Digital Health Applications in the Context of Dementia: A Questionnaire Study to develop an Assessment Tool about the Likelihood of Use among Physicians (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Age-related diseases such as dementia are playing an increasingly important role with regard to global population development. Thus, prevention, diagnostics and interventions require more accessibility, which can be realized through digital health applications. With the "app on prescription" Germany made history by being the first country worldwide to offer physicians the possibility to prescribe and reimburse digital health applications starting by the end of the year 2020. OBJECTIVE Considering the lack of knowledge about correlations with the likelihood of use among physicians, the aim of this study is to address the question of what makes the use of an digital health application by physicians more likely. METHODS We developed and validated a novel measurement tool - the Digital-Health-Compliance-Questionnaire (DHCQ) - to assess the role of four proposed factors on the likelihood of using a health application. Therefore, a survey was conducted online that evaluated the likelihood of using a digital application for screening of Alzheimers’ dementia called DemPredict. Within this survey, five latent dimensions (acceptance, attitude towards technology, technology experience, payment for time of use and effort of collection), the dependent variable "likelihood of use" and answers to exploratory questions were recorded and tested within directed correlations. The study was completed by 331 physicians from Germany, of whom a total of 301 physicians fulfilled the study criteria (e.g., being in regular contact to dementia patients). This data was analysed using a range of statistical methods to validate the DHCQs’ dimensions. RESULTS The DHCQ revealed good test theoretical measures: it showed excellent fit indices (TLI = .98, CFI = .982, SRMR = .073, RMSEA = .037), good internal consistency (Cronbachs-alpha = .83) and showed signs of moderate to large correlations between the DHCQ-dimensions and the dependent variable. The correlations between {“acceptance”|“attitude towards technology”| “technology experience”|“payment for time of use”} and "likelihood of use" ranged from r = 0.29 to r = 0.79 as well as between “effort of collection” and "likelihood of use" at r = -0.80. In addition, we found high levels of skepticism regarding data protection and the age of the subjects was found to be negatively related to their technical experience as well as their attitude towards technology. CONCLUSIONS In the context of the results, increased communication between the medical and technology sectors and significantly more awareness rising are recommended in order to make the use of digital health applications more attractive for physicians because it can be adjusted to their everyday needs. Further research could explore the connection between areas such as adherence on patient side and its impact on the likelihood of use by the physician.

The Impacts of COVID-19 on Technology Use and Experience Across Generations

Among its many downstream effects, the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced how people think about and interact with technology. With limitations and restrictions around in-person interactions and use of public spaces, people are increasingly relying on technology to support everyday activities including work, communication and care. Results from the survey series showed an increased adoption of and interest in home, health and communication technologies. The changes may be long-lived, with the majority of the new adopters saying that they will continue to use the technologies that they started using in response to the pandemic. A generational comparison showed that while baby boomers and the silent generation were less likely than younger adults to have made recent adoptions, the older generations did not significantly differ in terms of interest in using new technologies. This presentation will also report on how COVID-19-related changes in technology experience varied by other demographic and socio-economic characteristics.

Longevity Studies in the New Normal: The Move to Virtual Assessment

Extreme longevity is associated with resilience to Alzheimer’s disease. A major goal of centenarian studies is therefore to identify factors associated with maintaining cognitive function throughout life. Over the past year, two studies of centenarians and their offspring (age 60-110+ years) have pivoted from in-home assessments of cognitive and physical function to hybridized, Zoom-based assessments including comprehensive cognitive testing, blood pressure, grip strength, and accelerometry and biological sample collections. Protocols were optimized for accessibility for individuals with limited technology experience (e.g., investigator remotely controls all functions of the participant’s tablet) and sensory impairments (e.g., integration of wireless headphones) and include high-sensitivity data collection (e.g., sensor-based wearables and digital recording of cognitive test responses). Advantages of virtual administration included the ability to accommodate fatigue through multi-day assessment and to include geographically-isolated individuals. Disadvantages included participant burden due to equipment setup and inability to collect certain measures virtually (e.g., carotid ultrasounds).

Academic Technology Experience and Preference on Online Learning in Higher Education Institutions: Students' Perspectives

Amidst the Covid-19 Pandemic, most higher education institutions have shifted to online learning to sustain the existence of the universities. However, the readiness and effectiveness of private higher education institutions in Indonesia, especially in Kalimantan, are still questionable. This study focused on analyzing and understanding the academic technology experience and preference for online learning in Indonesian higher education institutions from the students' perspectives. A survey of 302 respondents from private higher education institutions was corroborated with semi-structured interviews. The results indicated that the majority of the respondents have limited access to technology devices and ownership. Most of them need academic features integrated into the learning management system for their successful study. The majority of the respondents preferred to have a completely face-to-face class, but they are receptive to online learning. However, they need to get situated in academic situations that facilitate their technology literacies and skills. Also, the institutions and lecturers should go in the same direction. Therefore, the data sources can contribute meaningful insights for policy-makers to design accessible and adaptive online learning for the students.

Defrag and reboot? Consolidating information and communication technology research in I-O psychology

Several decades of research have addressed the role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in industrial-organizational (I-O) psychology. However, segmented research streams with myriad terminologies run the risk of construct proliferation and lack an integrated theoretical justification of the contributions of ICT concepts. Therefore, by identifying important trends and reflecting on key constructs, findings, and theories, our review seeks to determine whether a compelling case can be made for the uniqueness of ICT-related concepts in studying employee and performance in I-O psychology. Two major themes emerge from our review of the ICT literature: (a) a technology behavior perspective and (b) a technology experience perspective. The technology behavior perspective with three subcategories (the “where” of work design, the “when” of work extension, and the “what” of work inattention) explores how individual technology use can be informative for predicting employee well-being and performance. The technology experience perspective theme with two subcategories (the “how” of ICT appraisals and “why” of motives) emphasizes unique psychological (as opposed to behavioral) experiences arising from the technological work context. Based on this review, we outline key challenges of current ICT research perspectives and opportunities for further enhancing our understanding of technological implications for individual workers and organizations.

Design and Adoption of Low-Cost Point-of-Care Diagnostic Devices: Syrian Case

Civil wars produce immense humanitarian crises, causing millions of individuals to seek refuge in other countries. The rate of disease prevalence has inclined among the refugees, increasing the cost of healthcare. Complex medical conditions and high numbers of patients at healthcare centers overwhelm the healthcare system and delay diagnosis and treatment. Point-of-care (PoC) testing can provide efficient solutions to high equipment cost, late diagnosis, and low accessibility of healthcare services. However, the development of PoC devices in developing countries is challenged by several barriers. Such PoC devices may not be adopted due to prejudices about new technologies and the need for special training to use some of these devices. Here, we investigated the concerns of end users regarding PoC devices by surveying healthcare workers and doctors. The tendency to adopt PoC device changes is based on demographic factors such as work sector, education, and technology experience. The most apparent concern about PoC devices was issues regarding low accuracy, according to the surveyed clinicians.

DEVELOPING PERSONAS TO HELP DESIGNERS TO UNDERSTAND DIGITAL EXCLUSION

Digital inclusion is becoming more important as many consumer products and engineered systems adopt increasingly digital interfaces. The designers of such services often assume that users have a certain level of digital interface competence, but this is not the case for many users. In this paper, we present a set of personas that could help designers to better understand and consider the range of digital expertise across the population. The personas are based on survey data from 338 people across England and Wales in 2019. The survey examined various factors that affect ability to use digital interfaces, including technology experience, attitudes towards technology and competence with basic interface operations. Twelve clusters were identified using K-means cluster analysis, and twelve personas were developed based on these. The personas help to bring to life the range of digital expertise and highlight people at risk of digital exclusion. In addition, the cluster sizes indicate the proportion of the population represented by each persona and thus the scale of potential digital exclusion.

Children prefer to learn from smart devices, but do not trust them more than humans

Despite the rise in prevalence of voice-activated smart devices and their potential to influence how young children learn about the world, we know little about how children interact with and learn from these devices. In the current study, 5- to 6-year-old children (n=30) were asked whether they wanted to learn more information about a series of obscure animals from an Amazon Echo or a human confederate. After informants gave contradictory answers, participants were asked whose information they trusted. Children significantly preferred to request information from the Amazon Echo but showed no preference with regards to whose information they endorsed. Furthermore, performance was not affected by technology experience. While children enjoy interacting with smart devices, they may not believe the information that they receive.

Security of Personal Data in Social Networks

The Information Society has created different possibilities for remote access to distributed information resources and communications between users (virtual environments, cloud services, social media, etc.). With millions of users’ data (or billions, in the case of Facebook) floating around the web, the need for tight security from social media platforms is obvious. The wide age range and technology experience level of social media users makes security management even more complex. A social platform needs to not only combat hackers, but also has to protect users whose personal security practices might be elementary.