Digital support for female students in physical education universities in Japan

Abstract Alongside acquiring specialized knowledge and accomplishing developmental tasks, athletic colleges require young athletes to also be active. We investigated the use of a smartphone application, ME-FULLNESS, as an unprecedented support method for female college students currently enrolled in...

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Main Authors: Junko Okuyama, Shuji Seto, Tomonori Motokawa, Tomomi Kato, Aya Miyamoto, Maki Maekawa, Shunichi Funakoshi, Tatsuma Okazaki, Satoru Ebihara
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-05-01
Series:Scientific Reports
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-98921-0
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author Junko Okuyama
Shuji Seto
Tomonori Motokawa
Tomomi Kato
Aya Miyamoto
Maki Maekawa
Shunichi Funakoshi
Tatsuma Okazaki
Satoru Ebihara
author_facet Junko Okuyama
Shuji Seto
Tomonori Motokawa
Tomomi Kato
Aya Miyamoto
Maki Maekawa
Shunichi Funakoshi
Tatsuma Okazaki
Satoru Ebihara
author_sort Junko Okuyama
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Alongside acquiring specialized knowledge and accomplishing developmental tasks, athletic colleges require young athletes to also be active. We investigated the use of a smartphone application, ME-FULLNESS, as an unprecedented support method for female college students currently enrolled in athletic colleges. ME-FULLNESS is an application that infers one’s psychological state from their facial information and improves their psychological state with music, vibration, and images that match that psychological state. We conducted a psychological survey with purposively selected female university students (18 to 24 years) at the International Pacific University in Okayama, Japan, before and after one month of using ME-FULLNESS (N = 76) and a group of non-users (N = 25). The app-using group showed significant improvement in depressive symptoms (p = 0.002), anxiety symptoms (p = 0.000), stress (p = 0.000), insomnia (p = 0.002), severity of premenstrual syndrome (p = 0.000), and resilience scores (p = 0.000), while the non-app-using group showed improvement in anxiety (p = 0.009) and resilience scores (p = 0.000). This study suggests that using the ME-FULLNESS app may improve depression, stress, insomnia, and resilience among athletic female students, positively contributing to their college life and sports performance.
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spelling doaj-art-cee45c2f194348d498f3b2ddc2e9ec7b2025-08-20T02:32:04ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-05-0115111610.1038/s41598-025-98921-0Digital support for female students in physical education universities in JapanJunko Okuyama0Shuji Seto1Tomonori Motokawa2Tomomi Kato3Aya Miyamoto4Maki Maekawa5Shunichi Funakoshi6Tatsuma Okazaki7Satoru Ebihara8Department of Human Health and Nutrition, Shokei Gakuin UniversityFaculty of Informatics and Data Science, Akita UniversityFrontier Research Center, POLA Chemical Industries, Inc.Frontier Research Center, POLA Chemical Industries, Inc.Department of Athletic and Sport Sciences, International Pacific UniversityNara National Institute of Higher Education and Research, Nara University of EducationArimakougen HospitalDepartment of Rehabilitation Medicine, Tohoku University Graduate School of MedicineDepartment of Rehabilitation Medicine, Tohoku University Graduate School of MedicineAbstract Alongside acquiring specialized knowledge and accomplishing developmental tasks, athletic colleges require young athletes to also be active. We investigated the use of a smartphone application, ME-FULLNESS, as an unprecedented support method for female college students currently enrolled in athletic colleges. ME-FULLNESS is an application that infers one’s psychological state from their facial information and improves their psychological state with music, vibration, and images that match that psychological state. We conducted a psychological survey with purposively selected female university students (18 to 24 years) at the International Pacific University in Okayama, Japan, before and after one month of using ME-FULLNESS (N = 76) and a group of non-users (N = 25). The app-using group showed significant improvement in depressive symptoms (p = 0.002), anxiety symptoms (p = 0.000), stress (p = 0.000), insomnia (p = 0.002), severity of premenstrual syndrome (p = 0.000), and resilience scores (p = 0.000), while the non-app-using group showed improvement in anxiety (p = 0.009) and resilience scores (p = 0.000). This study suggests that using the ME-FULLNESS app may improve depression, stress, insomnia, and resilience among athletic female students, positively contributing to their college life and sports performance.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-98921-0Mood stabilizationFemale athletesPsychological stateFacial dataPremenstrual syndromeInsomnia
spellingShingle Junko Okuyama
Shuji Seto
Tomonori Motokawa
Tomomi Kato
Aya Miyamoto
Maki Maekawa
Shunichi Funakoshi
Tatsuma Okazaki
Satoru Ebihara
Digital support for female students in physical education universities in Japan
Scientific Reports
Mood stabilization
Female athletes
Psychological state
Facial data
Premenstrual syndrome
Insomnia
title Digital support for female students in physical education universities in Japan
title_full Digital support for female students in physical education universities in Japan
title_fullStr Digital support for female students in physical education universities in Japan
title_full_unstemmed Digital support for female students in physical education universities in Japan
title_short Digital support for female students in physical education universities in Japan
title_sort digital support for female students in physical education universities in japan
topic Mood stabilization
Female athletes
Psychological state
Facial data
Premenstrual syndrome
Insomnia
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-98921-0
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