Supporting Communication and Well-being with a Multi-Stakeholder Mobile App: Lessons Learned from A Field Study with ADHD Children and their CaregiversChildren with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and their caregivers face daily challenges which can adversely affect their well-being, especially regarding communication within their care ecosystems, comprising family, friends, educators, and therapists. To foster communication among children and their care ecosystem and support their well-being, we created REMEMO, a mobile app that was iteratively designed and evaluated by actively involving ADHD children and their caregivers. It supports both individual and collaborative use, offering tailored features for different user groups: children, parents, or therapists and educators. Its primary function is to enable users to record their experiences and emotions and choose whether to share these with other members of the care ecosystem. We deployed REMEMO in a multi-week field study with five groups encompassing ADHD children (total participants n=18). Our analysis showed that REMEMO can support emotional expression, regulation, reflection, and transparent and affectionate communication, addressing needs of both ADHD children and their caregivers. Our findings also highlight the critical role of mutual understanding regarding technology use and contextual challenges in shaping usage patterns. We discuss opportunities and challenges in designing technologies that cater to the varying needs of different stakeholders of ADHD children’s care ecosystems and engage in critical reflection regarding evaluating technologies with vulnerable populations, such as families of ADHD children.2025ESEvropi Stefanidi et al.Caregiving & CaregiversCSCW
Give and Take: Perceptions of a Conversational Coach Agent in Fitness TrackersWhile Personal Informatics (PI) tools utilise data visualisations to communicate behaviour, users often struggle to make sense of their data and translate it to actionable insights. Conversational Agents (CAs) offer potential for improved access to PI data, yet their role in PI tools remains under-explored. We conducted a two-week user study with journals, interviews and logging with n=36 participants using a novel commercial fitness tracker with an embedded CA. We identified the give and take principle as essential for meaningful sensemaking with a CA—a dynamic resulting in more effective interactions given users' inputs (give) are met with prompts that are sufficiently specific and built upon prior data engagement (take). A critical point was how users perceived the CA during their initial interactions, with first impressions often determining further engagement. We contribute insights into how CAs can support or hinder the PI experience, offering implications for future PI system designs.2025MLMeagan B. Loerakker et al.Conversational ChatbotsFitness Tracking & Physical Activity MonitoringMobileHCI
The Self-Care Technology Process Model (SCTpm): A Framework for Designing VR-Based Self-Care TechnologyDesigning for ongoing engagement in Virtual Reality (VR) self-care and well-being interventions presents several challenges. Current frameworks supporting designers in this task primarily focus on specific well-being objectives, such as goal-setting or self-reflection, but often lack implementable design recommendations to enhance engagement and prevent lapsing. To address this gap, we propose the Self-Care Technology Process Model (SCTpm), which builds on six prior studies on VR self-care applications. The SCTpm is a framework for an intervention-centred self-care journey, providing targeted design recommendations tailored to evolving user needs and supporting sustained interaction. Evaluated by n=10 experts, the SCTpm demonstrates its potential to enhance the iterative design and evaluation cycles of VR-based self-care technologies, sensitising designers to create effective and more engaging systems. Findings further indicate that the SCTpm can provide valuable guidance for designers and researchers at different levels of expertise in developing innovative VR applications for self-care.2025NWNadine Wagener et al.Immersion & Presence ResearchVR Medical Training & RehabilitationMental Health Apps & Online Support CommunitiesDIS
TogetherReflect: Supporting Emotional Expression in Couples Through a Collaborative Virtual Reality ExperienceNavigating emotional conflicts within relationships can be challenging. People often struggle to express their emotions during a conflict, which can lead to misunderstandings and unresolved feelings. To facilitate deeper emotional expression, we developed TogetherReflect, a multi-user Virtual Reality (VR) experience designed for couples. Partners first draw their emotions related to a shared conflict in VR, allowing for individual expression and self-reflection. They then invite each other into their drawings to discuss their feelings, before drawing together on a shared canvas to reaffirm their love and commitment. Throughout this process, TogetherReflect provides prompts and guidance, aiming to foster self-reflection and communication skills. We exploratory evaluated the experience with 10 couples (n=20). Our findings indicate that TogetherReflect deepens personal emotional insights, fosters mutual understanding, and strengthens relational bonds. We highlight the potential of guided VR experiences to transform conflict resolution in intimate relationships and offer design considerations for future development.2025NWNadine Wagener et al.University of Bremen, HCISocial & Collaborative VRImmersion & Presence ResearchInteractive Narrative & Immersive StorytellingCHI
Describing Explored Places through OpenStreetMap DataMobile navigation applications are good at providing efficient navigation instructions. However, they currently lack the capability to facilitate free exploration. Therefore, users are limited to encountering only places close to the shortest paths, neglecting places that could diversify navigation and foster spatial learning. To better understand what characteristics places have that users like to explore we collected a dataset with a mobile application that encourages free exploration using gamification (n = 39, t = 455 days, 106.50 km2). Using OpenStreetMap data, we found highly frequented freely explored places comprising office, educational, retail, touristic and commercial places. When comparing the characteristics of the freely explored places to those along the shortest path, those categories were different. Based on our findings, we propose that implementing more diverse routing algorithms can enhance navigation diversity, improve spatial learning, and optimise the utilisation of urban spaces for travel.2025ESEve Schade et al.University of St. GallenGeospatial & Map VisualizationPublic Transit & Trip PlanningCHI
A Comparative Study of How People With and Without ADHD Recognise and Avoid Dark Patterns on Social MediaDark patterns are deceptive strategies that recent work in human-computer interaction (HCI) has captured throughout digital domains, including social networking sites (SNSs). While research has identified difficulties among people to recognise dark patterns effectively, few studies consider vulnerable populations and their experience in this regard, including people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), who may be especially susceptible to attention-grabbing tricks. Based on an interactive web study with 135 participants, we investigate SNS users' ability to recognise and avoid dark patterns by comparing results from participants with and without ADHD. In line with prior work, we noticed overall low recognition of dark patterns with no significant differences between the two groups. Yet, ADHD individuals were able to avoid specific dark patterns more often. Our results advance previous work by understanding dark patterns in a realistic environment and offer insights into their effect on vulnerable populations.2025TMThomas Mildner et al.University of BremenCognitive Impairment & Neurodiversity (Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia)Dark Patterns RecognitionCHI
The Dual Model for Everyday Stress Technology: Understanding the Lived Experience of Data-Driven StressTechnology plays a dual role in our daily lives, both contributing to heightened stress levels and offering potential solutions for stress management. However, the lived experience of stress in everyday contexts remains underexplored, leaving a critical gap in our understanding of how stress manifests and how technology can effectively support stress management. To address this, we conducted user interviews and expert interviews with specialists in psychology, health, and stress research, complemented by an autoethnographic study. Our findings show the complexity of stress as both a subjective experience and a response shaped by socio-technical environments, leading to the construction of the Dual Model for Everyday Stress Technology. This model highlights the paradoxical nature of stress and its management in technology-mediated settings. We identify key directions for future stress-management technology design and research, with implications for creating meaningful, human-centred technologies for managing stress in everyday life.2025SBSigrid Hoddø Bakås et al.University of OsloMental Health Apps & Online Support CommunitiesSleep & Stress MonitoringCHI
The Framework of the Lived Experience of Metrics: Understanding the Purposes and Activities of Self-Tracking MetricsMost studies of Personal Informatics (PI) focus on the holistic experience of self-tracking or how users relate to self-tracking goals. Recently, new tracker metrics became available in commercial systems, e.g. stress scores or body battery. Hence, more attention should be devoted to what users track and how they understand metrics produced by their trackers. Charting the evolution of metrics in PI can enable building systems that better support well-being. To this end, we interviewed n=25 fitness tracker users to discover what metrics are most important to them, how they understand the metrics, and how they formulate their goals with respect to the metrics. We found that users created a metric ecology which they adjusted to their life circumstances, reformulating their goals. We identified key issues in understanding metrics which bear the risk of misuse. We contribute recommendations for future PI systems as self-tracking metrics increase in complexity.2025MLMeagan B. Loerakker et al.TU WienFitness Tracking & Physical Activity MonitoringSleep & Stress MonitoringSmartwatches & Fitness BandsCHI
MoodShaper: A Virtual Reality Experience to Support Managing Negative EmotionsNegative emotions such as sadness or anger are often seen as something to be avoided. However, recognising, processing and regulating challenging emotional experiences can facilitate personal growth and is essential for long-term well-being. To support people in regulating and reflecting on negative emotions, we designed MoodShaper — a VR experience where participants autonomously create a virtual environment combined with emotion regulation (ER) interventions. Our system included three different interventions designed based on interviews with psychotherapists. We evaluated MoodShaper in a mixed-method between-subject study with $n=60$ participants. Participants experienced one of the three ER interventions, allowing them to manipulate visual representations of negative emotions through either externalisation, seclusion, or appreciation. We found that MoodShaper significantly increased positive affect while decreasing difficulties in ER and negative affect. Our work demonstrates how VR can provide technology-mediated support to reflect on, engage with and manage negative emotions. We contribute insights for future VR systems which support ER for challenging situations.2024NWNadine Wagener et al.Immersion & Presence ResearchVR Medical Training & RehabilitationMental Health Apps & Online Support CommunitiesDIS
ProtoBricks: A Research Toolkit for Tangible Prototyping & Data PhysicalizationBuilding tangible interfaces or data physicalizations is a resource-intensive endeavour. There is a need for rapid means to prototype tangibles in order to facilitate research and design. To this end, we designed ProtoBricks: a research toolkit that uses capacitive bricks to facilitate rapid prototyping for tangible interfaces. Utilizing toy bricks that do not contain electronics, ProtoBricks can record brick position and color. Specialized knowledge is not required to build our system as it uses widely available components and 3D printing. We contribute the full software and hardware specification of the toolkit. We evaluate the utility of the toolkit by reporting on past use cases and prototyping workshops. We show that the toolkit facilitates creativity and effectively supports prototyping. ProtoBricks lowers the entry threshold for experimenting with tangible interfaces and enables researchers and designers to focus on the interaction with their prototype, delegating implementation to the toolkit.2024JDJulia Dominiak et al.Data PhysicalizationCircuit Making & Hardware PrototypingDIS
Narrating Fitness: Leveraging Large Language Models for Reflective Fitness Tracker Data InterpretationWhile fitness trackers generate and present quantitative data, past research suggests that users often conceptualise their wellbeing in qualitative terms. This discrepancy between numeric data and personal wellbeing perception may limit the effectiveness of personal informatics tools in encouraging meaningful engagement with one’s wellbeing. In this work, we aim to bridge the gap between raw numeric metrics and users’ qualitative perceptions of wellbeing. In an online survey with $n=273$ participants, we used step data from fitness trackers and compared three presentation formats: standard charts, qualitative descriptions generated by an LLM (Large Language Model), and a combination of both. Our findings reveal that users experienced more reflection, focused attention and reward when presented with the generated qualitative data compared to the standard charts alone. Our work demonstrates how automatically generated data descriptions can effectively complement numeric fitness data, fostering a richer, more reflective engagement with personal wellbeing information.2024KSKonstantin R. Strömel et al.Osnabrück UniversityHuman-LLM CollaborationExplainable AI (XAI)Sleep & Stress MonitoringCHI
Society’s Attitudes Towards Human Augmentation and Performance Enhancement Technologies (SHAPE) Scale"Human augmentation technologies (ATs) are a subset of ubiquitous on-body devices designed to improve cognitive, sensory, and motor capacities. Although there is a large corpus of knowledge concerning ATs, less is known about societal attitudes towards them and how they shift over time. To that end, we developed The Society's Attitudes Towards Human Augmentation and Performance Enhancement Technologies (SHAPE) Scale, which measures how users of ATs are perceived. To develop the scale, we first created a list of possible scale items based on past work on how people respond to new technologies. The items were then reviewed by experts. Next, we performed exploratory factor analysis to reduce the scale to its final length of thirteen items. Subsequently, we confirmed test-retest validity of our instrument, as well as its construct validity. The SHAPE scale enables researchers and practitioners to understand elements contributing to attitudes toward augmentation technology users. The SHAPE scale assists designers of ATs in designing artifacts that will be more universally accepted." https://doi.org/10.1145/36109152023SVSteeven Villa et al.Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) & NeurofeedbackMotor Impairment Assistive Input TechnologiesUbiComp
Towards a Haptic Taxonomy of Emotions: Exploring Vibrotactile Stimulation in the Dorsal RegionThe implicit communication of emotional states between persons is a key use case for novel assistive and augmentation technologies. It can serve to expand individuals' perceptual capabilities and assist neurodivergent individuals. Notably, vibrotactile rendering is a promising method for delivering emotional information with minimal interference with visual or auditory perception. To date, the subjective individual association between vibrotactile properties and emotional states remains unclear. Previous approaches relied on analogies or arbitrary variations, limiting generalization. To address this, we conducted a study with 40 participants, analyzing associations between attributes of self-generated vibrotactile patterns (\textsc{amplitude}, \textsc{frequency}, \textsc{spatial location} of stimulation) and four emotional states (\textsc{Anger}, \textsc{Happiness}, \textsc{Neutral}, \textsc{Sadness}). We fin a preference for symmetrically arranged patterns, as well as distinct amplitude and frequency profiles for different emotions. These insights can aid in creating standardized vibrotactile patterns for universal emotional communication.2023SVSteeven Villa et al.Vibrotactile Feedback & Skin StimulationUbiComp
Developing the Eudaimonic Technology Experience Scale Recent research has shown that users increasingly seek meaning in technologies and that eudaimonic user experience (UX) is part of everyday encounters with technology. Yet, to date, there is no validated means to assess eudaimonic properties in interactive artefacts. We conceptualised, developed and validated a six-item questionnaire for measuring eudaimonic properties of technologies---the Eudaimonic Technology Experience Scale (ETES). Our scale includes two factors, which describe what aspects of a eudaimonic experience can be supported by technology: eudaimonic goals and self-knowlege. We consulted work in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), psychology and philosophy to gather an initial set of concepts that could contribute to eudaimonic UX. We then built the scale based on expert interviews and exploratory factor analysis and verified its quality in a number of tests (confirmatory factor analysis, reliability and validity checks). ETES provides a standardised tool for identifying eudaimonic qualities in interactive systems and allows for rapidly comparing prototypes.2023PWPaweł W. Woźniak et al.Workplace Wellbeing & Work StressDIS