scholarly journals A Novel Educational Smartphone Application for Cognitively Healthy Seniors: A Pilot Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (12) ◽  
pp. 6601
Author(s):  
Blanka Klimova ◽  
Lukas Sanda
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Mobile Application ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Smartphone Application ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Pedagogical Practice ◽  
Older Individuals ◽  
Individual Needs ◽  
Instructional Manual

Modern technologies surround people every day, including seniors. The aim of this pilot study was to create a maximally user-friendly mobile application in order to meet older users’ individual needs. The research sample consisted of 13 older individuals at the age of 55+ years with a mean age of 67 years, living in the Czech Republic. The key assessment tools of this pilot study were the developed application and usability testing. The findings confirmed that the newly developed mobile application for teaching English met the needs of cognitively healthy seniors, and was acceptable and feasible. In addition, it indicated what technical (e.g., visual interface or easy navigation) and pedagogical (e.g., an instructional manual or adjusting to seniors’ learning pace or clear instructions) aspects should be strictly followed when designing such an educational smartphone application. In addition, the authors of this pilot study provide several implications for pedagogical practice. Further research should include more empirical studies aimed at the exploration of educational mobile applications for older generation groups with respect to meeting their individual needs in order to enhance their overall well-being. However, such studies are, nowadays, very rare.

scholarly journals Connection Failure: Systemic Disadvantages Facing the LGBTQ+ Community in Therapy and how to Address them

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-76
Author(s):  
Erin Roach
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Therapist Knowledge

This paper examines the experiences of members of the LGBTQ+ community in accessing mental health care in Ottawa, Canada, both positive and negative, and what might be done to improve outcomes. The paper includes a literature review of empirical studies and theoretical works about conducting therapy with LGBTQ+ clients, as well as the results of a pilot study conducted by the researcher to examine in depth the experience of a small sample of LGBTQ+ clients in Ottawa (N=4). Through semi-structured interviews, the researcher found that three out of four participants had experienced some dissatisfaction with how their identity was addressed in therapy, and as a result their overall well-being had suffered. This implies that therapists could be doing more to connect with their LGBTQ+ clients, potentially through better educating themselves on the issues affecting the community, as recommended by the participants. Increasing therapist knowledge would likely improve mental health outcomes for LGBTQ+ clients.

scholarly journals Adapting Personal Therapies Using a Mobile Application for Tinnitus Rehabilitation: A Preliminary Study

2020 ◽  
pp. 000348942096281
Author(s):  
Mehdi Abouzari ◽  
Khodayar Goshtasbi ◽  
Brooke Sarna ◽  
Yaser Ghavami ◽  
Erica M. Parker ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Mobile Application ◽  
Behavioral Therapy ◽  
Smartphone Application ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Randomized Controlled ◽  
Sound Therapy ◽  
Potential Efficacy ◽  
Preliminary Study ◽  
And Control

Objectives: To develop a smartphone application providing sound therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for treating tinnitus and performing a proof-of-concept pilot study evaluating its potential efficacy. Methods: An interactive smartphone application available on iOS and Android platforms was developed, which provided an 8-week tinnitus-specific CBT and personalized and frequency-matched sound therapy. Included patients presented to our tertiary clinic between 2017 and 2018, while those waitlisted were regarded as controls. Three surveys were administrated: Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI), Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item (GAD-7), and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). Results: A total of 30 patients enrolled in this study consisting of 20 treatment and 10 control patients and mean age was 55.4 ± 11.6 years. Treatment and control patients had similar age, sex, and pre-enrolment GAD and PSS (all P > .05). Baseline THI scores were also similar between treatment and control cohorts (50.1 ± 21.9 vs 62.0 ± 20.7; P = .15). After 8 weeks, though changes in GAD and PSS scores were similar ( P > .05), the treatment group reported a significantly greater improvement in THI scores (17.7 ± 15.8 vs 5.3 ± 10.5, P = .04). Conclusions: This pilot study demonstrated potentially promising efficacy of a smartphone-based CBT and sound therapy platform for treating tinnitus and encourages future randomized controlled trials on this treatment modality.

scholarly journals Evaluation of a Fast Test Based on Biometric Signals to Assess Mental Fatigue at the Workplace—A Pilot Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (22) ◽  
pp. 11891
Author(s):  
Mauricio A. Ramírez-Moreno ◽  
Patricio Carrillo-Tijerina ◽  
Milton Osiel Candela-Leal ◽  
Myriam Alanis-Espinosa ◽  
Juan Carlos Tudón-Martínez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Mental Fatigue ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Burnout Syndrome ◽  
Office Work ◽  
Fatigue Assessment ◽  
Medical Fees ◽  
Performance Reduction ◽  
Subject Specific

Non-pathological mental fatigue is a recurring, but undesirable condition among people in the fields of office work, industry, and education. This type of mental fatigue can often lead to negative outcomes, such as performance reduction and cognitive impairment in education; loss of focus and burnout syndrome in office work; and accidents leading to injuries or death in the transportation and manufacturing industries. Reliable mental fatigue assessment tools are promising in the improvement of performance, mental health and safety of students and workers, and at the same time, in the reduction of risks, accidents and the associated economic loss (e.g., medical fees and equipment reparations). The analysis of biometric (brain, cardiac, skin conductance) signals has proven to be effective in discerning different stages of mental fatigue; however, many of the reported studies in the literature involve the use of long fatigue-inducing tests and subject-specific models in their methodologies. Recent trends in the modeling of mental fatigue suggest the usage of non subject-specific (general) classifiers and a time reduction of calibration procedures and experimental setups. In this study, the evaluation of a fast and short-calibration mental fatigue assessment tool based on biometric signals and inter-subject modeling, using multiple linear regression, is presented. The proposed tool does not require fatigue-inducing tests, which allows fast setup and implementation. Electroencephalography, photopletismography, electrodermal activity, and skin temperature from 17 subjects were recorded, using an OpenBCI helmet and an Empatica E4 wristband. Correlations to self-reported mental fatigue levels (using the fatigue assessment scale) were calculated to find the best mental fatigue predictors. Three-class mental fatigue models were evaluated, and the best model obtained an accuracy of 88% using three features, β/θ (C3), and the α/θ (O2 and C3) ratios, from one minute of electroencephalography measurements. The results from this pilot study show the feasibility and potential of short-calibration procedures and inter-subject classifiers in mental fatigue modeling, and will contribute to the use of wearable devices for the development of tools oriented to the well-being of workers and students, and also in daily living activities.

scholarly journals Hygienic assessment in the theory and practice of upbringing

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 261-277
Author(s):  
Tatiana Romm ◽  
◽  
Natalia Shisharina ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Cultural Analysis ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Development Network

For the younger generation, socialization in the digital space poses increasing potential and real risks. Simultaneously, the transformation of educational process with a forced increase of distance learning formats, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the issue of interaction between teachers and students in addressing upbringing tasks. This is confirmed by current international and Russian studies. Discussion of the quality of the educational environment from the point of view of its safety inevitably encourages the search for assessment tools. This article provides a theoretical and methodological justification for effective assessment of upbringing hygienic and its implementation in the current context, based on theoretical and empirical studies. The study took an interdisciplinary approach, treating the safety of upbringing as a complex multifactorial phenomenon based on the integration of natural science and socio-humanitarian knowledge. It used a cross-cultural analysis of empirical data from Russian and foreign studies in the development of formats, strategies, and features of hygienic assessment in education taking into account its cultural variability. Network theory was used to assess the importance of the role of relationships in determining teachers’ readiness resources to carry out a hygienic assessment of upbringing safety activities in digital and network contexts. The core of the educational context of safety is defined as the process of providing means and measures aimed at productive self-realization of children in various life situations based on the assessment of real and potential threats arising in the process of socialization. The principles of safety (socio-biological balance, well-being, integration, cognition), the content and indicators of the hygienic assessment of this process (physiological, social, personal, psychological) are highlighted. The article describes the development network of the teacher's readiness to assess upbringing safety based on non-hierarchical value-resource interaction in upbringing activities, assessment of its safety and hygienic potential. The results obtained will contribute to expansion and improvement of theoretical ideas about hygienic expertise in pedagogical processes, disclosure, and clarification of the concept of ‘hygienic assessment in upbringing’, enrich theoretical ideas and effective practices of upbringing in distance education formats.

PTSD coach mobile application with brief telephone support: A pilot study.

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quyen Q. Tiet ◽  
Heather Duong ◽  
Laila Davis ◽  
Rebecca French ◽  
Christopher L. Smith ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Mobile Application ◽  
Telephone Support

Digital Dietitian—Pilot Study of a Novel Smartphone Application

Diabetes ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 67 (Supplement 1) ◽  
pp. 767-P ◽  
Author(s):  
CHRISTIAN C. FARFAN ◽  
CEARA AXELROD ◽  
DONNA L. FRASE ◽  
ANDREW MACKENZIE ◽  
GAL HAROUSH ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Smartphone Application

A Comparative Study of Effectiveness of Statutory Employee Welfare Measures - With Special Reference to Canteen Facility in Sugar Mills in Krishna District of Andhra Pradesh

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (11) ◽  
pp. 156
Author(s):  
M Srinivasa Rao ◽  
G. Vidyanath
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
Special Reference ◽  
Andhra Pradesh ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Employee Welfare ◽  
Sugar Mills ◽  
Welfare Measures ◽  
Individual Needs

The existing research is created an effort to recognize the worker well being actions implemented in Sugar Miles industry. Employee well being indicates anything done for comfortableness and enhancement of the employees over and above the salaries compensated which is not a requirement of the profession. The standard objective of employee well being is to enhance the lifestyle of workers and keep them satisfied. Employees invest at least half their time at your workplace or getting to it, or making it. They know that they play a role to the organization when they are reasonably exempt from fear and they experience that when they are in trouble/ problems, they are due to get something returning from the company. Individuals are qualified for be treated as complete humans with individual needs, desires and stresses.

Feasibility study of technology-enabled prevention intervention for children and families (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikki Theofanopoulou ◽  
Katherine Isbister ◽  
Julian Edbrooke-Childs ◽  
Petr Slovák
Keyword(s):  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Digital Camera ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Object A ◽  
Intervention Delivery ◽  
Parents And Children

BACKGROUND A common challenge within psychiatry and prevention science more broadly is the lack of effective, engaging, and scale-able mechanisms to deliver psycho-social interventions for children, especially beyond in-person therapeutic or school-based contexts. Although digital technology has the potential to address these issues, existing research on technology-enabled interventions for families remains limited. OBJECTIVE The aim of this pilot study was to examine the feasibility of in-situ deployments of a low-cost, bespoke prototype, which has been designed to support children’s in-the-moment emotion regulation efforts. This prototype instantiates a novel intervention model that aims to address the existing limitations by delivering the intervention through an interactive object (a ‘smart toy’) sent home with the child, without any prior training necessary for either the child or their carer. This pilot study examined (i) engagement and acceptability of the device in the homes during 1 week deployments; and (ii) qualitative indicators of emotion regulation effects, as reported by parents and children. METHODS In this qualitative study, ten families (altogether 11 children aged 6-10 years) were recruited from three under-privileged communities in the UK. The RA visited participants in their homes to give children the ‘smart toy’ and conduct a semi-structured interview with at least one parent from each family. Children were given the prototype, a discovery book, and a simple digital camera to keep at home for 7-8 days, after which we interviewed each child and their parent about their experience. Thematic analysis guided the identification and organisation of common themes and patterns across the dataset. In addition, the prototypes automatically logged every interaction with the toy throughout the week-long deployments. RESULTS Across all 10 families, parents and children reported that the ‘smart toy’ was incorporated into children’s emotion regulation practices and engaged with naturally in moments children wanted to relax or calm down. Data suggests that children interacted with the toy throughout the duration of the deployment, found the experience enjoyable, and all requested to keep the toy longer. Child emotional connection to the toy—caring for its ‘well-being’—appears to have driven this strong engagement. Parents reported satisfaction with and acceptability of the toy. CONCLUSIONS This is the first known study investigation of the use of object-enabled intervention delivery to support emotion regulation in-situ. The strong engagement and qualitative indications of effects are promising – children were able to use the prototype without any training and incorporated it into their emotion regulation practices during daily challenges. Future work is needed to extend this indicative data with efficacy studies examining the psychological efficacy of the proposed intervention. More broadly, our findings suggest the potential of a technology-enabled shift in how prevention interventions are designed and delivered: empowering children and parents through ‘child-led, situated interventions’, where participants learn through actionable support directly within family life, as opposed to didactic in-person workshops and a subsequent skills application.

Assessing Medical Evidence

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob Stegenga
Keyword(s):  
Quality Assessment ◽  
Randomized Trials ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Allocation Concealment ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Medical Evidence ◽  
Empirical Methods ◽  
First Order ◽  
First Order Methods

Medical scientists employ ‘quality assessment tools’ to assess evidence from medical research, especially from randomized trials. These tools are designed to take into account methodological details of studies, including randomization, subject allocation concealment, and other features of studies deemed relevant to minimizing bias. There are dozens of such tools available. They differ widely from each other, and empirical studies show that they have low inter-rater reliability and low inter-tool reliability. This is an instance of a more general problem called here the underdetermination of evidential significance. Disagreements about the quality of evidence can be due to different—but in principle equally good—weightings of the methodological features that constitute quality assessment tools. Thus, the malleability of empirical research in medicine is deep: in addition to the malleability of first-order empirical methods, such as randomized trials, there is malleability in the tools used to evaluate first-order methods.

scholarly journals Determining the impact of postoperative complications in neurosurgery based on simulated longitudinal smartphone app-based assessment

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lion D. Comfort ◽  
Marian C. Neidert ◽  
Oliver Bozinov ◽  
Luca Regli ◽  
Martin N. Stienen
Keyword(s):  
Postoperative Complications ◽  
Feasibility Study ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Smartphone Application ◽  
Simulated Patients ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Longitudinal Assessment ◽  
User Friendliness ◽  
User Friendly ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background Complications after neurosurgical operations can have severe impact on patient well-being, which is poorly reflected by current grading systems. The objective of this work was to develop and conduct a feasibility study of a new smartphone application that allows for the longitudinal assessment of postoperative well-being and complications. Methods We developed a smartphone application “Post OP Tracker” according to requirements from clinical experience and tested it on simulated patients. Participants received regular notifications through the app, inquiring them about their well-being and complications that had to be answered according to their assigned scenarios. After a 12-week period, subjects answered a questionnaire about the app’s functionality, user-friendliness, and acceptability. Results A total of 13 participants (mean age 34.8, range 24–68 years, 4 (30.8%) female) volunteered in this feasibility study. Most of them had a professional background in either health care or software development. All participants downloaded, installed, and applied the app for an average of 12.9 weeks. On a scale of 1 (worst) to 4 (best), the app was rated on average 3.6 in overall satisfaction and 3.8 in acceptance. The design achieved a somewhat favorable score of 3.1. One participant (7.7%) reported major technical issues. The gathered patient data can be used to graphically display the simulated outcome and assess the impact of postoperative complications. Conclusions This study suggests the feasibility to longitudinally gather postoperative data on subjective well-being through a smartphone application. Among potential patients, our application indicated to be functional, user-friendly, and well accepted. Using this app-based approach, further studies will enable us to classify postoperative complications according to their impact on the patient’s well-being.

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