Receptiveness to Opposing Views: Conceptualization and Integrative Review

The present article reviews a growing body of research on receptiveness to opposing views—the willingness to access, consider, and evaluate contradictory opinions in a relatively impartial manner. First, we describe the construct of receptiveness and consider how it can be measured and studied at the individual level. Next, we extend our theorizing to the interpersonal level, arguing that receptiveness in the course of any given interaction is mutually constituted by the dispositional tendencies and observable behaviors of the parties involved. We advance the argument that receptiveness should be conceptualized and studied as an interpersonal construct that emerges dynamically over the course of an interaction and is powerfully influenced by counterpart behavior. This interpersonal conceptualization of receptiveness has important implications for intervention design and raises a suite of novel research questions.

What Makes Learning Analytics Research Matter

The ongoing changes and challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic have exacerbated long-standing inequities in education, leading many to question basic assumptions about how learning can best benefit all students. Thirst for data about learning is at an all-time high, sometimes without commensurate attention to ensuring principles this community has long valued: privacy, transparency, openness, accountability, and fairness. How we navigate this dynamic context is critical for the future of learning analytics. Thinking about the issue through the lens of JLA publications over the last eight years, we highlight the important contributions of “problem-centric” rather than “tool-centric” research. We also value attention (proximal or distal) to the eventual goal of closing the loop, connecting the results of our analyses back to improve the learning from which they were drawn. Finally, we recognize the power of cycles of maturation: using information generated about real-world uses and impacts of a learning analytics tool to guide new iterations of data, analysis, and intervention design. A critical element of context for such work is that the learning problems we identify and choose to work on are never blank slates; they embed societal structures, reflect the influence of past technologies; and have previous enablers, barriers and social mediation acting on them. In that context, we must ask the hard questions: What parts of existing systems is our work challenging? What parts is it reinforcing? Do these effects, intentional or not, align with our values and beliefs? In the end what makes learning analytics matter is our ability to contribute to progress on both immediate and long-standing challenges in learning, not only improving current systems, but also considering alternatives for what is and what could be. This requires including stakeholder voices in tackling important problems of learning with rigorous analytic approaches to promote equitable learning across contexts. This journal provides a central space for the discussion of such issues, acting as a venue for the whole community to share research, practice, data and tools across the learning analytics cycle in pursuit of these goals.

A Review of Digital Health Design Approaches: Challenges Towards Real World Implementation (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Digital health represents an important strategy in the future of healthcare delivery. Over the past decade, mHealth has accelerated the agency of healthcare users. Despite prevailing excitement about the potential of digital health, questions remain on efficacy, uptake, usability and patience outcome. This challenge is confounded by two industries, DIGITAL and HEALTH, that have vastly different approaches to research, design, testing and implementation. In this regard, there is a need to examine prevailing design approaches, to weigh their benefits and challenges towards implementation, and to recommend a path forward that synthesises the needs of this complex stakeholder group. OBJECTIVE This review studies prominent digital health intervention (DHI) design approaches mediating the digital health space. In doing so, we seek to examine each methodology’s: origins, perceived benefits, contrasting nuances, challenges, and typical use-case scenarios. METHODS A narrative synthesis approach to literature review was employed to review existing evidence. We searched indexed scientific literature using keywords relative to different digital health intervention designs. Papers selected after screening were those that discussed the design and implementation of digital health design approaches. RESULTS 120 papers on intervention design were selected for full-text review. We selected the 20 most prominent papers on each design approach, synthesizing findings under the categories of origins, advantages, disadvantages, challenges and cases. CONCLUSIONS Digital health is experiencing the growing pains of rapid expansion. Currently, numerous design approaches are being implemented in order to harmonise the needs of a complex stakeholder group. Whether the primary stakeholder is positioned as the end-user/person/human/patient, the challenge to synthesise the constraints and affordances of both digital design and healthcare, built equally around user satisfaction and clinically efficacy remains paramount. Further research that works towards a transdisciplinarity in digital health may help to break down friction in this field. Until digital health is viewed as a hybridised industry with unique requirements rather than competing interests, the nuances that each design approach posits will be difficult to realise in a real world context. We encourage the collaboration of digital and health experts within hybrid design teams, through all stages of intervention design, in order to create a better digital health culture and design ethos.

Horticulture-based Interventions to Enhance Health and Wellbeing of People Living With Dementia in the Community

The majority of people living with dementia in the early and middle stages are cared for at home by family caregivers. Participation in meaningful activities is important for good quality of life. Recreation based on horticulture is beneficial for people living with dementia in residential settings, yet evidence within community settings is less clear. The aim of this research was to examine the existing evidence for the impact of using contact with nature, gardens and plants to enhance well-being of people living with dementia in the community. Our secondary aim was to explore the outcome domains and instruments that were employed in the existing research studies, to inform future research efforts and guide clinical practice. A systematic search was conducted covering several databases and gray literature. Original studies that examined group or individual horticulture-based activities or interventions were included. Of 2127 articles identified through searching, 10 were selected for full review. The findings reveal that horticulture-based intervention showed positive impacts on food intake, social interaction, and well-being in older adults with dementia. Some evidence shows that horticulture-based activities may alleviate stressful symptoms associated with living with dementia. Future research may further evaluate the effect of the interventions on cognitive function, physical function, and behavioral symptoms in a more rigorous intervention design.

Research Applying Adaptive Leadership Framework for Chronic Illness Across Settings of Care

The carepartner is an essential member of the team to facilitate and assist in maximizing the independence of the older adult. The four papers in this symposium applies The Adaptive Leadership Framework for Chronic Illness (ALFCI) at the point of design, as well as an analytic framework for literature synthesis, intervention design, and analysis of existing data. In the first paper, a qualitative metasummary of a scoping review synthesizes qualitative findings about fatigue adaptation and challenges for stroke survivors, care partners, and healthcare professionals. The second paper describes the use of the ALFCI in an intervention study to manage symptom challenges in older adults with acute myeloid leukemia. The third paper shares staff’s experiences of providing direct care for older residents with advanced dementia in long-term care facilities. The fourth paper describes use of the carepartner–assisted intervention to improve oral hygiene of older adults with cognitive impairment. The ALFCI is a useful framework for intervention design 1) this framework provides a comprehensive way to examine the context of symptoms/behaviors (not just the symptom/behavior in isolation), 2) the framework guides “collaborative work”, 3) analytically it can help guide development of shared meaning of communication and “collaborative work” of dyads (family caregivers, long-term care staff and older adults), and 4) helps understand process of staff utilizing their strengths and doing adaptive work to facilitate interactions and communication, managing older residents’ behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia, and improving their care provision and work life.

The Impact of Gamified Instruction on Students’ Learning Outcomes: Systematic Review of Experimental Studies

This systematic review critically explores the intervention design and findings of the experimental studies that were published between January 2012-December 2020 in a number of digital libraries and databases and had the effect of a gamified instruction on students’ learning outcomes in their focus, with the aim of identifying what constitutes success or the lack thereof in the given context. The found effect(s) of gamified instruction on students’ learning engagement and achievement are discussed in relation to the a) intervention design, its flaws and their potential impact on reported outcomes and b) prevalent practice in gamification research. The discussion is structured around data collection sources, sample size, and intervention duration, but also the characteristics of learning technology, learning approach, course content, type of games and game elements. This study proposes a list of categories to be included in the description of a study context so that it is possible to a) systematically organise research findings, b) filter the variety of findings via means of replication studies. c) recognise the variant effect on different sub-populations, and d) suggest the way forward when designing and implementing gamified instruction within specific conditions. Furthermore, the study highlights the necessity of approaching the topic through a mixed-method approach involving a more intensive tracking schedule with new assessment instruments and a larger number of participants that are longitudinal or at least of a longer duration in order to obtain more comprehensive findings.

Vaccine Hesitancy: Past and Present in the COVID-19 Era

Vaccine-hesitant individuals are a heterogeneous group that are indecisive in varying degrees – more of a spectrum – about specific vaccines or vaccination in general. Vaccine hesitancy is complex, varying by vaccine, time, context, geographic region, and sub-population. There is an “infodemic” that needs to be fought alongside the pandemic as exposure to misinformation is linked to a reduction in an individual’s intentions to vaccinate. In addressing vaccine hesitancy, it is key to 1) identify the subpopulations susceptible to vaccine hesitancy, 2) diagnose issues through various research methods – surveys, in-depth interviews, focus groups, or media monitoring – and 3) develop context-tailored, evidence-based interventions to address those reasons. Sensitivity to the context and effective communication are key to successful immunization programs, alongside other critical factors (confidence, complacency and convenience – the 3Cs model); engaging stakeholders in dialogue is critical to intervention design and implementation.

Development and evaluation of complex multicomponent interventions in public health

This chapter examines the issues to consider when developing and evaluating complex public health interventions and signposts where more detailed guidance can be found. It starts by considering what complexity means in this context, including the contribution that systems theory has made. When developing complex interventions we suggest: (i) reading quantitative and qualitative research on similar interventions, preferably within systematic reviews; (ii) consulting stakeholders, including those that the intervention is intended to benefit, to help ensure its relevance, acceptability and ownership; (iii) considering using theory to inform the intervention design and hypotheses to assess in evaluations; (iv) assessing whether the intervention could operate at more than one level (from individual through to policy) to increase its chances of success; and (v) reflecting on issues of equity and how the intervention could reduce health inequalities.

Self-Rehabilitation for Post-Stroke Motor Function and Activity–A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background. Due to an increasing stroke incidence, a lack of resources to implement effective rehabilitation and a significant proportion of patients with remaining impairments after treatment, there is a rise in demand for effective and prolonged rehabilitation. Development of self-rehabilitation programs provides an opportunity to meet these increasing demands. Objective. The primary aim of this meta-analysis was to determine the effect of self-rehabilitation on motor outcomes, in comparison to conventional rehabilitation, among patients with stroke. The secondary aim was to assess the influence of trial location (continent), technology, time since stroke (acute/subacute vs chronic), dose (total training duration > vs ≤ 15 hours), and intervention design (self-rehabilitation in addition/substitution to conventional therapy) on effect of self-rehabilitation. Methods. Studies were selected if participants were adults with stroke; the intervention consisted of a self-rehabilitation program defined as a tailored program where for most of the time, the patient performed rehabilitation exercises independently; the control group received conventional therapy; outcomes included motor function and activity; and the study was a randomized controlled trial with a PEDro score ≥5. Results. Thirty-five trials were selected (2225 participants) and included in quantitative synthesis regarding motor outcomes. Trials had a median PEDro Score of 7 [6–8]. Self-rehabilitation programs were shown to be as effective as conventional therapy. Trial location, use of technology, stroke stage, and intervention design did not appear to have a significant influence on outcomes. Conclusion. This meta-analysis showed low to moderate evidence that self-rehabilitation and conventional therapy efficacy was equally valuable for post-stroke motor function and activity.