Christine A. Hughes
Papers
2
Total Citations
17
H-Index
2
About
Christine A. Hughes is a public health researcher whose work sits at the intersection of digital health, physical activity promotion, and health equity. Her research focuses on developing and evaluating innovative, technology-driven interventions to increase exercise engagement among underserved and diverse populations, particularly adolescents and adults from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Hughes is best known for her pioneering work on the acceptability of robotic-assisted exercise coaching, a novel approach that leverages humanoid robots to deliver physical activity guidance. In her 2019 pilot study (9 citations), she demonstrated that robotic coaching is a feasible and engaging tool for promoting exercise among diverse youth, a critical finding given that nearly 80% of adolescents fail to meet national physical activity guidelines. Her 2018 survey (8 citations) extended this work to a diverse sample of smokers and nonsmokers, revealing strong potential receptivity to robotic coaching as a scalable, low-intensity intervention for smoking cessation—an area where traditional, intensive programs have often failed to reach minority and low-income groups. Collectively, Hughes’s contributions highlight a forward-thinking, equity-focused approach to using emerging technologies to close persistent gaps in physical activity and health behavior change.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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