Evaluation of a Novel Intervention Aimed at Instilling Future-oriented Mindsets and Behaviors Using a Smartphone Application and Immersive Virtual Reality

Future self-identification, that is, the degree to which people have a clear image of their future self and can identify with their future self, will be assessed with 8 items based on Hershfield et al. (2009) and Van Gelder et al. (2015). These items measure the degree to which people can imagine their future self vividly (i.e., vividness), the level of positive feelings towards the future self (i.e., valence), and the extent to which people feel connected and similar to their future self (i.e., relatedness).

Future orientation measuring time perspective, anticipation of future consequences, and planning ahead will be assessed with the Future orientation Scale (Steinberg et al., 2009) consisting of 15 items (α = .80).

The degree to which people take immediate versus distant consequences into account in potential behaviors will be assessed with the Consideration of Future Consequences questionnaire (Bruderer Enzler, 2013; Strathman et al., 1994) consisting of 9 items.

Self-defeating behavior, that is, behaviors with immediate gains though long-term costs, will be measured with 15 items representing different self-defeating behaviors based on the measure of Van Gelder et al. (2015).

Commitment to the goal participants set for the year will be measured using the Goal Commitment Questionnaire (Hollenbeck et al., 1989) which consists of 7 items (α = .71).

Weekly and monthly goal achievement will be assessed with 3 self-developed items measuring how often participants thought about their goal, worked towards their goal, and to what extend they achieved their goal.

Self-efficacy, that is, people's sense of competence to effectively deal with life stressors, will be measured with the General Self-efficacy Questionnaire (Schwarzer & Jerusalem, 1995) consisting of 10 items (range α = .75 - .91).

Academic results, i.e., grade point average, will be requested from the university at the end of the academic year after participants' consent.

Impulsiveness, indicated by lack of impulse control on planning, motor, and attention will be assessed with the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale short form (Spinella, 2007) consisting of 15 items (α = .79).

We will ask participants how often in the past week they thought about their future and their future self (2 items).

Personality will be measured with the Dutch version of the 60-item HEXACO-PI-R (Lee & Asthon, 2018). This questionnaire measures 6 personality dimensions: Honesty-Humility, Emotionality, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness to Experience. Dimensions are assessed with 10 items each (range α = .82 - .89).

In the FutureU app condition, we use the nine-item TWente Engagement with Ehealth Technologies Scale (TWEETS) to measure users' engagement with the app (range α = .86 - .87). We measure engagement with the app's specific features (e.g., opinion regarding the avatar appearance, and specific modules) with self-developed items. Participants' usage patterns are captured in the app its log-data (e.g., number of days the app was opened and time spent in the app).

In the FutureU VR condition, we measure users' experiences within and of the VR (e.g., embodiment, presence, and appearance avatar) and participants' (objective) behavioral data in VR (e.g., total time spent in the VR environment, number of switches between avatars, what questions they ask their future self).

Qualitative assessment of the goals participants set at the start and during the intervention, measuring aspects such as goal specificity, goal difficulty, topic of the goal, and goal type.