Development of a subliminal stimulation smartphone application for improving health

• Project/Area Number: 16K16583
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Applied health science
• Research Institution: Kibi International University
• Principal Investigator: Hirao Kazuki 吉備国際大学, 保健医療福祉学部, 講師 (70568401)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2017)
• Budget Amount: ¥3,510,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥810,000); Fiscal Year 2017: ¥1,430,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥330,000); Fiscal Year 2016: ¥2,080,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥480,000)
• Keywords: サブリミナル / 無意識 / 閾下 / 閾上 / 健康 / 予防 / QOL / 作業療法

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The aim of this study was to develop a subliminal stimulation smartphone application (app) for improving the user’s health. We identified common words used to improve self-confidence and clarified the optimal time to present these words. Based on these study results, we developed an application that reproduced videos designed to increase self-confidence through subliminal stimulation. We assessed the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of the app. Intervention of the developed app may reduce depressive symptoms, but it may require improvement to increase the adherence rate.

Research Products

• [Journal Article] Feasibility and preliminary efficacy of a smartphone application intervention for subthreshold depression (2018)
  • Author(s): Takahashi K, Takada K, Hirao K
  • Journal Title: Early Intervention in Psychiatry Volume: － Issue: 1 Pages: 133-136
  • DOI: 10.1111/eip.12540
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Measurement error in the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale: results from a general adult population in Japan (2018)
  • Author(s): Takada K, Takahashi K, Hirao K
  • Journal Title: International Journal of Psychiatry in Clinical Practice Volume: － Issue: 4 Pages: 289-295
  • DOI: 10.1080/13651501.2018.1426772
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Identification of common words to improve self-confidence in Japanese students with subthreshold depression (2018)
  • Author(s): Takahashi K, Takada K, Inoue A, Ohno S, Tanigawa M, Ishihara Y, Uchida H, Hirao K
  • Journal Title: International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health Volume: － Issue: 3
  • DOI: 10.1515/ijamh-2017-0018
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Smallest detectable change and test-retest reliability of a self-reported outcome measure: Results of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, General Self-Efficacy Scale, and 12-item General Health Questionnaire (2017)
  • Author(s): Ohno S, Takahashi K, Inoue A, Takada K, Ishihara Y, Tanigawa M, Hirao K
  • Journal Title: Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice Volume: 23 Issue: 6 Pages: 1348-1354
  • DOI: 10.1111/jep.12795
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Immediate effect of subliminal priming with positive reward stimuli on standing balance in healthy individuals (2017)
  • Author(s): Aoyama Y, Uchida H, Sugi Y, Kawakami A, Fujii M, Kiso K, Kono R, Takebayashi T, Hirao K
  • Journal Title: Medicine Volume: 96 Issue: 28 Pages: e7494-e7494
  • DOI: 10.1097/md.0000000000007494
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access
• [Journal Article] Comparison of Hemodynamic Responses in the Prefrontal Cortex According to Differences in Self-Efficacy (2017)
  • Author(s): Hirao K
  • Journal Title: Biological Research For Nursing Volume: 19 Issue: 4 Pages: 450-455
  • DOI: 10.1177/1099800417706141
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Presentation] Developing a Smartphone Application for Subthreshold Depression (2017)
  • Author(s): Hirao K, Ishihara Y, Tanigawa M, Takahashi K, Ohno S, Inoue A, Takada K
  • Organizer: 15th European Congress of Psychology
  • Int'l Joint Research