Page 36 - IJPS-10-2

International Journal of
Population Studies Design and usability evaluations of a course

exercises, recording diaries, and reflecting on goal setting A new course module is unlocked only after the preceding
and implementation intention by creating if-then plans. It module is completed, so as to ensure that participants have
is intended to run for 9 weeks and targets multiple types of completed all the modules.
behavior related to light, outdoor physical activity and sleep.
The role of the course instructor is to facilitate rather
The course is divided into nine modules. An overview than teach. To facilitate during the course, the instructor
of the content is shown in Figure 2. Every completed would: (i) monitor the progress of module completion so
module ends with a brief online evaluation. Besides online that participants stay on pace with the course completion
material, the course includes a test kit containing lamps, a date; (ii) respond to questions about homework
sleep mask, a checklist for the inventory of a room, a cap, assignments; and (iii) provide personal feedback on online
a notebook, and a sleep diary. The purpose of the test kit is assignments and encourage participants to continue to the
to encourage experimentation and provide handouts and next module upon module completion. Both personal and
printed copies to facilitate the completion of assignments. automated encouragement has been shown to increase

The course is mainly self-directed, and the estimated intervention adherence in the context of internet cognitive
course time per week is between 2 and 4 h. Future course behavioral therapy (Furukawa et al., 2021). During the
participants will take part in the course from home using course period, future course participants will be able to
their own digital devices and will be given the flexibility to offer peer support among one another, in the form of
complete the coursework at any time during the week, as online messages through the integrated mailbox of the
long as they follow the course material in a pre-set order. digital platform.

Figure 1. Screenshots of the web-based course “Light, activity and sleep in my daily life” showing the start page, the module structure, the assignment
“Inventory of a room at home and time spent outdoors,” and the evaluation ending each module.

Figure 2. Overview of the course content of each weekly module.

Volume 10 Issue 2 (2024) 30 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.378