Hallym University

About: Hallym University is a education organization based out in Chuncheon, South Korea. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Medicine. The organization has 10605 authors who have published 18891 publications receiving 302498 citations.

Smoking Cessation Apps for Smartphones: Content Analysis With the Self-Determination Theory

Abstract: Background: Smartphones are increasingly receiving attention from public health scholars and practitioners as a means to assist individuals’ health management. A number of smartphone apps for smoking cessation are also available; however, little effort has been made to evaluate the content and functions of these apps employing a theoretical framework. Objective: The present study aims to analyze and evaluate the contents of smoking cessation apps available in South Korea employing the self-determination theory (SDT) as a theoretical framework for analysis. This study analyzes the extent to which smoking cessation apps have features that satisfy the basic needs identified in the SDT, which stimulate autonomous motivation. The type of motivational goal content manifested in the apps and how the goal content was framed are also explored. By assessing the features of smoking cessation apps based on the SDT, this study aims to offer direction for improvement for these apps. Methods: Out of 309 apps identified from the iTunes store and Google Play (excluding 27 duplications), 175 apps were randomly drawn and analyzed. The coding scheme was drafted by the authors based on the SDT and gain/loss framing theory and was further finely tuned through the process of coder training and by establishing intercoder reliability. Once the intercoder reliability was established, the coders divided up the rest of the sample and coded them independently. Results: The analysis revealed that most apps (94.3%, 165/175) had at least one feature that tapped at least 1 of the 3 basic needs. Only 18 of 175 apps (10.3%) addressed all 3 basic needs. For goal content, money (53.7%, 94/175) showed the highest frequency, followed by health (32.0%, 56/175), time (7.4%, 13/175), and appearance (1.1%, 2/175), suggesting that extrinsic goals are more dominantly presented in smoking cessation apps. For the framing of goal content, gain framing appeared more frequently (41.7%, 73/175). Conclusions: The results suggest that these smoking cessation apps may not sufficiently stimulate autonomous motivation; a small number of apps addressed all 3 basic needs suggested by the SDT (ie, autonomy, competence, and relatedness). The apps also tended to present extrinsic goal content (primarily in terms of money) over intrinsic ones (ie, health) by primarily adopting gain framing. Implications of these findings for public health practitioners and consumers are discussed. [J Med Internet Res 2014;16(2):e44]

Sleep duration, subjective sleep disturbances and associated factors among university students in Korea

Abstract: Objective of this study was to look into sleep patterns of university students in association with their lifestyle, specifically to examine mean sleep duration, prevalence of sleep disturbances and their correlates. This study also aimed to examine a possible association of sleep patterns of young adults with new media like computers and videos, which were supposed to have a great influence on their lifestyle. Self-reported sleep data were derived from questionnaires administered to a total of 1,414 students of one university located in Chullabuk-do, Korea. Statistical methods such as t-test, analyses of variance, chi-square test and multivariate logistic regression were used for analysis. The mean sleep duration of the respondents was 6.7+/-1.3 hr. Of the respondents, 30.2% reported having insufficient sleep. About one third of them pointed to visual media including computers as the primary reason. The proportion of those having some types of sleep disturbances was 36.2%. The risk of subjective sleep disturbances was significantly lower among those perceiving themselves healthy than among those perceiving themselves unhealthy (OR=0.44; 95% CI: 0.34-0.57).