scholarly journals Developing Technology to Mobilize Personal Strengths in People with Chronic Illness: Positive Codesign Approach (Preprint)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jelena Mirkovic ◽  
Stian Jessen ◽  
Olöf Birna Kristjansdottir ◽  
Tonje Krogseth ◽  
Absera Teshome Koricho ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Chronic Illness ◽  
Appreciative Inquiry ◽  
Service Design ◽  
Mobile App ◽  
Self Management ◽  
User Requirements ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Design Elements ◽  
Personal Strengths

BACKGROUND Emerging research from psychology and the bio-behavioral sciences recognizes the importance of supporting patients to mobilize their personal strengths to live well with chronic illness. Positive technology and positive computing could be used as underlying design approaches to guide design and development of new technology-based interventions for this user group that support mobilizing their personal strengths. OBJECTIVE A codesigning workshop was organized with the aim to explore user requirements and ideas for how technology can be used to help people with chronic illness activate their personal strengths in managing their everyday challenges. METHODS Thirty-five participants from diverse backgrounds (patients, health care providers, designers, software developers, and researchers) participated. The workshop combined principles of (1) participatory and service design to enable meaningful participation and collaboration of different stakeholders and (2) an appreciative inquiry methodology to shift participants’ attention to positive traits, values, and aspects that are meaningful and life-giving and stimulate participants’ creativity, engagement, and collaboration. Utilizing these principles, participants were engaged in group activities to develop ideas for strengths-supportive tools. Each group consisted of 3-8 participants with different backgrounds. All group work was analysed using thematic analyses. RESULTS Participants were highly engaged in all activities and reported a wide variety of requirements and ideas, including more than 150 personal strength examples, more than 100 everyday challenges that could be addressed by using personal strengths, and a wide range of functionality requirements (eg, social support, strength awareness and reflection, and coping strategies). 6 concepts for strength-supportive tools were created. These included the following: a mobile app to support a person to store, reflect on, and mobilize one’s strengths (Strengths treasure chest app); “empathy glasses” enabling a person to see a situation from another person’s perspective (Empathy Simulator); and a mobile app allowing a person to receive supportive messages from close people in a safe user-controlled environment (Cheering squad app). Suggested design elements for making the tools engaging included: metaphors (eg, trees, treasure island), visualization techniques (eg, dashboards, color coding), and multimedia (eg, graphics). Maintaining a positive focus throughout the tool was an important requirement, especially for feedback and framing of content. CONCLUSIONS Combining participatory, service design, and appreciative inquiry methods were highly useful to engage participants in creating innovative ideas. Building on peoples’ core values and positive experiences empowered the participants to expand their horizons from addressing problems and symptoms, which is a very common approach in health care today, to focusing on their capacities and that which is possible, despite their chronic illness. The ideas and user requirements, combined with insights from relevant theories (eg, positive technology, self-management) and evidence from the related literature, are critical to guide the development of future more personalized and strengths-focused self-management tools.

scholarly journals Mobile App to Help People With Chronic Illness Reflect on Their Strengths: Formative Evaluation and Usability Testing

10.2196/16831 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. e16831 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olöf Birna Kristjansdottir ◽  
Elin Børøsund ◽  
Marianne Westeng ◽  
Cornelia Ruland ◽  
Una Stenberg ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Chronic Illness ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Formative Evaluation ◽  
Usability Testing ◽  
Mobile App ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Personal Strengths ◽  
System Usability Scale

Background Supporting patient engagement and empowerment is increasingly seen as essential in providing person-centered health care to people with chronic illness. Mobile apps helping patients reflect on their concerns as preparation for consultations with their health care providers can have beneficial effects on the consultation quality. However, apps focusing on empowerment and personal strengths are still scarce. Objective This study aimed to (1) develop a mobile app to support patients with rheumatic diseases in reflecting on their strengths in preparation for consultations with health care providers and (2) explore patients’ perceived usability of the app in a nonclinical test setting. Methods A prototype app was developed based on input from patients and health care providers, as reported in previous studies. The app was designed for use in self-management support settings aiming to promote awareness of strengths and to focus attention on strengths in the patient-health care provider dialogue. The features included in the prototype were as follows: (1) introduction to the topic of strengths, (2) list of examples of strengths to promote reflection and registration of own strengths, (3) summary of registered strengths, (4) value-based goal setting, (5) linking of strengths to goals, (6) summary of all registrations, and (7) options to share summary digitally or as a print version. In this study, the app was refined through a formative evaluation with patients and health care providers recruited from a specialized rheumatology hospital unit. Patients’ perceptions of the app’s usability were explored in a test setting with self-report measurements and semistructured interviews. The interviews were audiotaped, transcribed, and analyzed with directed content analysis. Data from questionnaires were analyzed with descriptive statistics. Results Developmental and formative evaluation included 18 patients and 7 health care providers. The evaluation resulted in minor adjustments to the prototype but no major changes in features. The usability testing included 12 patients. All participants found the usability acceptable; the median score on the System Usability Scale was 86.3 (range 70-100). All reported that it was meaningful and relevant to use the app. Out of 12 participants, 9 (75%) reported becoming more aware of their own strengths by using the app; 1 (8%) disagreed and 2 (17%) provided a neutral response. The results on the goal-related feature were mixed, with half of the patients finding it useful to link strengths to concrete goals. A statistically significant positive change from pre- to postintervention was identified on measures of self-efficacy and negative emotions. Conclusions In this formative evaluation of a mobile app to promote patients’ reflections on their strengths, patients perceived the app as meaningful and supporting awareness. The results suggest the usefulness of building in functionality to support use of strengths and goal attainment. Further studies on efficacy and usability in a clinical setting, including health care providers, are needed.

scholarly journals Big Data Analysis: Why Not an Asthma APP?

10.28945/2216 ◽  
2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quan Do ◽  
Kris Robinson ◽  
Son Tran
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Big Data ◽  
Chronic Disease ◽  
Mobile App ◽  
Self Management ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Positive Adjustment ◽  
Stage Of Development ◽  
Number Of Patients ◽  
Asthma Patients

Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is among the highest health diagnosis and therefore an economic drain, which puts substantial pressure on a huge number of patients, communities, and health systems. These chronic conditions are presently incurable but their symptoms can be controlled through quality health care, appropriate medications, and good self-management skills. Many asthma APPs have been developed to support asthma patients’ self-management of the disease. Asthma APPs are still in the infancy stage of development. Literature review indicates satisfaction to be equivocal. Moreover, available APPs have many unresolved issues, such as the following: (1) No APP provides comprehensive asthma information while at the same time possessing the characteristics of an efficient tool for self-management of the disease; (2) No APP has the ability to integrate data from disparate formats; (3) Not many APPs provide for two way communication between patients and Health Care Providers (HCPs) and support the providers decision making process; (4) No APP targets older adults. Different sources of data often imply data stored in inherently different formats. The integration of such data, culled from different databases requires use of Big Data (BD) techniques. The proposed asthma mobile APP aims to promote elderly asthma patients’ positive adjustment to this chronic disease by being an effective tool for patients to control their asthma triggers and support asthma self-management. Adjustment is a dynamic process and varies by individual. For that reason, a personalized asthma APP is necessary to control this chronic disease. The proposed asthma APP will allow patients to input their own asthma self-management data so the APP can identify patient personal triggers and will predict an asthma attack accordingly. Considering a patient’s individual determinants and uniqueness is required to push the patient’s positive adjustment to asthma since these elements affect the ability of individual to adapt to the illness. The paper reports our effort to establish the desirable characteristics for the next generation asthma APP and for a population segment not presently well served.

scholarly journals Health care providers’ experiences of pain management and attitudes towards digitally supported self-management interventions for chronic pain: a qualitative study

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cecilie Varsi ◽  
Ingrid Konstanse Ledel Solem ◽  
Hilde Eide ◽  
Elin Børøsund ◽  
Olöf B. Kristjansdottir ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Chronic Pain ◽  
Pain Management ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Self Management ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Design Elements ◽  
Management Intervention ◽  
Management Interventions

Abstract Background Chronic pain constitutes a significant burden for the individuals affected, and is a frequent reason why patients seek health care services. While in-person psychosocial interventions can be of support to people living with chronic pain, such interventions are not always accessible. eHealth interventions may provide greater accessibility, but the evidence and use of digital self-management solutions for chronic pain are still limited and the lack of health care provider input in the development process of such solutions a concern. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to investigate health care providers’ experiences of treating patients with chronic pain, their attitudes towards, and use of, digital solutions in pain management, and their suggestions for content and design elements for a potential digital pain self-management intervention. Methods Twelve health care providers representing a variety of health care disciplines participated in semi-structured interviews. The interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results The material was analyzed into three main themes: [1] Patients with chronic pain and their current use of the health care services, [2] Health care providers’ own motivation and impression of patient prerequisites for use of digital self-management interventions, and [3] Suggestions for content and design elements in a digital self-management intervention for people living with chronic pain. The challenges faced by patients living with chronic pain were described as numerous. Despite interest and positive attitudes, few of the health care providers had used or recommended eHealth solutions to their patients. A range of potential content and functionality elements were identified, including aspects of motivation and engagement and providers also emphasized the importance of easy access and positive, personal content to support existing treatment. Conclusions This study offers insights into health care providers’ considerations for the potential of digital self-management interventions supporting patients living with chronic pain. Findings indicate the need for change and a more comprehensive treatment approach to pain management. eHealth solutions may contribute to such change, and providers pointed to a need for health care provider involvement, timely support and follow-up as important factors for integrating digital pain self-management interventions into clinical care. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03705104

scholarly journals Gestational diabetes mellitus: a qualitative study of lived experiences of South Asian immigrant women and perspectives of their health care providers in Melbourne, Australia

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mridula Bandyopadhyay
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Gestational Diabetes ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Lifestyle Modification ◽  
Self Management ◽  
Asian Women ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
South Asian Women

Abstract Background South Asian women are at a high risk of developing gestational diabetes mellitus than other women in Australia. Gestational diabetes affects up to 14–19% of all pregnancies among South Asian, South East Asian, and Arabic populations placing women at risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes. Although, gestational diabetes resolves after childbirth, women with gestational diabetes are up to seven times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes within five to ten years of the index pregnancy. Increasingly, South Asian women are being diagnosed with gestational diabetes in Australia. Therefore, we aimed to gain a better understanding of the lived experiences of South Asian women and their experiences of self-management and their health care providers’ perspectives of treatment strategies. Methods Using an ethnographic qualitative research methodology, semi-structured one-on-one, face-to-face interviews were conducted with 21 health care providers involved in gestational diabetes management and treatment from the three largest tertiary level maternity hospitals in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. In-depth interviews were conducted with 23 South Asian women post diagnosis between 24–28 weeks gestation in pregnancy. Results Health care providers had challenges in providing care to South Asian women. The main challenge was to get women to self-manage their blood glucose levels with lifestyle modification. Whilst, women felt self-management information provided were inadequate and inappropriate to their needs. Women felt ‘losing control over their pregnancy’, because of being preoccupied with diet and exercise to control their blood glucose level. Conclusions The gestational diabetes clinical practice at the study hospitals were unable to meet consumer expectations. Health care providers need to be familiar of diverse patient cultures, rather than applying the current ‘one size fits all’ approach that failed to engage and meet the needs of immigrant and ethnic women. Future enabling strategies should aim to co-design and develop low Glycaemic Index diet plans of staple South Asian foods and lifestyle modification messages.

scholarly journals Patients’ Views on Self-Management of Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 254-266
Author(s):  
Barbka Huzjan ◽  
Ivana Hrvatin
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Chronic Pain ◽  
Musculoskeletal Pain ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Multidisciplinary Approach ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain ◽  
Self Management ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
The Individual

Research Question (RQ): Chronic musculoskeletal pain is a complex condition and one of the most important causes of suffering of modern times. Self-management refers to the individual’s ability to manage the symptoms, treatment, physical and psychosocial consequences and life style changes inherent in living with a chronic condition. The research question is; what is the view on the selfmanagement of chronic musculoskeletal pain from the patient's perspective? Purpose: The purpose of this literature review was to review original articles that reported how selfmanagement educational programmes are viewed from the patient’s perspective. Method: We used an integrative review of the literature. The search was conducted from November 2019 to March 2020 on the PubMed, PEDro and OTseeker databases. We included original studies, written in English that examined the patients’ point of view on self-management. The included studies, needed to be conducted on adult patients of both sexes, that were suffering from chronic pain and were educated on self-management of their pain. Two authors independently searched for original studies. Results: Nine article were included in the review. Most of the studies included a multidisciplinary approach. Patients reported they more frequently used passive strategies to manage their pain. They want to be included in the management and be able to communicate with the provider of selfmanagement. There are several positive aspects of a multidisciplinary and groups approach. Organization: Health care providers can encourage an individual to proactively behave through ongoing processes of communication, partnerships and the creation of appropriate self-management plans over time. Society: We assume that the analysis will help to identify the social responsibility of the individual and society in the common concern for the health of the population and the individual within it. Originality: The research provides an up-to-date, new overview of the patients' perspective on self management on chronic pain. The review can be helpful to health care providers s they can compare their expectations with patients's. Limitations / further research: Further research would focus on high quality studies, and specific forms of multidisciplinary approach, and finding what patients use at a home setting and how to help them continue in the self management of their pain. Limitations of this review include the lack of risk of bias assessment and the fact that this is not a systematic review.

scholarly journals Mobile Apps for Drug–Drug Interaction Checks in Chinese App Stores: Systematic Review and Content Analysis (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chunying Shen ◽  
Bin Jiang ◽  
Qilian Yang ◽  
Chengnan Wang ◽  
Kevin Z Lu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Arithmetic Mean ◽  
Mobile App ◽  
Average Score ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Rating Score ◽  
Average Rating ◽  
Mhealth Apps

BACKGROUND As a computerized drug–drug interaction (DDI) alert system has not been widely implemented in China, health care providers are relying on mobile health (mHealth) apps as references for checking drug information, including DDIs. OBJECTIVE The main objective of this study was to evaluate the quality and content of mHealth apps supporting DDI checking in Chinese app stores. METHODS A systematic review was carried out in November 2020 to identify mHealth apps providing DDI checking in both Chinese iOS and Android platforms. We extracted the apps’ general information (including the developer, operating system, costs, release date, size, number of downloads, and average rating), scientific or clinical basis, and accountability, based on a multidimensional framework for evaluation of apps. The quality of mHealth apps was evaluated by using the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS). Descriptive statistics, including numbers and percentages, were calculated to describe the characteristics of the apps. For each app selected for evaluation, the section-specific MARS scores were calculated by taking the arithmetic mean, while the overall MARS score was described as the arithmetic mean of the section scores. In addition, the Cohen kappa (κ) statistic was used to evaluate the interrater agreement. RESULTS A total of 7 apps met the selection criteria, and only 3 included citations. The average rating score for Android apps was 3.5, with a minimum of 1.0 and a maximum of 4.9, while the average rating score for iOS apps was 4.7, with a minimum of 4.2 and a maximum of 4.9. The mean MARS score was 3.69 out of 5 (95% CI 3.34-4.04), with the lowest score of 1.96 for Medication Guidelines and the highest score of 4.27 for MCDEX mobile. The greatest variation was observed in the information section, which ranged from 1.41 to 4.60. The functionality section showed the highest mean score of 4.05 (95% CI 3.71-4.40), whereas the engagement section resulted in the lowest average score of 3.16 (95% CI 2.81-3.51). For the information quality section, which was the focus of this analysis, the average score was 3.42, with the MCDEX mobile app having the highest score of 4.6 and the Medication Guidelines app having the lowest score of 1.9. For the overall MARS score, the Cohen interrater κ was 0.354 (95% CI 0.236-0.473), the Fleiss κ was 0.353 (95% CI, 0.234-0.472), and the Krippendorff α was 0.356 (95% CI 0.237-0.475). CONCLUSIONS This study systematically reviewed the mHealth apps in China with a DDI check feature. The majority of investigated apps demonstrated high quality with accurate and comprehensive information on DDIs. However, a few of the apps that had a massive number of downloads in the Chinese market provided incorrect information. Given these apps might be used by health care providers for checking potential DDIs, this creates a substantial threat to patient safety.

scholarly journals MALAYSIAN DIABETES PATIENTS’ PERCEPTIONS, ATTITUDES AND PRACTICES IN RELATION TO SELF-CARE AND ENCOUNTERS WITH PRIMARY HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Lim Shiang Cheng ◽  
Jens Aagaard-Hansen ◽  
Feisul Idzwan Mustapha ◽  
Ulla Bjerre-Christensen
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Primary Health Care ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Self Management ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Attitudes And Practices ◽  
Primary Health ◽  
Primary Health Care Providers ◽  
Primary Healthcare Clinics ◽  
Diabetes Patients

Introduction: Studies from many parts of the world have explored factors associated with poor diabetes self-management including Diabetes Self-Management Education (DSME). Research Methodology: This study was conducted among 162 diabetes patients at primary healthcare clinics in Malaysia using semi-structured exit-interviews to explore their perceptions, attitudes and practices in relation to self-care and encounters with primary health care providers. Results and Discussion: Generally, the patients had limited knowledge, lack of motivation and encountered difficulties in diabetes self-management. The DSME was inadequate due to limited time allocated for consultations with doctors, language barriers and the lack of interpersonal and communication skills of HCPs. Conclusion: In view of the positive effects of quality DSME on the health outcomes and quality of life among diabetes patients, it is important for the primary healthcare clinics in Malaysia to strengthen the diabetes services through training in communication of all HCPs, awareness of language difference and task shifting.

scholarly journals Preferences for mHealth Technology and Text Messaging Communication in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes: Qualitative Interview Study (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie C Lauffenburger ◽  
Renee A Barlev ◽  
Ellen S Sears ◽  
Punam A Keller ◽  
Marie E McDonnell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Type 2 Diabetes ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mobile Technology ◽  
Diabetes Care ◽  
Technology Use ◽  
Text Messages ◽  
Self Management ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Mhealth Technology

BACKGROUND Individuals with diabetes need regular support to help them manage their diabetes on their own, ideally delivered via mechanisms that they already use, such as their mobile phones. One reason for the modest effectiveness of prior technology-based interventions may be that the patient perspective has been insufficiently incorporated. OBJECTIVE This study aims to understand patients’ preferences for mobile health (mHealth) technology and how that technology can be integrated into patients’ routines, especially with regard to medication use. METHODS We conducted semistructured qualitative individual interviews with patients with type 2 diabetes from an urban health care system to elicit and explore their perspectives on diabetes medication–taking behaviors, daily patterns of using mobile technology, use of mHealth technology for diabetes care, acceptability of text messages to support medication adherence, and preferred framing of information within text messages to support diabetes care. The interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed. The data were analyzed using codes developed by the study team to generate themes, with representative quotations selected as illustrations. RESULTS We conducted interviews with 20 participants, of whom 12 (60%) were female and 9 (45%) were White; in addition, the participants’ mean glycated hemoglobin A<sub>1c</sub> control was 7.8 (SD 1.1). Overall, 5 key themes were identified: patients try to incorporate <i>cues</i> into their routines to help them with consistent medication taking; many patients leverage some form of technology as a cue to support adherence to medication taking and diabetes self-management behaviors; patients value simplicity and integration of technology solutions used for diabetes care, managing medications, and communicating with health care providers; some patients express reluctance to rely on mobile technology for these diabetes care behaviors; and patients believe they prefer positively framed communication, but communication preferences are highly individualized. CONCLUSIONS The participants expressed some hesitation about using mobile technology in supporting diabetes self-management but have largely incorporated it or are open to incorporating it as a cue to make medication taking more automatic and less burdensome. When using technology to support diabetes self-management, participants exhibited individualized preferences, but overall, they preferred simple and positively framed communication. mHealth interventions may be improved by focusing on integrating them easily into daily routines and increasing the customization of content.

Creating Optimal Healing Environments

2014 ◽  
pp. 84-100
Author(s):  
Terri Zborowsky ◽  
Mary Jo Kreitzer
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Patient Safety ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Health Care Quality ◽  
Care Quality ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Design Elements ◽  
Healing Environment ◽  
Care Processes ◽  
Healing Environments

Creating an optimal healing environment requires attentiveness to the built environment as well as care processes, culture, and competencies of care providers and leadership. There are over 1,000 studies that link the physical environment to outcomes such as health care quality, patient safety, reduction of stress and improvements in patient safety. Key design elements highlighted include access to nature, access to daylight, positive distractions, and the ambient environment.

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