Virues‐Ortega, Javier, Pérez‐Bustamante Pereira, Agustín, Martin, Neil, Moeyaert, Mariola, Krause, Peter A., Tarifa‐Rodriguez, Aida, Trujillo, Carolina and Sivaraman, Maithri
2023.
Reducing face touching through haptic feedback: A treatment evaluation against fomite‐mediated self‐infection.
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis
56
(3)
, pp. 549-564.
10.1002/jaba.996
![]() |
![]() |
PDF
- Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives. Download (735kB) |
Abstract
Fomite‐mediated self‐infection via face touching is an understudied transmission pathway for infectious diseases. We evaluated the effect of computer‐mediated vibrotactile cues (presented through experimental bracelets located on one or both hands of the participant) on the frequency of face touching among eight healthy adults in the community. We conducted a treatment evaluation totaling over 25,000 min of video observation. The treatment was evaluated through a multiple‐treatment design and hierarchical linear modeling. The one‐bracelet intervention did not produce significantly lower levels of face touching across both hands, whereas the two‐bracelet intervention did result in significantly lower face touching. The effect increased over repeated presentations of the two‐bracelet intervention, with the second implementation producing, on average, 31 fewer face‐touching percentual points relative to baseline levels. Dependent on the dynamics of fomite‐mediated self‐infection via face touching, treatment effects could be of public health significance. The implications for research and practice are discussed.
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Date Type: | Publication |
Status: | Published |
Schools: | Schools > Psychology |
Additional Information: | License information from Publisher: LICENSE 1: URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ |
Publisher: | Wiley |
ISSN: | 0021-8855 |
Date of First Compliant Deposit: | 15 May 2023 |
Date of Acceptance: | 23 April 2023 |
Last Modified: | 06 Jan 2024 03:40 |
URI: | https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/159484 |
Actions (repository staff only)
![]() |
Edit Item |