WorkFit

Designing Proactive Voice Assistance for the Health and Well-Being of Knowledge Workers

authored by

Shashank Ahire, Benjamin Simon, Michael Rohs

Abstract

Prior research has designed and evaluated Voice Assistance (VA) for different settings such as the home, school, and public spaces. Office environments have been relatively understudied, leaving a gap in understanding the essential factors for designing a VA specifically for work settings. In this study, we developed the WorkFit VA specific for the office environment, focusing on the health and well-being of knowledge workers. WorkFit was designed to monitor knowledge workers for sedentary behavior, inconsistent hydration, and stress, and to deliver proactive voice interventions followed by a health recommendation to mitigate those issues. We evaluated WorkFit in a field study with 15 knowledge workers for 5 working days. In the study, we determined challenges and opportunities for voice interactions in work settings. We identified contextual factors for identifying inopportune moments for voice interactions in an office setting. We found that 92% of knowledge workers accepted WorkFit's hydration interventions while 79% of them engaged in walking breaks. Moreover, breathing exercises recommended by WorkFit significantly stabilized the heart rate of knowledge workers during stress. Based on our findings, we propose five design recommendations for the development of VA customized to office settings.

Organisation(s)

Human-Computer Interaction Section  

Type

Conference contribution

No. of pages

14

Publication date

08.07.2024

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Human-Computer Interaction, Software

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.1145/3640794.3665561 (Access: Closed)