Sanna Kuoppamäki – Digitizing Life

A New Conversational Tool to Promote Positive Body Image

Body Image Dissatisfaction Can Decrease Quality of Life

Eating disorders are relatively common among young adults, especially among females or elite athletes. A major risk factor for developing an eating disorder is body image dissatisfaction which indicates a negative attitude towards one’s own physical appearance. Current technologies in the market are focused mostly on nutrition by measuring and tracking calorie intake in order to optimise the dietary choices. The social media landscape is filled with certain beauty ideals representing only certain body types and shapes as more normative or successful than others [1]. As a result, these kinds of technologies can contribute to body image dissatisfaction, unhealthy eating habits, or disordered eating behaviours. Eating disorders often remain unrecognized, and they can significantly decrease the quality of life particularly for young adults who may be vulnerable to societal pressures on physical appearance.

TrueBalance – A New Conversational Tool to Promote Positive Body Image

To provide an alternative solution to the mainstream nutrition technologies, we have developed a new conversational tool called TrueBalance for the recognition and raising awareness of body image dissatisfaction that can maintain unhealthy eating habits. TrueBalance allows the person to have an autonomous text-based conversation on any topic regarding physical appearance, eating habits, fear of gaining weight or anxiety related to food intake. TrueBalance integrates biomedical determinants that might lead to eating disorders, and applies the principles of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) [2] to provide conversational support that helps users in identifying unhelpful thoughts and reformulating these thoughts into more constructive thinking patterns [3]. TrueBalance provides its suggestions based on previous scientific knowledge on eating disorders in a value-sensitive manner. TrueBalance does not collect personal information from the user (such as names or other personal details), which means that all dialogues remain anonymous. We hope that this tool could be used in the promotion of positive body image, prevention of eating disorders or as a complementary method along with working together with a professional therapist.

Initial Feedback from Psychologists and Young Adults Shows Promising Results

TrueBalance has been tested with a psychologist and young adults from the age group of under 30 to understand the benefits and challenges of using this technology for the promotion of positive body image. Psychologists see the benefits of using this tool in the education of cognitive behavioral therapists, since TrueBalance can generate different cognitive strategies for raising awareness and overcoming negative thoughts on body image or eating. Young adults have appreciated the possibility to have an anonymous dialogue on sensitive topics that resembles conversation with a friend. This can help users to reflect and raise awareness of their body image satisfaction, emotions related to food and eating, or concerns regarding physical appearance. More user studies are nevertheless needed to understand the potential implementation and ethical challenges of using this technology in health promotion.

Future Research with New Participants is Needed

It will be important to ensure that this type of technology will have positive impacts on users’ self-image, body image and emotional well-being. For that reason, we are now looking for young adults from the age group of 20-30 interested in trying TrueBalance for a short period of time, and sharing their insights, feedback and challenges with this technology with us. Participation includes:

1) Short online meeting, where we will demonstrate how to use TrueBalance, and what kind of questions or topics you can talk with it. We will give you the instructions of how you can use TrueBalance. You will also answer an anonymised survey on body image satisfaction.

2) You will use TrueBalance in your home for 1 week, a minimum of 3 times. You can select the time and length of using TrueBalance yourself, but we encourage you to use it as often as you like. Using TrueBalance is entirely anonymous, and we will not be able to connect your conversation with your personal data.

3) Follow-up online interview, where we will ask you questions about the user experience of interacting with TrueBalance. You will be asked to fill a questionnaire about body image satisfaction.

A small financial compensation (gift card) will be awarded to all participants.

All young adults between the ages of 20 and 30 are welcome to participate. No prior technical knowledge is needed.

If you are interested in participating, you can respond to this invitation by sending ‘Yes’ along with your name, to rnwja@kth.se or use the registration link: https://tinyurl.com/2a2hxedv. The schedule for the participation can be decided based on your availability.

Your participation contributes to new knowledge about the benefits of conversational technologies in health promotion. At the same time, you get an insight into the ongoing technology development. Participation is completely voluntary and you can choose to cancel your participation in the study at any time. Your privacy will be respected, and no person will be identified from the published material. All information about you is completely anonymised.

Research team:

Sanna Kuoppamäki, Assistant Professor, KTH
Arzu Güneysu, Associate Professor, Umeå University
Razan Jaber, Researcher, KTH
Beatrice Vincenci, Lecturer, Birmingham City University
Josefin Rehn Hamrin, Master student graduate, KTH
Natalia Slusarek, Master student graduate, KTH
Xuan Zhang, Master student graduate, KI

References:

[1] Castellanos Silva, R., & Steins, G. (2023). Social media and body dissatisfaction in young adults: An experimental investigation of the effects of different image content and influencing constructs. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1037932. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1037932

[2] Agras, W. S., & Bohon, C. (2021). Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for the Eating Disorders. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 17(1), 417–438. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-081219-110907

[3] Hamrin, J. R. (2024). Enhancing Support for Eating Disorders: Developing a Conversational Agent Integrating Biomedical Insights and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Master thesis, School of Engineering Sciences. http://kth.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A1869718&dswid=9873

Exploring AI-mediated mindfulness practice to promote older adults’ well-being

Mindfulness can improve mental and physical well-being

Mindfulness has become a common self-care practice to improve mental and physical well-being, decrease symptoms of stress and improve relaxation and concentration.  Mindfulness can be defined as a state that can be achieved through focusing one’s awareness on the present using mind and breath. Mindfulness can be used as a part of self-care practice, or as mindfulness-based intervention (MBIs). Mindfulness-based interventions are used as a prevention and treatment for depression, anxiety, stress and other psychiatric disorders, and they can be practiced through various exercises and assignments aimed at developing mindfulness through formal practice and in daily life. 

New research project about mindfulness in later life

At KTH we are investigating if and how AI-mediated mindfulness practice could promote the well-being of older adults aged 65 and over. The project explores the use of mobile applications in mindfulness practice and aims to design a new conversational mindfulness application through participatory design with older adults.

Older adults could significantly benefit from mindfulness practice, but most mobile health applications are not developed based on their unique needs and interests. Conversational applications, such as chatbots or virtual assistants can decrease many technology adoption barriers that older adults typically experience with digital technologies and improve the interactivity with the device.

What are the benefits of mindfulness practice in daily life?

Mindfulness practice has shown to be associated with reduced levels of stress, anxiety and depressive symptoms. Mindfulness can facilitate compassionate and self-compassionate thinking, which may reduce negative emotions and thoughts experienced in daily life. Mindfulness can also be used as a treatment for physical symptoms, such as chronic pain, fatigue and shortness of breath.

Mindfulness technologies today consist of mobile health applications or videos providing guided mindfulness training. In this project, we aim to use and develop a conversational mobile application that can provide a more personalised, adaptive and accessible mindfulness experience in comparison to traditional methods of mindfulness practice. This application can be designed to have customisable guidance, interactive features, reminders, progress tracking and social features.

“I am interested in mindfulness – how can I participate in the project”?

We are looking for older adults aged 65 and over who would like to use a mindfulness application for a 3-week period at their home. Participation includes an interview before and after using the application. No previous experience of mindfulness is needed, but we recommend that you are comfortable with using a mobile application in Swedish.

We will soon open the link for registration on the KTH website. You can also register by sending your contact information to to: mccarren@kth.se.

By participating in the study, you will have a possibility to test a mobile application in mindfulness practice and contribute to increased scientific knowledge and understanding of the benefits of mindfulness for older adults.

Research team:

Lucy McCarren, PhD student, Department of Biomedical Engineering and Health Systems, KTH

Sanna Kuoppamäki, Assistant Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering and Health Systems, KTH

Inbjudan till att delta i studien: ‘Utvecklingen av en personlig sällskapsrobot’

Är du vuxen som är 65 år eller äldre? Är du intresserad av sociala robotar och vill ta del av utvecklingen av en personligt sällskapsrobot? Kom och ta del av denna unika möjlighet att uppleva Furhat, världens mest avancerade sociala robot.

Forskningsprojektet ‘Personlig sällskapsrobot inom långtidsvården av äldre’ undersöker möjligheterna att använda sociala robotar för att ge socialt stöd till äldre vuxna i deras hem, för att minska upplevelsen av ensamhet. Roboten kommer att lära sig av samtal med användare och komma ihåg dem för att anpassa framtida samtal. Vi är intresserade av hur äldre vuxna upplever samtalet med sociala robotar, och vilken typ av samtal äldre vuxna anser som meningsfullt.

Vi söker äldre vuxna från 65 år som kan delta i studien. Studien kommer att ske den 6 och 8 mars kl. 10-12 och 14-16 på KTH Campus Digital Futures (Osquars backe 5). Deltagande inkluderar:

Du kommer att se videor av sociala robotar i olika vardagssituationer
Du kommer att bli frågad vilken typ av konversation du skulle vilja ha med en robot i dessa situationer
Du kommer att ha ett kort samtal (5 min) med en robot
Du kommer att bli frågad om dina upplevelser av att ha samtalet med roboten

Sammantaget tar dessa två moment ca 2 h.

Alla vuxna som är 65 år eller äldre är välkomna att delta. Inga förkunskaper om robotar behövs för att delta. Vi bjuder på fika och ett presentkort för ditt deltagande.

Om du är intresserad av att delta kan du svara på denna inbjudan genom att skicka “Ja” tillsammans med ditt namn, vilka dagar och tider du är tillgänglig till sannaku@kth.se eller 070-2672 422.

Ditt deltagande bidrar till kunskap om fördelarna med denna teknik för äldre vuxna, och du får möjlighet att påverka framtida lösningar. Samtidigt får du en inblick i den pågående teknikutvecklingen som handlar om robotar och artificiell intelligens.

Deltagandet är helt frivilligt och du kan välja att avbryta ditt deltagande i studien när som helst. Din integritet kommer att respekteras, och ingen person kommer att kunna identifieras från det publicerade materialet. All information om dig är helt och hållet anonymiserad.

Med vänlig hälsning,

Bahar Irfan
Postdoktor vid Digital Futures
Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan, KTH
Avdelningen för Tal, Musik och Hörsel
Email. birfan@kth.se
Tel. +46 727805162

Sanna Kuoppamäki
Biträdande universitetslektor, PhD
Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan, KTH
Institutionen för Medicinsk Teknik och Hälsosystem
Email. sannaku@kth.se
Tel. +46 702672422

Gabriel Skantze
Professor i Talkommunikation och Talteknologi
Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan, KTH
Avdelningen för Tal, Musik och Hörsel
Email. skantze@kth.se
Tel. +46 733266669

Invitation to an interdisciplinary workshop on healthcare robotics

Workshop: Robotic failures in health and social care: Improving HRI design based on empirical insights on human needs, emotions and engagement

When: November 23rd, Wednesday, 2022 (10 am – 5 pm)
Where: Digital Futures Hub at KTH Campus

Adress: Osquars Backe 5, floor 2. SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden

Today, a diversity of robots are being used in many different care settings: ranging from surgical robots in hospitals to companion robots as part of care for the elderly. As robots move out of the lab and into real-world settings, they face the challenge of having to adapt to a complex and shifting environment: a challenge which is currently being tackled by roboticists through emphasizing the need for context awareness and personalisation.

Robust design and sound engineering do not necessarily result in a high uptake of robotic systems in health and social care. In fact, many of these systems eventually fail to reach long-term user engagement, potentially because they fail to consider some of the complexities that characterizes real-world care environments; where the staff and patients ideas of what ‘good’ care entails become entangled with organisational structures and demands (e. g., patient safety, care relationship, quality of care).

This workshop called ‘Robotic failures in health and social care: Improving HRI design based on empirical insights on human needs, emotions and engagement’ aims to provoke a discussion of robot failures in health and social care to design and implement robotic systems in health care in a practically feasible, as well as ethically sustainable, way. We invite researchers from interdisciplinary fields such as Human-Robot Interaction, social sciences, psychology and medical engineering to discuss:

- How, and why, do robots fail when they enter real world care environments?
- What specific aspects of care environments do roboticists have to take into account when designing robots intended to be utilized in these settings?
- What methods could be adopted in order to transfer and communicate empirical findings into the work of those who design and develop care robots?

The workshop will be held on 23rd November, Wednesday, 2022 (10 am – 5 pm), in the cozy open space environment of Digital Futures Hub at KTH Campus (Osquars Backe 5, 2nd floor, Stockholm). It will consist of invited talks, networking games and directed discussions centered around the above-mentioned questions. The emphasis will be on the latter, as our aim is for all participants to be actively engaged and have the opportunity to expand their network and establish possible future collaborations.

The event will have limited number of participants. Registration is free and can be made through the following link:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScr2VA9ZM5TaceSdnGgjtxQgiHoPJFGYptFgh8UPZyx4t3fXg/viewform

Programme, Wednesday 23rd November

10:00 Welcome and Introductory Words on Interactive Flow

10:10 Speed Networking Game

10:20 Idea, Experience, Failures and Critics Sharing & Q&A

- - - Bipin Indurkhya, Professor of Cognitive Science, Jagiellonian University, Poland: “In-the-Wild Observations on The Role of Surprise in Child-Robot Interaction”
    - Sofia Thunberg, PhD Student in Cognitive Science, Linköping University, Sweden: “Social Robots are Not for Everyone – Differences Among End Users”
    - Maria Arnelid, PhD Student, Linköping University, Sweden & Mikaela Hellstrand, PhD Student, KTH, CBH, Sweden: ‘Experiences and gains of utilizing an ethnographic approach when investigating care robots’
    - Arzu Guneysu Ozgur, Digital Futures Postdoctoral Fellow, KTH, RPL: “Health care professionals’ perception of robots”

11:40 Research Pitches from Attendees

12:00 Discussions on Challenges

12:45 Creating a Challenge Board

13:00 Lunch

14:00 Research pitches from attendees

14:20 Idea, Experience, Failures and Critics Sharing & Q&A

- - - Hatice Gunes, Professor of Affective Intelligence and Robotics, University of Cambridge, UK, Title TBA
    - Youssef Mohamed, PhD candidate, KTH, RPL, Sweden: “Multimodal Social Robotic Systems in Healthcare“
    - Bahar Irfan, Digital Futures Postdoctoral Fellow, KTH, TMH, Sweden: “Behind the Scenes of Putting Autonomous Personal Robots in the Wild”
    - Björn Fischer, PhD, KTH, CBH, Sweden: ““Who are the robot and AI users? How business practices can perform future consumer markets“.

15:20 Fika & Networking Game

15:45 Discussions on solutions and methodologies

16.40 Ideation and Possible Collaborations

17:00 Closing and moving to dinner

18:00 Dinner

Organizers:

Youssef Mohamed, KTH, Division of Robotics, Perception and Learning

Mikaela Hellstrand, KTH, Department of Biomedical Engineering and Health Systems

Arzu Guneysu Ozgur, KTH, Division of Robotics, Perception and Learning

Sanna Kuoppamäki, KTH, CBH, Department of Biomedical Engineering and Health Systems

The event is funded by KTH Life Science Platform.

Can digital technology help older adults to remain socially connected during covid-19?

During the outbreak of coronavirus in all European countries many researchers, health care professionals and policy makers have raised the concern of loneliness experienced by older adults during a time of social distancing. Loneliness, defined as a subjective experience of social isolation, have been considered a major health risk for adults aged 65 and over for a long time. It may not be associated with the extent and quality of social networks from: a person can feel lonely regardless of the amount or quality of social and personal relationships, networks and social structures.

Now when many countries and governments need to adjust legislation to limit the social contacts, experiencing loneliness among older adults has become a more accurate question than ever.

Many sociologists in social media have encouraged technology users regardless of age to minimize physical distancing, not social distancing. Whereas physical distancing is crucial to diminish health consequences during covid-19 pandemic, social distancing can have harmful effects both for the economy and for public health. As an opposite to social distancing, remaining socially conntected does not necessarily require physical connectedness. Within the help of digital technologies, all of use can remain socially connected.

Or can we?

In the BCONNECT@Home project we have investigated the association between the usage of digital mobile technology and social connectedness with a survey including 121 respondents aged 55 and 74 in Sweden. The survey was designed to analyse the connection between digital mobile practices conducted with a smart phone and social connectedness within three dimensions: connectedness with personal relationships, connectedness with community and connectedness with society.

Oldest adults use digital mobile technologies actively in Sweden

Our study support the argument that digital exclusion between age groups is diminishing in Sweden. In our analysis, focused on respondents aged between 55 and 74 from Sweden, we found that older adults have adopted digital mobile practices to their daily life to an extensive extent. Nearly all respondents use the smartphone for text messages, but receiving or sending voice or video calls is relatively rare. The differences between the age groups are quite small, which shows that even the oldest adults (aged over 70) are actively online in Sweden. Using the smartphone for gaming is a more frequent activity among younger age groups.

Digital mobile technology enhances connectedness with social community

Digital technologies, and information and communication technologies in particular, are expected to increase or maintain the sense of connectedness. Social connectedness, defined as engagement and belonging to one’s social networks, is often considered as a questions of quality and quantity of social networks. In our study, social connectedness based on subjective evaluation of the feeling of connectedness to others and to a community of neighbourhood.

Results show that the usage of the smartphone for digital mobile practices is positively associated with connectedness with community, and less associated with connectedness with personal relationships and society. Older adults who use their smartphone in a more versatile way report more social activities with community than respondents with less versatile digital activity.

Digital mobile technology can therefore increase connectedness in those activities that include attending with events where many people gather or engaging in cultural activities. During a time of covid-19 pandemic, particularly these activities have been restricted or limited.

Against this finding, ensuring equal opportunities for digital mobile technology use ensures that older adults can remain connected to community that has the possibility to alleviate loneliness.

Social impacts of digital technology use need to be re-considered

Sweden is considered to be one of the most digitally advanced societies. Digital technologies in various forms have been seen as a solution to support the independent, healthy and active living among older adults.

During times of uncertainty, the significance of the ability to remain digitally connected increase. In many cases, this digital connectedness have positive effects on social connectedness, but the relationship is not straightforward. This we should keep in mind after returning back to normal circumstances, particularly for those older adults living alone. Evaluating the social impacts of digital technology use need to be continued.

Results are based on a forthcoming manuscript:

Kuoppamäki, S. & Östlund, B. (2020, forthcoming). Digital mobile technology enhancing social connectedness among older adults in Sweden. In: Zhou J., Salvendy G. (eds) Human Aspects of IT for the Aged Population. HCII2020 Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Cham: Springer.