Using Health Forum Data to Assess User Needs for mHealth App Development: A Feasibility Study on Alzheimer’s Disease (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danny T.Y. Wu ◽  
Shwetha Bindhu ◽  
Hoang Vu ◽  
Shuai Mu ◽  
Catherine Xu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Feasibility Study ◽  
Clustering Algorithm ◽  
Clustering Algorithms ◽  
Mobile App ◽  
User Needs ◽  
External Evaluation ◽  
App Development ◽  
Caregiver Needs

BACKGROUND User needs assessments have become increasingly essential in the development of mobile health technology but may be hindered by time and resource restraints. Analyzing online health forum data may provide a substitute for in-person assessments and could provide the data necessary to inform mobile-based application development. OBJECTIVE : A feasibility study was conducted to determine whether forum posts on Alzheimer's disease could 1) help identify patient and caregiver needs to inform application design and 2) determine whether these needs can be identified automatically by classic text clustering methods. METHODS Posts on an Alzheimer's disease forum were collected and subsequently analyzed through a manual thematic coding process and used to generate user personas. The personas were compared and contrasted with personas collected through in-person interviews. Concurrently, the posts were clustered using hierarchical clustering algorithms. An external evaluation was conducted to compare the automatic and manual clusters. RESULTS A total of 413 forum posts were collected. The thematic coding process yielded three themes and nine subthemes with a high level of agreement between coders. The themes helped inform four distinct user personas. The external evaluation showed fair to substantial scores for the similarity between the automatic and manual labels. CONCLUSIONS Forum posts can be useful in understanding patients and caregiver needs. The personas based on the forum posts can provide a broader view of user needs, while the personas generated from the in-person interviews support developing a deeper understanding of user needs. Automated clustering algorithms achieved a fair performance in clustering the forum posts to match the manually derived themes. More research is needed to improve the clustering algorithm performance to facilitate user needs assessment in mobile app development. CLINICALTRIAL N/A

scholarly journals The Role of Reading Classic Fiction in Book Groups for People with Dementia is Better Understood through Use of a Qualitative Feasibility Study

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 97-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanne Marie Muellenbach
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Feasibility Study ◽  
Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis ◽  
Care Home ◽  
Memory Aids ◽  
People With Dementia ◽  
The Voice ◽  
Book Groups

A Review of: Rimkeit, B.S. and Claridge, G. (2017). Peer reviewed: literary Alzheimer’s, a qualitative feasibility study of dementia-friendly book groups. New Zealand Library & Information Management Journal, 56(2), 14-22. https://figshare.com/articles/Literary_Alzheimer_s_A_qualitative_feasibility_study_of_dementia-friendly_book_groups/5715052/1   Abstract Objective – To explore how people living with dementia experience reading classic fiction in book groups and what benefits this intervention provides.  Design – Qualitative feasibility study. Setting – Day centre within a care home in the North Island of New Zealand. Subjects – Eight participants with a medical diagnosis of dementia – four community dwellers who attend day centers, and four residents of a secure dementia unit in a care home. Methods – Investigators used surveys, focus groups, and interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), for ideographic analysis of the data.  Main results – Following analysis of the focus book group data, three superordinate, with related subordinate, themes were found: 1) the participant as a lively reader. The participants shared childhood memories of reading and when they became adults, how they encouraged reading within the household and with their own children. Subordinate themes included: recall, liveliness of discussion, and interest in reading and book clubs; 2) the participant as guardian of the voice of Dickens. Participants believed that, when the language is simplified, the beauty and rich imagery of Dickens is lost. Subordinate themes included: oversimplifying “loses the voice of Dickens”, familiarity, and continued play on words; and 3) the participant as a discerning book reviewer. The participants offered a number of ‘dementia-friendly’ suggestions, including the use of memory aids and simplifying text. Subordinate themes were expressed as four recommendations: use cast of characters; illustrations pick up the energy of the story, but balance quantity with risk of being childish; the physical quality of the text and paper; and chunk quantity of text while keeping the style of the original author. The choice of using classic fiction that was already well known was validated by the participants, who had some preconceptions about Ebenezer Scrooge, and described him by using epithets such as mean, an old bastard, and ugly. The participants found the investigators’ adapted version to be oversimplified, as short excerpts of the original Dickens seemed to evoke emotional and aesthetic responses of appreciation. Therefore, when creating adaptations, it is important to preserve the beauty of the original writing as much as possible. Conclusion – This qualitative feasibility study has provided a better understanding of how people living with dementia experience classic fiction in shared book groups. For individuals with Alzheimer’s disease, language skills may be well-preserved until later in the disease course. For example, the focus group participants demonstrated an appreciation and command of language, as well as enthusiasm and excitement in the sharing of the original Dickens with others. They suggested the use of memory aids, such as including a cast of characters, and repeating the referent newly on each page. Participants also suggested that the adapted version be shortened, to use a large font, and to include plenty of pictures. The choice of using classic fiction was validated by the participants, as they found these tales comforting and familiar, particularly when they included such colorful characters as Ebenezer Scrooge. Finally, people living with dementia should be encouraged to enjoy books for the same reason other adults love to read – primarily for the creative process. Classic fiction may be adapted to enhance readability, but the adaptation must be done in a thoughtful manner. While memory deficits occur in Alzheimer’s disease, an appreciation of complex language may be preserved until the later disease stages.

scholarly journals 74THE ACTION FOR HEALTH WITH EXERCISE IN ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE (AHEAD) FEASIBILITY STUDY

2015 ◽  
Vol 44 (suppl 2) ◽  
pp. ii23.4-ii24
Author(s):  
C. Richardson ◽  
J. Rusted ◽  
N. Tabet
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Feasibility Study
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