Robyn Vanherle

As digital technologies become increasingly embedded in everyday life, research has begun to explore how they can be leveraged for personal benefit, particularly in health. This has given rise to m...

Background: Out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCAs) are a leading cause of death worldwide, yet first responder apps can significantly improve outcomes by mobilizing citizens to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation before professional help arrives. Despite their importance, limited research has examined the psychological and behavioral factors that influence individuals’ willingness to adopt these apps. Objective: Given that first responder app use involves elements of both technology adoption and preventive health behavior, it is essential to examine this behavior from multiple theoretical perspectives. Building on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) and health belief model (HBM), this study therefore developed an integrative framework to explain which behavioral determinants and demographic and health-related factors drive an individual’s willingness to install a first responder app for OHCA. Methods: We conducted a web-based cross-sectional survey (N=3660; mean age 49.95, SD 16.75 years; n=1909, 52.2% women) in June 2024 among Belgian adults. Behavioral determinants (UTAUT and HBM constructs), demographic (eg, age), and health-related (eg, cardiopulmonary resuscitation training experience) variables were measured using (multi-item) scales. Willingness to install the app served as the outcome variable. We developed a structural equation model using the Lavaan package in R and specified regression paths, on the one hand, between the behavioral determinants and willingness to install the app, and on the other hand, between the demographic and health-related factors and the behavioral determinants. Additionally, we conducted multiple group analyses to examine the moderating role of demographic and health-related factors on the relationships between the behavioral determinants and the willingness to install the app. Results: Our results revealed that 2 UTAUT variables (ie, facilitating conditions: β=.07; P=.003 and social influence: β=.16; P<.001) and 3 HBM variables (ie, perceived susceptibility: β=.06; P=.003, perceived barriers: β=–.29; P<.001, and perceived benefits: β=.38; P<.001) were associated with willingness to install a first responder app for OHCA. Additionally, most demographic and health-related factors were indirectly related to willingness via behavioral determinants, with age being the sole moderator. Specifically, a negative association between perceived severity and willingness was only observed among older adults. In addition, the positive relationship between perceived benefits and willingness was stronger for older adults compared to younger ones. Conclusions: Overall, the results of this study have both theoretical and practical implications. Theoretically, this study finds its relevance in extending the UTAUT and HBM to altruistic mobile health apps and advancing our understanding of technology adoption in health contexts. Practically, the study’s findings could inform real-life health campaigns aimed at enhancing citizen participation in first responder systems.

Social media browsing has been linked to both declines and improvements in affective well-being, with recent research suggesting its effects depend on key factors. This experience sampling study among emerging adults (N = 108, Mage = 22.29, 61 female) examines three such factors: levels of analysis, underlying reasons, and content valence. Results reveal no significant between-person associations, but a small average within-person association, suggesting that, on average, social media browsing slightly reduces positive affect. However, this effect was only statistically significant in one model, and person-specific analyses showed no significant individual-level effects, underscoring the high statistical uncertainty. Additionally, when examining the underlying factors, browsing was modestly linked to lower affective well-being when driven by habit and when individuals encountered positive content. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of the complex relationship between social media browsing and well-being, emphasizing the importance of considering key underlying factors when interpreting these effects.

When using social media, adolescents encounter various types of appearance-related content. Yet, no research has explored how daily exposure to such types of content, including idealized content, body positivity (BoPo) content, and a mixture of both, links to adolescents’ body image states. With the present 14-day daily diary study among French adolescents ( N = 108, 1,434 daily assessments, M _age = 15.99, 64.8% girls), we examined how exposure to idealized appearance content and BoPo content predicts adolescents’ state body satisfaction and surveillance on the same day and the next day. More so, we explored how the relationships may vary depending on a co-occurrence of exposure to both content types (i.e., mixed exposure). At a between-person level, exposure to idealized appearance and BoPo content was linked to higher body surveillance. At the within-level, BoPo content was associated with higher body satisfaction, meaning that on days that adolescents saw more BoPo content than usual (compared to their own means), they were also more satisfied with their bodies. However, these relations did not last until the following day. No other within-person level relations emerged. Also, when exploring the impact of the interaction between exposure to BoPo and idealized content, non-significant results emerged. The findings highlight the complexity of adolescents’ interactions with social media and emphasize the importance of future research adopting an ecological approach. This should involve considering both intra-individual and inter-individual factors, as well as the diverse types of social media exposure.

The citizen science project 'From Bystander to Hero' embraces the diversity of society. Everyone can play a role in improving the chances of survival after cardiac arrest, in a way that suits his or her abilities and talents.

BACKGROUND Out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) are a leading cause of death worldwide, yet first responder apps can significantly improve outcomes by mobilizing citizens to perform CPR before professional help arrives. Despite their importance, understanding of these apps' societal integration remains limited. OBJECTIVE Given that first responder app use involves elements of both technology adoption and preventive health behavior, it is essential to examine this behavior from multiple theoretical perspectives. Building on the UTAUT and Health Belief Model (HBM), this study therefore developed an integrative framework to explain which behavioral determinants and individual factors drive individual’s willingness to install a first responder app for OHCA. METHODS We conducted an online cross-sectional survey (N=3660, Mage=49.95, SDage=16.75, 52.2% female) in June 2024 among [country blinded] adults. To test our hypotheses and address our research questions, we developed a Structural Equation Model (SEM) using the Lavaan package in R. RESULTS Our results revealed that two UTAUT variables (i.e. facilitating conditions and social influence) and three HBM variables (i.e. perceived susceptibility, perceived barriers and perceived benefits) were associated with willingness to install a first responder app for OHCA. Additionally, most demographic and health factors indirectly related to willingness via behavioral determinants, with age being the sole moderator. CONCLUSIONS Overall, the results of this study have both theoretical and practical implications. Theoretically, this study finds its relevance in extending the UTAUT and HBM to altruistic mobile health apps and advancing our understanding of technology adoption in health contexts. Practically, the study’s findings could inform real-life health campaigns aimed at enhancing citizen participation in first responder systems.

Research has shown that young individuals frequently turn to social networking sites (SNSs) to monitor others’ behaviors. This is especially likely with Snapchat, as this platform offers extensive monitoring options in real time, for instance through the use of the “snap map”. However, despite the growth of surveillance features, little is known about the use of these features and their possible association with individuals’ mental health. Consequently, this cross-sectional survey among 16- to 25-year-olds (N = 360, Mage = 19.51) examines (1) whether individuals with a higher need for popularity are more likely to engage in Snapchat surveillance behaviors, (2) whether these behaviors, in turn, are associated with indicators of individuals’ mental health, specifically feelings of loneliness and depressive symptoms, and (3) whether fear of missing out mediates the association between surveillance behaviors and these mental health indicators. The findings show that a higher need for popularity is associated with the monitoring of others through Snapchat, which, in turn, was associated with health indicators via fear of missing out. These associations were, however, not found for general Snapchat use, indicating that specific uses of this platform are more detrimental than others. Future research should, therefore, focus more thoroughly on the relationships between specific SNS behaviors and individuals’ mental health.