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Browsing by Author "Sivakumar, Gayathri, advisor"

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    Chronic disease prevention in college students: assessment of perception and intention to use a health management app
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Coulibaly, Souleymane, author; Sivakumar, Gayathri, advisor; Abrams, Katie, committee member; Williams, Elizabeth A., committee member
    The relationship between intention to use a hypothetical health management app and other variables from a conceptual framework of the Health Belief Model (HBM) and the extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2) was assessed using a convenience sample of college students (N= 176). The self-reported online survey measured perceived susceptibility to chronic diseases, perceived seriousness of chronic diseases, perceived benefits of the app, perceived barriers to the app, cues to action, social influence, facilitating conditions and intention to use the app, on 5-point Likert type scales adapted from previous studies. Multiple linear regression was used to determine relationships between the predictor variables and criterion variable. The results of the data analysis showed that individually there were a low perception of susceptibility to diseases, perception of barriers to the app and perception of social influence, and a high perception of seriousness of diseases, perception of benefits of the app, cues to action, facilitating conditions, and intention to use the app. Perceived susceptibility, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, social influence and facilitating conditions had a significant influence on college students' intention to use the app to manage different aspects of their health. However, perceived seriousness and cues to action were not found to predict college students' intention to use the health management app.
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    Exploring apps users' experiences with app notifications
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Bombardi-Bragg, Madeline Renee, author; Sivakumar, Gayathri, advisor; Abrams, Katie, committee member; Elkins, Evan, committee member
    There is a cultural tendency towards technological consumption that leads many people to spend an abundant amount of time interacting with technological devices. These interactions can at times make users feel stressed, annoyed, distracted, or left with feelings of constant pressure to 'check-in' with their online environments. Since such feelings are undesirable, their occurrence is likewise problematic. An important solution to one part of this problem lies with implementing better interface design for user experiences. When web designers, project managers, marketers, app developers and publishers, actively elicit and listen to reports of consumers' experiences with their products, both parties benefit from mutual guidance. The following research explored app users' experiences with, feelings towards, and overall impressions of app notifications to understand and unveil the individual differences that lead users to have different experiences and emotional responses to app notifications. Using the phenomenological approach, the researcher conducted ten in-depth, semi-structured interviews to provide a rich examination of users' experiences with app notifications by way of discussing their specific experiences in an attempt to understand what contributes to a positive or negative app notification experience. Thematic analysis was used to organize the collected data and identify possible themes. The study conclusion posits that users have negative experiences and harbor negative feelings towards app notifications because they lack additional control over their settings which helps users filter out online information that is deemed unimportant or received at undesired or inopportune times.
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    Leaking the secret: women's attitudes toward menstruation and menstrual-tracker mobile apps
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2016) Thompson, Sydney Elizabeth, author; Sivakumar, Gayathri, advisor; Martey, Rosa Mikeal, committee member; Griffin, Cindy, committee member
    This study explored how menstrual-tracker mobile apps have characteristics that reflect menstruation as a taboo in the U.S. culture. Objectification theory and gender schema theory provided a conceptual and overarching framework to explore how the U.S. sociocultural context may play a role in the development of norms and assumptions surrounding menstruation, and in turn, menstrual-tracker mobile apps reflecting society’s norms and assumptions about menstruation as a taboo. Feminist theory is discussed as well, as it shed light on the development of the androcentric view toward menstruation in the United States, and it kindled the researcher’s interest in conducting this study. A dearth of literature exists about menstrual-tracker mobile apps as cultural products, and an online survey was conducted among a convenience sample of female undergraduate millennials (n = 258) to investigate if a correlation exists between their attitudes toward menstruation as a taboo and menstrual-tracker mobile apps’ security features, body control features, and discussion features. The analysis of the data revealed that female undergraduate millennials’ attitudes toward menstruation as a taboo in this study correlated to their attitudes toward security features and discussion features but not body control features on menstrual-tracker mobile apps.
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    Sweet persuasion: decoding CGM apps' strategies on Instagram in the age of health and wellness
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2024) Gopalakrishna Anuradha, Vybhavi Krishna, author; Sivakumar, Gayathri, advisor; Tham, Samuel, committee member; Most, David, committee member
    The study investigates how Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) companies are now expanding beyond diabetes management. They are expanding their horizons to include non-diabetes individuals who are struggling with weight management, and this new development is reflected in their Instagram messaging strategies. Psychological phenomena derived from social cognitive theory, such as observational learning, forethought, self-efficacy, and other content strategies suggested from Hubspot reports, like the format of the post, caption length, and the time of the post, are used to engage the audience on the platform. Nutrisensio, Levels, and January AI's Instagram posts and their engagement rates are used to conduct a quantitative content analysis. The findings prove the presence of these strategies and suggest techniques that can be used in health tech Instagram accounts to make better connections with the audience.
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    The effect of psychological distance on e-smoking cessation campaign messages
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2020) Youn, Kibum, author; Sivakumar, Gayathri, advisor; Park, Young Eun, committee member; Williams, Elizabeth A., committee member
    The study examines the effect of psychological distance on psychological reactance toward e-smoking cessation campaigns, attitude for the e-smoking cessation campaign message, and intention to quit e-smoking as a response to campaign messages as well as the potentially moderating effect of preexisting message fatigue between message types based on psychological distance and psychological reactance. To test effects of psychological distance, 360 participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: 1) near social distance and high hypothetical distance, 2) distant social distance and high hypothetical distance, 3) low social distance and high hypothetical distance, and 4) low social distance and low hypothetical distance. The current study found that people exposed to the near social frame showed a higher level of psychological reactance. Moreover, people experiencing higher message fatigue showed a higher level of psychological reactance, which led to a decreased attitude for the e-smoking cessation campaign message and a decreased intention to quit e-smoking. This study will ultimately inform how researchers should consider the importance of adverse effects for improving the effectiveness of campaigns. Furthermore, the finding from the current study would not only extend earlier studies on psychological reactance, message fatigue, and psychological distance based on Construal level theory (CLT), but also provide practical suggestions to campaigners and practitioners.
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    Using integrated model of behavioral prediction to identify the most predictive determinants of college students' intention to do regular vigorous exercise
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2018) Chen, Hsin, author; Sivakumar, Gayathri, advisor; Long, Marilee, committee member; Leach, Heather, committee member
    This study aimed to use the Integrative Model of Behavioral Prediction (IMBP) to identify the strongest predictors of college student's intention to do vigorous exercise regularly. The results of the study will be useful for health communicators to design messages and campaigns more effectively and further promote college students' exercise intention. In the first phase of study, a small convenience sample of undergraduates (n=19) were asked to indicate their beliefs about doing vigorous exercise regularly with an open-ended questionnaire. After analyzing the qualitative responses by using content analysis, the most salient beliefs were used to design a close-ended survey in the second phase of study. The survey included the questions regarding the salient beliefs and exercise-related attitude, perceived norm, self-efficacy and intention. In the second phase, a larger sample of undergraduates (n=183) participated in the survey. The major findings showed that: (1) college students' exercise intention could be predicted by their attitude perceived norm, and self-efficacy. However, perceived norm was a weaker predictor compared to the other two. (2) More specifically, their exercise intention could be best predicted by their affective attitude, injunctive norm, and confidence. (3) In terms of the predictability of beliefs, both college students' behavioral belief and control belief significantly predicted their exercise intention, but normative belief was not predictive. (3) Lastly, the mediation analysis showed that the IMBP is a partial mediation model instead of a full mediation model. The study concluded by discussing its implications and limitations.
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    Working on my hair: a visual analysis of natural hair and Black women professionals in popular television programming
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2017) Blackburn, Hayley Eve, author; Sivakumar, Gayathri, advisor; Martey, Rosa Mikeal, committee member; Gibson, Katie, committee member
    I examine the representations of Black women characters in professional settings on seven television drama texts. Black features are subjected to Eurocentering—the reduction of racial heritage markers to align with Eurocentric values—to protect hegemonic traditions under the guise of racial neoliberalism. This study focuses on hairstyles for Black women because hair functions as a racial signifier to the audience and is thus a key component of the visual rhetoric under observation. I answer the research question: how does the visibility and representation of natural hair invite the audience to discipline Blackness in professional spaces. The findings reflect that natural hair does lack visibility, with less than 25% of the sample representing significant moments for the main characters to interact with natural hair, and when visible the representation tends towards a disciplinary frame. Natural hair is a symbol of the Black savage framing that reinforces the superiority of Whiteness in the professional world. The Black woman with altered hair becomes a symbol for a civilized, thus successful, Black body able to participate in a professional society while natural hair remains the symbol for the opposite. Overall, audiences are invited to view natural hair in a very limited capacity for professional characters, and the framing reinforces negative perceptions of natural hair for Black women in a work-based Western society.