scholarly journals Reliability of Commercial Voice Assistants’ Responses to Health-related Questions in Noncommunicable Disease Management: Factorial Experiment Assessing Response Rate and Source of Information (Preprint)

Author(s):  
Caterina Bérubé ◽  
Zsolt Ferenc Kovacs ◽  
Elgar Fleisch ◽  
Tobias Kowatsch
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caterina Bérubé ◽  
Zsolt Ferenc Kovacs ◽  
Elgar Fleisch ◽  
Tobias Kowatsch

BACKGROUND Complications related to noncommunicable diseases are among the main causes of mortality. Fostering patients’ access to health-related information through efficient and accessible channels like commercial voice assistants (CVA) such as Amazon Alexa, Apple Siri, or Google Assistant, may support patients’ ability to make health-related decisions and manage their chronic conditions. OBJECTIVE This study aims to evaluate the ability of CVAs in providing expertise-based voice responses to questions related to noncommunicable disease management. METHODS We collected health-related frequently asked questions from health organizations, government, medical non-profit and popular websites about conditions associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), lung cancer (LC), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes mellitus (DM), cardiovascular disease (CVD), kidney disease (KD), and cerebrovascular disease (CV). The questions were then validated with practicing medical specialists and the most frequent ones selected, resulting in a pool of 144. We submitted the selected questions to CVAs in a 3x3 fractional factorial design experiment with three developers (ie, Amazon, Apple, and Google) and three modalities (ie, voice-only, voice-and-display, display-only). The condition Google display-only was operationalized with Google Search (our gold standard of information lookup). We assessed whether the CVA provided a voice response (ie, response rate) and what type of web source was used (ie, Expert, Commercial, Crowdsourced, or Not stated). RESULTS Amazon and Google showed a slightly higher voice response rate in voice-only (76.4% and 97.2%, respectively), compared to voice-and-display (74% and 92.4%, respectively). Apple showed the opposite (16% voice-only, 16.7% voice-and-display). Source type was mostly Expert in Amazon (77.3% voice-only, 76.6% voice-and-display) and Google (70.7% voice-only, 73.7% voice-and-display). Apple mostly used Commercial (30.4% voice-only, 29.2% voice-and-display), Crowdsourced (21.7% voice-only, 33.3% voice-and-display) sources, or stated no source (39.1% voice-only, 29.2% voice-and-display). Moreover, Amazon showed the highest response rate for LC (88%), while Apple did so for COPD (20%), and Google for AD (100%). Amazon and Google always used Expert sources for AD, while Apple never did so. However, Apple used the most Expert sources for CD (50%). CONCLUSIONS None of the tested CVAs was the absolute best in responding to questions about noncommunicable disease management. CVAs seem to perform differently depending on the noncommunicable disease in question. We urge health organizations to collaborate with Google, Amazon, and Apple to allow their CVAs consistently providing reliable answers to health-related questions on noncommunicable disease management.


Author(s):  
Shashikant Divakar ◽  
Chandan Kumar Panda ◽  
Anil Paswan

This study is to analyze information sources and information needs of women farmers of Banka and Bhagalpur district of Bihar. The research was undertaken for assessment of information needed for young farm women of age group of 18-35 years with respect to kharif paddy cultivation. Useful Information is the pivotal for successful kharif paddy cultivation. In the study area young farm women contribute immensely in kharif paddy cultivation.  Information helps in creating awareness about technologies and mobilize people to use them. It also helps in training people, organizing community and ultimately resulting in the development of the whole nation. Result of the study illustrated that farm women need more information about selling of product, pest control, nursery raising and disease management. The study also revealed that the most preferred source of information was personal localite i.e. Husband, Friend, Relatives and Neighbors and agri-input dealers.


2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (6) ◽  
pp. 621-631 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roofia Galeshi ◽  
Jyotsna Sharman ◽  
Jinghong Cai

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand the behavior diversities that exist among young millennials’ subgroups in ways they seek health-related information. Design/methodology/approach The authors ran several sets of analyses on the 2012–2014 US Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) Data using Stata. The population was stratified into four specific subgroups based on their gender, ethnicity—blacks, Hispanics and whites—immigration status, college status—whether they were enrolled in a program of study at the time of the survey. The outcome variables were sources of health information including print (books/magazines/brochures), traditional media (Radio/TV), internet, family/friends/co-workers and health professionals. The independent variables were gender, ethnicity, educational status and immigration status. The authors utilized the appropriate sample weight derived by Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development so the findings can be generalized to the populations. The analysis included several descriptive statistics and χ2 test of independence. Findings Despite similarities, young adults’ health seeking behavior is complex influenced by gender, ethnicity, immigration status and education. The results indicated that while the internet is the primary source of health-related information for all young adults, there are subtle differences in utilizing other available resources. For example while more educated young adults seek help from their family members, the less educated peers use the media to obtain health-related information. Ethnicity has also an effect on young adults’ information seeking behavior. The number of Hispanics and blacks that obtain their information from traditional media is significantly higher than their white counterparts. Research limitations/implications This study has several limitations. First, the authors did not consider the effect of young adults’ digital literacy skills, problem solving skills and numeracy skills on their health seeking approach. Including these cognitive skills could reveal key information about young adults approach to information seeking that is not apparent by race, ethnicity and gender only. Another limitation of this study is the lack of the ability to claim causation, PIAAC data are designed strictly for cross-sectional analysis. Practical implications Although, behaviors often do not change simply by presenting information, trying to change behavior without improving individuals’ understanding of the issue by providing accurate information is likely to fail. Providing standardized health-related information sources that are accessible to all is vitally important. The results indicate that while the majority of young adults use the internet as their primary source of information only a few percentage of young adults seek information from health professional. Consequently, there is a need for an easily accessible and standardized online health-related source of information. Social implications Healthcare facilities and health related industries have the resources and the ability to develop a reliable infrastructure that could potentially provide reliable information that is easy to understand and navigate for adults with a variety of literacy and skills to use. Perhaps adopting the Universal Design for Learning approach and providing information that is accessible to a variety of individuals regardless of their education, learning skills and language skills. Flexible learning resources provided within a standard infrastructure accessible to all can help individuals find trustworthy and consistent information that they can trust. Originality/value Despite the unique characteristics of the millennials and the profound change in the way young adults seek information, there is a paucity of research on the ways young adults seek health-related information. Most existing literature is based on locally developed surveys and convenient sampling with limited reliability and validity information. Consequently making a sweeping statement based on their findings is considered as hasty generalization. The PIAAC, on the other hand, is a nationally representative data, extensively examined for its validity and reliability.


Author(s):  
Mainul Haque ◽  
Salequl Islam ◽  
Samiul Iqbal ◽  
Umme Laila Urmi ◽  
Zubair Mahmood Kamal ◽  
...  

Objective: There are concerns with increased prices and drug shortages for pertinent medicines and personal protective equipment (PPE) to prevent and treat COVID-19 enhanced by misinformation. Community pharmacists and drug stores play a significant role in disease management in Bangladesh due to high co-payments. Consequently, a need to review prices and availability in the pandemic. Materials and Methods: Multiple approach involving a review and questionnaire among pharmacies and stores early March to end May 2020. Results and Discussion: 170 pharmacies and drug stores took part, giving a response rate of 63.9%. Encouragingly, no change in utilization of antimalarial medicines in 51.2% of stores despite global endorsements. However, increased utilisation of antibiotics (70.6%), analgesics (97.6%), vitamins (90.6%) and PPE (over 95%). Encouragingly, increases in purchasing of PPE. No increase in prices among 50% of the stores for antimalarials, with a similar situation for antibiotics (65.3%), analgesics (54.7%), and vitamins (51.8%). However, price increases typically for PPE (over 90% of stores). Shortages also seen for medicines and PPE, again greater for PPE. Conclusions: The pandemic has impacted on the supply and prices of medicines and PPE in Bangladesh. Key stakeholder groups can play a role addressing misinformation, with enhanced local production helping address future shortages and prices. Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol.19(0) 2020 p. S 36-S 50


Author(s):  
Anna Aaby ◽  
Karina Friis ◽  
Bo Christensen ◽  
Helle Terkildsen Maindal

Health literacy (HL) is a dynamic determinant of health and a promising target of health equity interventions in noncommunicable disease prevention. Among people referred to a cardiac rehabilitation program, we examined the associations between (1) HL and participation in cardiac rehabilitation and (2) HL and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Using a cross-sectional design, we invited 193 people referred to cardiac rehabilitation in Randers Municipal Rehabilitation Unit, Denmark, to respond to a questionnaire in 2017. Of these, 150 people responded (77.7%). HL was measured using the nine scales of the Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ), while HRQoL was measured using the Short Form Health Survey 12 (version 2) (SF-12). The mean age of respondents was 67.0 years; 71.3% of the sample were men. Nonrespondents had significantly lower educational attainment and more often lived alone than respondents. Using multiple regression analyses, we found no significant associations between HL and participation in cardiac rehabilitation. There were significant positive associations between several aspects of HL and physical and mental HRQoL. HL could be a factor of interest in initiatives aimed at improving participation and outcomes of cardiac rehabilitation.


2010 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 775-785 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felipe Fossati Reichert ◽  
Marlos Rodrigues Domingues ◽  
Pedro C. Hallal ◽  
Mario Renato Azevedo ◽  
Fernando Vinholes Siqueira ◽  
...  

We aimed to evaluate how Brazilian adults rank seven well-known health-related factors in terms of importance for health. A population-based study was undertaken in Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil (N = 3,100; response rate: 96.5%). Individuals ranked three out of seven factors that, in their opinion, were the most important for health. The factors investigated were: "controlling stress", "practicing physical activity regularly", "avoiding drinking in excess", "avoiding smoking", "visiting a doctor regularly", "keeping the ideal weight", and "having a healthy diet". Healthy diet (73.9%), physical activity (59.9%), and visiting a doctor regularly (45.7%) were the most frequently reported factors. Younger subjects and those with higher socioeconomic status were more likely to report physical activity and stress as important factors for health than their counterparts. The importance attributed to health-related factors changes markedly among population subgroups.


2007 ◽  
Vol 13 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 3-4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pejman Azarmina ◽  
Jill Lewis

In April 2006, a nurse-led telephone-based service was launched in Birmingham to improve the health outcomes of up to 2000 patients with high-risk, long-term conditions. Patients received regular telephone calls and educational materials selected according to their conditions. In August 2006, 506 questionnaires with 30 five-point Likert-type questions were sent to patients and 128 were returned within four weeks (25% response rate). The results showed that 96% of the respondents strongly agreed or agreed that they were satisfied with the quality of service being provided by the care managers. The educational material (care books) was found to be informative, easy to read and easy to understand. The qualitative feedback indicated that patients perceived the service to be useful, accessible and helped them to be more efficient in taking care of themselves. More than 40% of the patients agreed that the service reduced their need to go to hospital. Using a telephone-based disease management service seems to be an acceptable option for patients with long-term conditions in the UK.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet E. Simon ◽  
Mallory Lorence ◽  
Carrie L. Docherty

Abstract Context: The effect of athletic participation on lifelong health among elite athletes has received increasing attention as sports-related injuries can have a substantial impact on long-term health. Objective: Determine the current health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in former Division I athletes compared with non-collegiate athletes five-years following an initial assessment. Study Design: Prospective cohort Setting: Online survey Participants: For the former Division I athletes, 193 responses were received (response rate, 83.2%, 128 males, 65 females, 58.47±6.17years) and for the non-collegiate athletes, 169 surveys were returned (response rate, 75.1%, 80 males, 89 females; 58.44 ± 7.28years). Interventions: The independent variables were time (baseline, five years post) and group (former Division I athlete and non-collegiate athlete). Main Outcome Measures: Participants completed seven Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) scales: sleep, anxiety, depression, fatigue, pain interference, physical function, and satisfaction with participation in social roles. Results: Physical function, depression, fatigue, sleep, and pain were significant for time × group (p<0.05) with the largest differences seen on physical function and pain between groups at time point 2 (22.19 and 13.99 points, respectively). Former Division I athletes had worse scores on physical function, depression, fatigue, and pain between the two points (p<0.05) with the largest differences seen on the depression, physical function, and fatigue scales (8.33, 6.61, and 6.23 points, respectively). Conclusion: Due to the competitive nature of sport, long term risks of diminished HRQoL need to become a priority for healthcare providers and athletes during their athletic career. Additionally, physical activity transition programs need to be explored to help senior student-athletes transition from highly structured and competitive collegiate athletics to lifestyle physical activity as it appears that individuals in the non-collegiate athlete cohort engage in more physical activity, weigh less, and have increased HRQoL.


2011 ◽  
Vol 20 (01) ◽  
pp. 142-145
Author(s):  
C. Boyer ◽  

SummaryTo explore how the Internet is being used as a source of information, but also as a source of consumption in certain health-related fields. Determine the negative and positive impacts of this trend, depending on the topic or quality standards of websites.Synopsis of the articles selected for the IMIA Yearbook 2011.Six papers from international peer reviewed journals have been selected for the section on health information systems.The articles selected discuss issues of major concern for online health information seekers, because of their positive or negative impact on health outputs.


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