Daehyoung Lee, PhD

Dr. Lee is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Behavior and Nutrition Sciences. His research interests center around physical activity and health promotion in individuals with disabilities using interactive technologies, such as mobile health applications and wearable technologies. Dr. Lee’s current research projects examine the impact of a gamified, behavior change theory-guided mobile health intervention on physical, mental, and cognitive health in individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Institution: University of Delaware

Project Title: A Self-Determination Theory-Guided mHealth Intervention to Improve Uptake and Sustainability of Physical Activity Engagement and Reduce Sedentary Behavior in Autistic Adults

Project Overview: This pilot project seeks to evaluate the effectiveness and sustainability of a mobile health (mHealth) app PuzzleWalk v2 on increasing physical activity (PA) and reducing sedentary behavior (SB) in autistic adults. PuzzleWalk is an innovative mHealth app that combines gamification, incentivization, and evidence-based health behavior strategies leveraging unique strengths of autistic individuals who often prefer visuospatial learning and are drawn to gaming technologies due to their low face-to-face social requirements. PuzzleWalk v2 will build upon previous findings by refining the step-game time conversion algorithm and incorporating various autism-friendly elements, such as visual cues, feedback on performance, and positive reinforcement in collaboration with key stakeholders, including autistic adults, parents of autistic children, and other service providers.

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