JOURNAL OF MEDICAL INTERNET RESEARCH Seals et al Original Paper Effects of Self-focused Augmented Reality on Health Perceptions During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Web-Based Between-Subject Experiment Ayanna Seals1, MSc; Monsurat Olaosebikan2, MSc; Jennifer Otiono3, BA; Orit Shaer3, PhD; Oded Nov4, PhD 1New York University, Brooklyn, NY, United States 2Tufts University, Medford, MA, United States 3Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA, United States 4Department of Technology Management and Innovation, Tandon School of Engineering, New York University, Brooklyn, NY, United States Corresponding Author: Ayanna Seals, MSc New York University 5 Metrotech Center, 4th Fl Brooklyn, NY, 11201 United States Phone: 1 646 997 3760 Email:
[email protected] Abstract Background: Self-focused augmented reality (AR) technologies are growing in popularity and present an opportunity to address health communication and behavior change challenges. Objective: We aimed to examine the impact of self-focused AR and vicarious reinforcement on psychological predictors of behavior change during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, our study included measures of fear and message minimization to assess potential adverse reactions to the design interventions. Methods: A between-subjects web-based experiment was conducted to compare the health perceptions of participants in self-focused AR and vicarious reinforcement design conditions to those in a control condition. Participants were randomly assigned to the control group or to an intervention condition (ie, self-focused AR, reinforcement, self-focus AR × reinforcement, and avatar). Results: A total of 335 participants were included in the analysis. We found that participants who experienced self-focused AR and vicarious reinforcement scored higher in perceived threat severity (P=.03) and susceptibility (P=.01) when compared to the control.