treatment option for health practitioners and people with EDs as an alternative or in adjunct with face-to-face services.

Originality/value

This is the first review to synthesis the use of TTIs for ED management.

Details

Journal of Health Research, vol. 36 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0857-4421

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 26 June 2019

Tashfeen Ahmad

The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a survey regarding undergraduate students’ mobile phone usage patterns and its implication for teaching and learning in the…

4835

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a survey regarding undergraduate students’ mobile phone usage patterns and its implication for teaching and learning in the Caribbean higher education academic environment.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 144 students participated in the survey. The survey method utilized a structured questionnaire design comprising 24 items which was completed by students. A quantitative research methodology was used to analyze the data on student mobile phone usage patterns in an educational setting.

Findings

The results indicate that students find mobile phones to be an indispensable tool inside and outside the classroom environment. More interestingly, it revealed that despite unique socio-economic factors, students’ mobile phone adoption, usage and perception patterns in a developing country mirror those of their counterparts in developed states. This has profound implications for education policy in the region.

Originality/value

Little research has been done on students’ mobile phone use in the developing world context. Even less work has been done exploring mobile phone usage patterns of university students in the Caribbean region. Given the similarities with developed states, this paper shares ideas with university management and administration how they can incorporate mobile phone technology into their teaching methods, to enhance the learning experience in the Caribbean and the wider developing world context.

Details

Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching & Learning, vol. 13 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2397-7604

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 17 July 2020

Mukesh Kumar and Palak Rehan

Social media networks like Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp etc. are most commonly used medium for sharing news, opinions and to stay in touch with peers. Messages on twitter are…

1189

Abstract

Social media networks like Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp etc. are most commonly used medium for sharing news, opinions and to stay in touch with peers. Messages on twitter are limited to 140 characters. This led users to create their own novel syntax in tweets to express more in lesser words. Free writing style, use of URLs, markup syntax, inappropriate punctuations, ungrammatical structures, abbreviations etc. makes it harder to mine useful information from them. For each tweet, we can get an explicit time stamp, the name of the user, the social network the user belongs to, or even the GPS coordinates if the tweet is created with a GPS-enabled mobile device. With these features, Twitter is, in nature, a good resource for detecting and analyzing the real time events happening around the world. By using the speed and coverage of Twitter, we can detect events, a sequence of important keywords being talked, in a timely manner which can be used in different applications like natural calamity relief support, earthquake relief support, product launches, suspicious activity detection etc. The keyword detection process from Twitter can be seen as a two step process: detection of keyword in the raw text form (words as posted by the users) and keyword normalization process (reforming the users’ unstructured words in the complete meaningful English language words). In this paper a keyword detection technique based upon the graph, spanning tree and Page Rank algorithm is proposed. A text normalization technique based upon hybrid approach using Levenshtein distance, demetaphone algorithm and dictionary mapping is proposed to work upon the unstructured keywords as produced by the proposed keyword detector. The proposed normalization technique is validated using the standard lexnorm 1.2 dataset. The proposed system is used to detect the keywords from Twiter text being posted at real time. The detected and normalized keywords are further validated from the search engine results at later time for detection of events.

Details

Applied Computing and Informatics, vol. 17 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2634-1964

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 5 July 2020

Cristina Calvo-Porral and Luis-Miguel Otero-Prada

Mobile services are expanding rapidly, and in this tremendously dynamic environment, companies should provide value-added services to meet users’ demand. In this context, the…

2040

Abstract

Purpose

Mobile services are expanding rapidly, and in this tremendously dynamic environment, companies should provide value-added services to meet users’ demand. In this context, the study aims to determine whether different user groups exist in this market and profile them.

Methodology

Based on the information of 568 mobile service users, a research was developed in the context of a mature mobile services market – Spain. A behavior-based cluster analysis is developed by means of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), followed by two-step clustering. Then, an ANOVA and post hoc Tukey tests are conducted to confirm differences among the obtained clusters.

Findings

The study findings show that mobile service users cannot be perceived as a homogenous group, as different users with different behaviors coexist in this market. More specifically, four behavior-based segments emerge in the mobile service sector: “service connoisseurs,” “uninvolved pragmatics,” “potential switchers” and “delighted loyal”; “potential switchers” being the most challenging segment for mobile service companies.

Value

This study reports mobile service users’ heterogeneity; and in turn, mobile service managers should consider customers as four different types, instead of considering them as one single customer.

Propósito

Los servicios móviles se están expandiendo rápidamente y en este entorno tremendamente dinámico, las compañías de servicios móviles deberían de proporcionar servicios de valor añadido para satisfacer la demanda de sus usuarios. En este contexto, esta investigación tiene como objetivo determinar si existen diferentes grupo de usuarios en este mercado y aportar su pefil.

Metodología

Sobre la base de información de 568 usuarios de servicios móviles se lleva a cabo una investigación en el contexto de un mercado de servicios móviles maduro –España-. Se lleva a cabo un análisis clúster basado en el comportamiento de los usuarios, mediante un análisis factorial confirmatorio (CFA), seguido de un análisis clúster bi-etápico. A continuación, se realizan un test Anova y un test pos hoc de Tuckey para confirmar las diferencias entre los grupos obtenidos.

Resultados

Los resultados de la investigación muestran que los usuarios de servicios móviles no pueden ser percibidos como un grupo homogéneo, ya que en este mercado coexisten diferentes usuarios con diferentes comportamientos. Más específicamente, cuatro segmentos de usuarios surgen en el sector de los servicios móviles basados en su comportamiento: “conocedores del servicio”, “pragmáticos no involucrados”, “potenciales cambiadores de servicio” y “leales encantados”, siendo “potenciales cambiadores de servicio” los que presentan un mayor desafío las empresas de servicios móviles.

Valor

Este estudio muestra la heterogeneidad de los usuarios de servicios móviles, y por tanto, los gestores de los servicios móviles deben considerar a sus clientes como cuatro tipos diferentes, en lugar de considerarlos como un único tipo de cliente.

研究目的

移动服务正在迅速扩张,在这个巨大的动态环境中,企业应该提供增值服务来满足用户的需求。在此背景下,本研究旨在确定该市场是否存在不同的用户群体,并对其进行分析。

研究方法

基于568名移动服务用户的信息,在一个成熟的移动服务市场(西班牙)的背景下开展了本次研究。通过确认性因子分析(CFA)进行基于行为的聚类分析,然后进行两步聚类。最后,方差分析和事后Tukey检验被用于确认获得的聚类之间的差异。

研究结果

研究结果表明,移动服务用户不能被看作是一个同质的群体,因为在这个市场上共存着不同的用户,他们具有不同的行为。具体来说,移动服务领域可以划分为基于用户行为的四个细分市场:"服务行家"、"不参与的实用主义者"、"潜在的转换者 "和 "愉悦的忠诚者";其中,"潜在的转换者 "是对移动服务企业来说最具挑战性的细分市场。

研究价值

本研究报告了移动服务用户的异质性;反过来,移动服务管理者应该考虑把客户划分为四种不同的类型,而不是将他们视为一个单一的整体。

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 21 November 2022

Chris Brown and Jana Gross Ophoff

Background: Ideas always have and always will change the world; with ideas-engagement enabling individuals to become more knowledgeable, better able to make good decisions and…

Abstract

Background: Ideas always have and always will change the world; with ideas-engagement enabling individuals to become more knowledgeable, better able to make good decisions and better positioned to re-align their values in response to new progressive norms and beliefs. Given these potential benefits, of primary interest is how citizens can be most effectively encouraged to engage with new ideas.

Methods: With this study we test the efficacy of two approaches designed to enhance citizen’s perceptions regarding the value of ideas-engagement. Specifically, we recontextualise a previously undertaken small-scale randomised control trial designed to stimulate states of either curiosity or pragmatic prospection amongst two randomly allocated groups of respondents. Our target variables involve the importance respondents attribute to staying up to date, as well as to four related attitudinal variables. Our target audience is the voting age population of England.

Results: 515 participants took part in the experiment, with 269 receiving the curiosity stimulating intervention and 246, the prospection intervention. Our findings suggest that, by the end of four weeks, only the intervention designed to promote pragmatic prospection had significantly impacted on the importance respondents attribute to staying up to date. It also positively impacted the value-scores for one of the secondary attitudinal variables (relating to the importance of supporting physical and mental-health).

Conclusions: While this study provides useful insight regarding ideas-engagement, further work is needed. In particular, future studies will require a larger sample, so as to ascertain the impact of these approaches on “ideas refusers”. Also required is the inclusion of a control group to provide a definitive counter factual. Furthermore, since positive changes in attitudes towards ideas-engagement also ideally leads to changes in behaviours, questions are also needed to examine the sources of ideas respondents subsequently engage with (or not) as a result of these interventions.

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 31 May 2019

Gabriela Walker and Jeni Venker Weidenbenner

Empathy is part of what makes us human and humane, and it has become a core component of the Social Awareness competency of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) (CASEL, 2019). SEL…

19545

Abstract

Purpose

Empathy is part of what makes us human and humane, and it has become a core component of the Social Awareness competency of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) (CASEL, 2019). SEL fosters the understanding of others’ emotions, is the basis of Theory of Mind skills and frames the development of empathy. The purpose of this paper is to trace the links between empathy development and social and emotional learning when using real versus virtual environments. Empathy is a uniquely human emotion facilitated by abstract thinking and language. Virtual play is a teaching tool for acquiring prosocial behaviors. And finally, human-mediated (traditional and virtual) play is most favorable for SEL growth. Recognition of emotions such as empathy and other socio-communication skills have been taught to children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Therefore, technology can be a venue for acquiring empathy.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses a qualitative interpretive methodology to advocate for the use of technology with human mediation to teach Social and Emotional Learning skills, based on the premise that cognitive and social-emotional development occurs synergistically and mediated by speech and interaction with the environment.

Findings

Technology is best seen as an instrument of assessing and teaching socio-emotional skills, but not as the only means to an end, because what makes us human can only be taught within an ecology of human interaction in real-life situations.

Originality/value

This paper reviews previous research works (both empirical and theoretical) that bring to light the connection between socio-emotional development, specifically empathy development, and virtual environments.

Details

Journal of Research in Innovative Teaching & Learning, vol. 12 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2397-7604

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 16 July 2021

Li-Yu Tseng, Jung-Hsiang Chang and Ying Lin Zhu

As Chinese Generation Z consumers have distrust over traditional advertising and marketing, this study focuses on user-generated content (UGC) travel apps to demonstrate the…

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Abstract

Purpose

As Chinese Generation Z consumers have distrust over traditional advertising and marketing, this study focuses on user-generated content (UGC) travel apps to demonstrate the structural relationship among the expertise of amateur information publisher, interactive atmosphere, information quality, expectation confirmation, perceived trust, experiential satisfaction and switching intention.

Design/methodology/approach

This study carried out a questionnaire-based survey among Chinese Generation Z consumers and obtained 356 valid questionnaire copies that were analyzed with the structural equation.

Findings

The expertise of amateur information publisher and the interactive atmosphere of UGC travel apps have positive effects on perceived trust; expectation confirmation and perceived trust have positive effects on experiential satisfaction, and experiential satisfaction has negative effects on switching intention.

Practical implications

The results should encourage UGC travel app developers to use visual effects so as to achieve a higher quality of information, foster a cordial interactive atmosphere and enhance the expertise of information publishers by selecting the best candidate, thus spurring the design of marketing activities popular among the Chinese Generation Z consumers.

Originality/value

This study argues that new-generation consumers have their specific appeals and in the tourist market. It explores the UGC travel apps, which are popular among Generation Z consumers in order to deepen marketing personnel's understanding of the relationship among the expertise of amateur information publisher, interactive atmosphere, information quality, expectation confirmation, perceived trust, experiential satisfaction and switching intention.

Details

Journal of Tourism Futures, vol. 10 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2055-5911

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 10 July 2018

Rita Ramayulis and Anhari Achadi

The purpose of this paper is to produce informative menu board media to show sugar, salt and fat (SSF) related health messages in a Senior High School canteen.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to produce informative menu board media to show sugar, salt and fat (SSF) related health messages in a Senior High School canteen.

Design/methodology/approach

The research model included stages of needs analysis, design, product development and product evaluation. The data were collected from material experts, media experts and 186 high school students. Data were analyzed by descriptive qualitative and statistical analysis.

Findings

The C and D menu boards were selected for their content information and health messages that received higher scores.

Originality/value

There are four stages required in the development of menu board media: needs analysis, menu board design, product development and product evaluation. Further research would be needed to develop the menu boards into a simpler model.

Details

Journal of Health Research, vol. 32 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2586-940X

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 2 January 2020

Zaid Odeh Ebniya

The purpose of this study is to know the effect of religious values that the Jordan Political discipline adopted and were mentioned in the Jordan political discourses (Amman…

1531

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to know the effect of religious values that the Jordan Political discipline adopted and were mentioned in the Jordan political discourses (Amman Message 2005, discourse of King Abdullah II in the European Parliament 2008 and his discourse in United Nations 2015) on the public opinion of the university students, especially their attitudes toward terrorism and extremism. Defending Islam is the responsibility of the Jordan political leadership according to Hashemite legacy and promoting Islamic values that rejected terrorism and extremism to Jordanian youth, especially tolerance and moderation values, to counter defamations and claims against Islam and correct its image in the West.

Design/methodology/approach

A political discourse analysis approach was used by analyzing the Amman Message and identifying the most important religious values contained therein. Also, a quantitative research method was used in this study. The study population consisted of university students, particularly Jordanian University students because being one of the high-bred Jordanian universities, it is characterized with gender, age, regional affiliation and family income diversities. This study depends on a purposive sample containing 350 students (175 males and 175 females). The survey was conducted in the academic year (2018-2019). A questionnaire that was reviewed by three jurors was used in data collection.

Findings

The results of the analysis of the political discourse showed that the values of tolerance and moderation are among the most valued in the Amman Message, where they were frequently repeated. Also, findings have shown that the religious values adopted by the Jordanian political system mentioned in the political discourses had an impact on public opinion of university students on terrorism and extremism causes in a large percent. When gender differed (males and females), the impact ratio of the public opinion for males was higher than that for females. When the age group differed (18-22 and 23-30 years), the effect ratio with the old age group was higher than the effect ratio for the students with the youngest age group. When regional affiliation differed (Jordanian and Jordanian of Palestinian origin), the impact ratio of the public opinion for Jordanian students was higher than that for Jordanian students of Palestinian origin. When regional family income differed (500 dinars and less, more than 500 dinars), the impact ratio of the public opinion for students with family income more than 500 dinars was higher than that for students with family income 500 dinars and less.

Originality/value

This study represents an approach to recognize the effect of religious values that were adopted by the Jordanian political system mentioned in the political discourses on public opinion of university students on terrorism and extremism causes, considering that university students represent the influential youth group in the Jordanian society.

Details

Review of Economics and Political Science, vol. 9 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2356-9980

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 3 April 2017

Brendan Richard

The purpose of this paper is to better understand the future of hotel chains by exploring the evolving expectations of guests, potential innovations, emerging opportunities, and…

36990

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to better understand the future of hotel chains by exploring the evolving expectations of guests, potential innovations, emerging opportunities, and likely future scenarios.

Design/methodology/approach

A literature review consisting of current events, industry reports, and recent trends is utilized to summarize and categorize the challenges and opportunities facing hotel chains.

Findings

The future of hotel chains will be driven by the convergence of an increasingly competitive landscape, along with a diverse evolving customer base seeking out unique and individualized experiences. In order to survive in the future hotel chains will have to: listen to and learn from guests incorporating big data insights, go beyond segments to provide personalized services, continuously develop the brand through signature experiences, utilize collaboration and open innovation to maintain an edge in technology and service, and through total revenue management generate ancillary revenues and maximize guest spend.

Originality/value

This paper provides a comprehensive set of recommendations to hotel chains highlighting opportunities related to: financing, revenue generation, personalization, and co-creation.

Details

Journal of Tourism Futures, vol. 3 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2055-5911

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 1000