The Science of Individuality and Tailored M-Health Communication

Author(s):  
Anastasius S. Moumtzoglou

The era of the science of individuality promises to fully recognize the uniqueness of the individual who needs to be seen and treated with utter respect for his or her individuality. It will not be long until digitizing a person unlocks the cause for what is wrong, creating valuable knowledge that can save a life or markedly improve the quality of life. On the other hand, emerging m-health technologies provide fundamentally different ways of looking at tailored communication technology. As a result, tailored communications research is poised at a crossroads. It needs to both build on and break away from existing frameworks into new territory, realizing the necessary commitment to theory-driven research at basic, methodological, clinical, and applied levels. The chapter envisions tailored m-health communication in the context of the science of individuality, emphasizing the variability, stability, and centrality of the individual.

Author(s):  
Anastasius S. Moumtzoglou

The era of the science of individuality promises to fully recognize the uniqueness of the individual who needs to be seen and treated with utter respect for his or her individuality. It will not be long until digitizing a person unlocks the cause for what is wrong, creating valuable knowledge that can save a life or markedly improve the quality of life. On the other hand, emerging m-health technologies provide fundamentally different ways of looking at tailored communication technology. As a result, tailored communications research is poised at a crossroads. It needs to both build on and break away from existing frameworks into new territory, realizing the necessary commitment to theory-driven research at basic, methodological, clinical, and applied levels. The chapter envisions tailored m-health communication in the context of the science of individuality, emphasizing the variability, stability, and centrality of the individual.


Author(s):  
Cláudia Helena Henriques

This chapter contributes to the emergent debate about sustainable tourism versus overtourism, in the context of urban development. The study underlines, on one hand, the growing importance of tourism in the historic quarters of Lisbon, and on the other hand the rise of overtourism and its effects on residents' quality of life. Consequently, there is the analysis and debate regarding the policies responses of the Lisbon Council in the framework of an integrated urban rehabilitation in Lisbon's historic quarters and the Lisbon Council Strategy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (Supplement_3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Helaoui Fadwa

Abstract Background and Aims Procedure of haemodialysis (HD) treatment is associated with an impaired quality of life in chronic kidney disease patients. It is due to changes in family, social and professional relationships. These changes can also lead to mental health problems. The purpose of our study is to determine the prevalence of depressive and anxiety disorders in hemodialysis patients. Method Fifty chronic hemodialysis patients were enrolled in our cross-sectional study during four months (September -October- November- December 2019). The HADS (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale) survey was used to assess depressive and anxiolytic disorder in our hemodialysis population. Were excluded patients aged less than 18 yearsold as well as kidney transplant patients and psychiatric patients. Results The mean age of our patients was 49.5 range (24-79).The sex ratio was 1.27. The prevalence of anxiety syndrome was 40% with a female predominance of 54.5% versus 54,5%. Depressive syndrome was noted in 48% of our patients with a male predominance of 58.3% versus 41,7%. 48% of our HD patients have shown depression in various degrees. It was about mild depression of 20,8% of pts, moderate depression of 41,6% of pts and severe depression of 37,5% of pts. Somatic symptoms of depression in our population were respectively noted in 52,8% of loss of energy, 57,5% fatigue, 63,4% sleep disturbances, and 38,5% changes in appetite. The most common psychological symptoms were: pessimism (79,1%), loss of interest in appearance (41,6%), psychomotor retardation (75%). On the other hand, 37, 5% of patients felt cheerful and 16,6% still enjoy doing some activities. For patients with anxiety syndrom, we noted: concentration disturbance (45,4%), palpitations (50%), abdominal pain (59,09%) and headache (81,8%). With regard to psychological symptoms, the most emphasized were: sudden feelings of panic (54,5%), worrying thoughts (72,7%),77,2% are feeling restless and 59,09% are feeling wound up. On the other hand, 68,1% feel relaxed especially after the hemodialysis session. It seems that gender, marital status and HD duration did not influence significantly in occurrence of depression with respectively (p=0,08, p=0.1 and p= 0.08). Older patients were significantly more depressed in compared to younger patients (p= 0.003). Unemployed patients were significantly more depressed in relation to employed patients(p=0.01). Finally, as the educational level of patients increased, level of depression significantly decreased (p=0,04). Conclusion Depression is the most frequent psychological complication of hemodialysis (HD) patients. Our results showed a high prevalence of depressive symptoms among the study group. The exact prevalence of depression in dialysis patients is unclear because of different criteria utilized for diagnosis of depression. A close collaboration between nephrologists and psychiatrists is needed to ensure a better quality of life in HD patients.


Ekonomia ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 85-93
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Sawicz

Comparative ana lysis of the quality of life of seniors in selected countries of the European UnionFor more than twenty years, the number of elderly people in Europe has been increasing. This process is called “the graying of the continent”. The aging of societies raises many problems of a medical, social and economic nature. On the other hand, the increase in the quality of life of seniors caused less spending on medical and social care.The article attempts to analyze the quality of life of seniors in selected countries of the European Union. The level of quality of life was examined in economic aspect. Particular attention is paid to the health of the population in selected EU country and the level of poverty. The article indicates countries with the highest quality of life of the elderly and countries in which the quality of life of seniors is low.


2012 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 415-421 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rute Grans ◽  
Cyntia Francesca Warth ◽  
José Francisco de Mattos Farah ◽  
Debora Pastore Bassitt

OBJECTIVE: To analyze quality of life and observe the prevalence of musculoskeletal pain in patients submitted to bariatric surgery. METHODS: A prospective, observational and comparative study with 26 individuals aged 18 to 60 years, 25 women, which included two evaluations, one preoperative and the other approximately 42 months after surgery. The Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) and the Human Body Diagram with Visual Analogue Scale were employed. RESULTS: The individual samples showed grade III obesity, with a predominance of postoperative overweight, hypertension and diabetes in 65.4% and 42.3% of the samples, with remission of hypertension in 50% and of diabetes mellitus in 38.5% (p<0.001). The SF-36 demonstrated improved quality of life, especially in aspects related to motricity; vitality and mental health showed no significant changes. Osteoarticular pain was reported and identified in various sites by the subjects; however, 87.5% of patients in the preoperative period and 88.5% in the postoperative period reported not having any physical therapy orientation, while 65.4% reported being engaged in some type of regular physical activity after surgery (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Morbidly obese individuals have a high probability of suffering from clinical, psychic, and musculoskeletal alterations, compromising their quality of life and showing improvement after bariatric surgery; on the other hand, the psycho-emotional manifestations did not progress in the same way.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary R. Hunter ◽  
Harshvardhan Singh ◽  
Stephen J. Carter ◽  
David R. Bryan ◽  
Gordon Fisher

Sarcopenia not only affects the ability to lead an active lifestyle but also contributes to increased obesity, reduced quality of life, osteoporosis, and metabolic health, in part due to reduced locomotion economy and ease. On the other hand, increased obesity, decreased quality of life, and reduced metabolic health also contribute to sarcopenia. The purpose of this mini-review is to discuss the implications sarcopenia has for the development of obesity and comorbidities that occur with aging.


2014 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-71
Author(s):  
Heather Macdonald ◽  
David M. Goodman ◽  
Katie Howe

Abstract Many philosophers have argued that psychological time is a fundamental, inherent quality of consciousness that provides continuity and sequence to mental events—enabling memory. And, since memory is consciousness, psychological time enables the individual intentionality of consciousness. Levinas (1961), on the other hand, argues that an individual’s past, in the most original sense, is the past of other. The irreducible alterity of one’s past sets the stage for the other who co-determines the meaning of the past. This paper is about the exploration cultural memory within the context of a Caucasian doctoral student entering into an African-American community during an internship, who finds that cultural memories are remarkably more complicated than the propositional description of historic events. The paper further explores how cultural memory is not a record of “what happened” but a sociolinguistic creative meaning making process. Histories can be contested. Memory, on the other hand, never adheres to the strict true or false dichotomy. Memory is like searching for the Divine, it cannot be found, only revealed in mysterious and small details. Memory, is the intruding of the infinite, creating as an effect the idea of a finite (August, 2011), they are not “representations” of the past nor are they a kind of mnemonic system of subjectivism to mediate all of consciousness.


QJM ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 113 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
E A Zaky ◽  
D M A Elnasharty ◽  
R M Elhossiny

Abstract Background The diagnosis and treatment of cancer are a stressful and threatening experience, which has tremendous impact on children and their families. As advances in cancer care have led to more treatment options and longer survival for cancer patients, a focus on quality of life for patients and their families has gained. Objectives The aim of this study was to evaluate the psychosocial aspects of children with different types of pediatric cancer (newly diagnosed as well as survivors), their parents, and sibs in comparison with those with normal children. Patients and Methods This study comprised 60 children, their sibs and caregivers. They were classified into three groups. Group I which comprised 20 newly diagnosed children with cancer, their caregivers and sibs, group II which comprised 20 cancer survivors children, their caregivers and sibs, group III which comprised 20 clinically healthy children, their caregivers and sibs. All children and their sibs in this study were subjected to full history taking, thorough clinical examination, assessment of socioeconomic standard, assessment of pediatric quality of life, a battery of psychometric tests included pediatric checklist, anxiety, depression, and self- esteem scores. All caregivers were subjected to record of demographic variable, assessment of socio-economic level, assessment of anxiety, depression, and isolation score, assessment of stress and burden related to the disease itself, if any, using standardized questionnaire and assessment of quality of life. Results Mean value of DS was significantly higher (P &lt; 0.05) in newly diagnosed cancer children and survivors compared to controls while AS and PCLS was only significantly higher (P &lt; 0.05) in newly diagnosed cancer children compared to controls. On the other hand, mean value of IQ of newly diagnosed cancer children and survivors was significantly than controls(P &lt; 0.05); Mean values of Child as well as the Parental Total HRQL were significantly lower in newly diagnosed and survivors compared to controls (P &lt; 0.05) with the former significantly lower than the later. In studied sib groups, AS was significantly higher in newly diagnosed compared to survivors and controls (P &lt; 0.05), while PCLS was only significantly higher when newly diagnosed compared to survivors. In studied parental groups, mean values of DS, AS, and SS were significantly higher(P,0.05) in newly diagnosed compared to survivors and controls. Meanwhile, IS was significantly higher in newly diagnosed compared to controls. Newly diagnosed children with cancer, their parents and sibs had significantly lower mean values of all Child HRQL subcategories. On the other hand, survivors showed only significantly lower physical and social subcategories compared to controls. In studied sib groups only sibs of newly diagnosed patients and those of survivors, had significantly lower mean value of social subcategory compared to controls. Conclusion The current study showed that newly diagnosed cancer children had severe impact on their psychosocial aspects as well as their HRQL compared to controls while survivors showed a much lesser effects. On the other hand, sibs were mainly affected socially while parents were extremely affected.


2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. e24128-e24128
Author(s):  
Alessandro Rossi ◽  
Maria Marconi ◽  
Stefania Mannarini ◽  
India Minelli ◽  
Claudio Verusio

e24128 Background: In recent years, an ever greater importance is given to the needs of cancer patients which could impact medical treatments, adherence and compliance, and patients’ quality of life (Teo et al. 2019; NCCN, 2015). However, recognizing and addressing the needs of patients may not be enough. Indeed, on one hand, needs that clinicians might consider as 'important' could play a marginal role, and – on the other hand – needs that clinicians may perceive as 'unimportant' may be central for patients. An innovative approach – psychometric network analysis (PNA; Epskamp, 2017) – was used to assess the network among needs ( nodes). Notably, the more a central node (need) is modified (addressed), the more a cascade change will occur in all the other nodes (needs). This study aimed to evaluate: (A) the structure of relationships among needs ( edges) of cancer patients, (B) which needs ( nodes) are the most relevant ( central), and (C) play a key role in the network. Methods: Patients ( n = 511; mean age = 65.95, SD = 12.72; 280 males) were enrolled at the Oncology Day Hospital at the “Presidio Ospedaliero” of Saronno, ASST Valle Olona, Italy. Patients were tested with the Need Evaluation Questionnaire (NEQ) which is composed of 23 items that investigate as many needs – divided into 4 areas: (1) information about diagnosis/prognosis, (2) information about exams and treatment, (3) communicative, and (4) relational needs. Results: Preliminary analysis revealed that all of the items were informative (SDitem < 2.5SDall_itemsSD) and there was no redundancy between items (redundancy index < 0.25). An Ising model (5,000 nonparametric bootstraps) with LASSO regularized nodewise logistic regression was performed. PNA showed a high accuracy: CS-coefficient = 0.56. On one hand, PNA showed that item#2 ( “I need more information about my future condition”; z = 2.039), item#17 ( “I need to speak with a psychologist”; z = 1.209), and item#13 ( “I need to be reassured more by the doctors”; z = 1.201) were the strongest (central) nodes. On the other hand, item#14 ( “ I need the hospital to provide better services”; z = -2.261) was the weakest node in the network. Conclusions: These findings show useful implications for clinical practice. Clinical interventions should address the needs showing the strongest connections in the network. These central nodes can influence all the other connected needs, thus representing important needs to be targeted by clinicians – allowing to tailoring more targeted and efficient therapeutic approaches to meet patients’ needs, with beneficial effects for medical treatments and quality of life.


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