PostureChair: A Real-Time, As-Needed Feedback System for Improving the Sitting Posture of Office Workers

Computer users spend the vast majority of their time sitting, and poor posture in the workplace is an endemic issue. This work presents PostureChair, a posture detection system that uses contextual digital feedback to persuade users to improve their sitting posture. Two types of digital feedback, with varying amounts of information, were compared through a repeated measures study to determine how much information is necessary to improve posture and to appeal to the user. The results of the study showed participants’ sitting posture improved significantly with both feedback types when compared to their posture with feedback disabled. Participants overwhelmingly preferred the more detailed feedback even though it did not clearly improve users’ sitting posture beyond the simpler feedback. The PostureChair system was well received and demonstrates that contextual posture improvement is an effective and much-needed addition to the workplace.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Computer Science (M.C.S.)

Level thesis:degree_level

Master's

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Human-Computer Interaction

Grantor dc:publisher

Carleton University

Year dc:date.issued

2015

Author dc:creator

• Speir, Jessica

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright © 2015 the author(s). Theses may be used for non-commercial research, educational, or related academic purposes only. Such uses include personal study, research, scholarship, and teaching. Theses may only be shared by linking to Carleton University Institutional Repository and no part may be used without proper attribution to the author. No part may be used for commercial purposes directly or indirectly via a for-profit platform; no adaptation or derivative works are permitted without consent from the copyright owner.

Language dc:language.iso

en

DOI

10.22215/etd/2015-11081

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:carleton.scholaris.ca:20.500.14718/32596