Imagining Consequences of Excessive Smartphone Use via a Character-Based Mobile Application

Excessive use of smartphones or other electronic screen products and the associated symptoms of addiction among youngsters have sparked concerns. This study explores possibilities of preventing adolescents or young adults from excessive smartphone use via a character-based mobile application stimulating their imagination and reflection. The character responds contingently to a user’s act of switching on or off the screen, causing one to associate the effects on the character with excessive use. This approach, grounded in the embodied cognition thesis, combines behavior with imaginative consequences for one to experience, which combat the rewarding neural pathways activated in addictive behaviors. The application was deployed in a field trial. Each participant’s usage was tracked via automated logging, and cognitive responses were probed through in-depth interviews. Interview data were analyzed, followed by comparison with logged data. Overall, about half of the participants attributed imaginative consequences to their ways of using phones. One third of the participants showed evidence of positive change in using phones. These two groups substantially overlapped. The results suggest that experientially grounded association of virtual consequences with physical acts could correlate with behavior change. Using figurative representation as feedback could be promising in supporting individuals for healthy habits.     

Youth,violence and non-injection drug use: nexus of vulnerabilities among lesbian and bisexual sex workers

Despite increasing evidence of enhanced HIV risk among sexual minority populations, and sex workers (SWs) in particular, there remains a paucity of epidemiological data on the risk environments of SWs who identify as lesbian or bisexual. Therefore, this short report describes a study that examined the individual, interpersonal and structural associations with lesbian or bisexual identity among SWs in Vancouver, Canada. Analysis drew on data from an open prospective cohort of street and hidden off-street SWs in Vancouver. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regressions were used to examine the independent relationships between individual, interpersonal, work environment and structural factors and lesbian or bisexual identity. Of the 510 individuals in our sample, 95 (18.6%) identified as lesbian or bisexual. In multivariable analysis, reporting non-injection drug use in the last six months (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 2.89; 95% confidence intervals [CI] = 1.42, 5.75), youth ≤24 years of age (AOR = 2.43; 95% CI = 1.24, 4.73) and experiencing client-perpetrated verbal, physical and/or sexual violence in the last six months (AOR = 1.85; 95% CI = 1.15, 2.98) remained independently associated with lesbian/bisexual identity, after adjusting for potential confounders. The findings demonstrate an urgent need for evidence-based social and structural HIV prevention interventions. In particular, policies and programmes tailored to lesbian and bisexual youth and women working in sex work, including those that prevent violence and address issues of non-injection stimulant use are required.