scholarly journals Mobile App to Help People With Chronic Illness Reflect on Their Strengths: Formative Evaluation and Usability Testing

10.2196/16831 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. e16831 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olöf Birna Kristjansdottir ◽  
Elin Børøsund ◽  
Marianne Westeng ◽  
Cornelia Ruland ◽  
Una Stenberg ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Chronic Illness ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Formative Evaluation ◽  
Usability Testing ◽  
Mobile App ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Personal Strengths ◽  
System Usability Scale

Background Supporting patient engagement and empowerment is increasingly seen as essential in providing person-centered health care to people with chronic illness. Mobile apps helping patients reflect on their concerns as preparation for consultations with their health care providers can have beneficial effects on the consultation quality. However, apps focusing on empowerment and personal strengths are still scarce. Objective This study aimed to (1) develop a mobile app to support patients with rheumatic diseases in reflecting on their strengths in preparation for consultations with health care providers and (2) explore patients’ perceived usability of the app in a nonclinical test setting. Methods A prototype app was developed based on input from patients and health care providers, as reported in previous studies. The app was designed for use in self-management support settings aiming to promote awareness of strengths and to focus attention on strengths in the patient-health care provider dialogue. The features included in the prototype were as follows: (1) introduction to the topic of strengths, (2) list of examples of strengths to promote reflection and registration of own strengths, (3) summary of registered strengths, (4) value-based goal setting, (5) linking of strengths to goals, (6) summary of all registrations, and (7) options to share summary digitally or as a print version. In this study, the app was refined through a formative evaluation with patients and health care providers recruited from a specialized rheumatology hospital unit. Patients’ perceptions of the app’s usability were explored in a test setting with self-report measurements and semistructured interviews. The interviews were audiotaped, transcribed, and analyzed with directed content analysis. Data from questionnaires were analyzed with descriptive statistics. Results Developmental and formative evaluation included 18 patients and 7 health care providers. The evaluation resulted in minor adjustments to the prototype but no major changes in features. The usability testing included 12 patients. All participants found the usability acceptable; the median score on the System Usability Scale was 86.3 (range 70-100). All reported that it was meaningful and relevant to use the app. Out of 12 participants, 9 (75%) reported becoming more aware of their own strengths by using the app; 1 (8%) disagreed and 2 (17%) provided a neutral response. The results on the goal-related feature were mixed, with half of the patients finding it useful to link strengths to concrete goals. A statistically significant positive change from pre- to postintervention was identified on measures of self-efficacy and negative emotions. Conclusions In this formative evaluation of a mobile app to promote patients’ reflections on their strengths, patients perceived the app as meaningful and supporting awareness. The results suggest the usefulness of building in functionality to support use of strengths and goal attainment. Further studies on efficacy and usability in a clinical setting, including health care providers, are needed.

scholarly journals Developing Technology to Mobilize Personal Strengths in People with Chronic Illness: Positive Codesign Approach (Preprint)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jelena Mirkovic ◽  
Stian Jessen ◽  
Olöf Birna Kristjansdottir ◽  
Tonje Krogseth ◽  
Absera Teshome Koricho ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Chronic Illness ◽  
Appreciative Inquiry ◽  
Service Design ◽  
Mobile App ◽  
Self Management ◽  
User Requirements ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Design Elements ◽  
Personal Strengths

BACKGROUND Emerging research from psychology and the bio-behavioral sciences recognizes the importance of supporting patients to mobilize their personal strengths to live well with chronic illness. Positive technology and positive computing could be used as underlying design approaches to guide design and development of new technology-based interventions for this user group that support mobilizing their personal strengths. OBJECTIVE A codesigning workshop was organized with the aim to explore user requirements and ideas for how technology can be used to help people with chronic illness activate their personal strengths in managing their everyday challenges. METHODS Thirty-five participants from diverse backgrounds (patients, health care providers, designers, software developers, and researchers) participated. The workshop combined principles of (1) participatory and service design to enable meaningful participation and collaboration of different stakeholders and (2) an appreciative inquiry methodology to shift participants’ attention to positive traits, values, and aspects that are meaningful and life-giving and stimulate participants’ creativity, engagement, and collaboration. Utilizing these principles, participants were engaged in group activities to develop ideas for strengths-supportive tools. Each group consisted of 3-8 participants with different backgrounds. All group work was analysed using thematic analyses. RESULTS Participants were highly engaged in all activities and reported a wide variety of requirements and ideas, including more than 150 personal strength examples, more than 100 everyday challenges that could be addressed by using personal strengths, and a wide range of functionality requirements (eg, social support, strength awareness and reflection, and coping strategies). 6 concepts for strength-supportive tools were created. These included the following: a mobile app to support a person to store, reflect on, and mobilize one’s strengths (Strengths treasure chest app); “empathy glasses” enabling a person to see a situation from another person’s perspective (Empathy Simulator); and a mobile app allowing a person to receive supportive messages from close people in a safe user-controlled environment (Cheering squad app). Suggested design elements for making the tools engaging included: metaphors (eg, trees, treasure island), visualization techniques (eg, dashboards, color coding), and multimedia (eg, graphics). Maintaining a positive focus throughout the tool was an important requirement, especially for feedback and framing of content. CONCLUSIONS Combining participatory, service design, and appreciative inquiry methods were highly useful to engage participants in creating innovative ideas. Building on peoples’ core values and positive experiences empowered the participants to expand their horizons from addressing problems and symptoms, which is a very common approach in health care today, to focusing on their capacities and that which is possible, despite their chronic illness. The ideas and user requirements, combined with insights from relevant theories (eg, positive technology, self-management) and evidence from the related literature, are critical to guide the development of future more personalized and strengths-focused self-management tools.

scholarly journals The Effect of the E-Patuh Application on HIV/Aids Patients’ Adherence in Consuming Antiretroviral

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfian Alfian ◽  
Kusman Ibrahim ◽  
Imas Rafiyah
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Medication Adherence ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Antiretroviral Treatment ◽  
Intervention Group ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Aids Patients ◽  
Antiretroviral Adherence ◽  
Hiv Aids

Medication adherence is behavior that refers to client obeys in following a medication, and makes lifestyle changes in accordance of recommendations from health care providers. Antiretroviral adherence is paramount for HIV/AIDS patients. The effects were often a problem in antiretroviral treatment and toxicity and often be the reason for replacing or stopping antiretroviral treatment. This study aimed to determine the “E-Patuh” Applications effect on antiretroviral adherence in patients Of HIV/AIDS In West Java. The research design was a quasi-experimental with nonequivalent control group design. The location of this research was in RSUD Kota Bandung and in RSUD Kota Banjar. The respondents was selected without randomization and used purposive sampling technique. Respondents in this study were 30 respondents. Data were obtained using self-report questionnaires. The intervention group was monitored a 30-day android-based E-Patuh application and monitored on an E-Patuh website and then measured adherence value with self-report. Data were analyzed using SPSS 22 with chi-square test. The results showed a significant difference between adherence value before and after application of E-Patuh in the intervention group with (p <0.05) with obtained p value = 0,006. The results of this study prove a positive effect on the using of E-Patuh applications against ARV medication adherence in the intervention group with the support system of the E-Patuh application. The used of E-Patuh is helpful in improving ARV adherence in HIV/AIDS patients. The features contained in E-Patuh were directly reminiscent of the timing of taking medication for PWLH. E-Patuh should be consideration for PLHIV and health care providers in hospitals to improve ARV adherence to reduce mortality rates in people living with HIV.

scholarly journals Mobile Apps for Drug–Drug Interaction Checks in Chinese App Stores: Systematic Review and Content Analysis (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chunying Shen ◽  
Bin Jiang ◽  
Qilian Yang ◽  
Chengnan Wang ◽  
Kevin Z Lu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Arithmetic Mean ◽  
Mobile App ◽  
Average Score ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Rating Score ◽  
Average Rating ◽  
Mhealth Apps

BACKGROUND As a computerized drug–drug interaction (DDI) alert system has not been widely implemented in China, health care providers are relying on mobile health (mHealth) apps as references for checking drug information, including DDIs. OBJECTIVE The main objective of this study was to evaluate the quality and content of mHealth apps supporting DDI checking in Chinese app stores. METHODS A systematic review was carried out in November 2020 to identify mHealth apps providing DDI checking in both Chinese iOS and Android platforms. We extracted the apps’ general information (including the developer, operating system, costs, release date, size, number of downloads, and average rating), scientific or clinical basis, and accountability, based on a multidimensional framework for evaluation of apps. The quality of mHealth apps was evaluated by using the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS). Descriptive statistics, including numbers and percentages, were calculated to describe the characteristics of the apps. For each app selected for evaluation, the section-specific MARS scores were calculated by taking the arithmetic mean, while the overall MARS score was described as the arithmetic mean of the section scores. In addition, the Cohen kappa (κ) statistic was used to evaluate the interrater agreement. RESULTS A total of 7 apps met the selection criteria, and only 3 included citations. The average rating score for Android apps was 3.5, with a minimum of 1.0 and a maximum of 4.9, while the average rating score for iOS apps was 4.7, with a minimum of 4.2 and a maximum of 4.9. The mean MARS score was 3.69 out of 5 (95% CI 3.34-4.04), with the lowest score of 1.96 for Medication Guidelines and the highest score of 4.27 for MCDEX mobile. The greatest variation was observed in the information section, which ranged from 1.41 to 4.60. The functionality section showed the highest mean score of 4.05 (95% CI 3.71-4.40), whereas the engagement section resulted in the lowest average score of 3.16 (95% CI 2.81-3.51). For the information quality section, which was the focus of this analysis, the average score was 3.42, with the MCDEX mobile app having the highest score of 4.6 and the Medication Guidelines app having the lowest score of 1.9. For the overall MARS score, the Cohen interrater κ was 0.354 (95% CI 0.236-0.473), the Fleiss κ was 0.353 (95% CI, 0.234-0.472), and the Krippendorff α was 0.356 (95% CI 0.237-0.475). CONCLUSIONS This study systematically reviewed the mHealth apps in China with a DDI check feature. The majority of investigated apps demonstrated high quality with accurate and comprehensive information on DDIs. However, a few of the apps that had a massive number of downloads in the Chinese market provided incorrect information. Given these apps might be used by health care providers for checking potential DDIs, this creates a substantial threat to patient safety.

Prognosticating futures and the human experience of hope

2007 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 227-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sally Thorne ◽  
Valerie Oglov ◽  
Elizabeth-Anne Armstrong ◽  
T. Gregory Hislop
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Chronic Illness ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Secondary Analysis ◽  
Human Experience ◽  
Clinical Encounter ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Health Care Communication ◽  
Patients With Cancer

Objectives: Communication between health care providers and patients with cancer and other chronic diseases typically references probabilities that certain future events will or will not occur. Beyond the context of diagnostic encounters and the transmission of “bad news,” such “prognostic” communications take place in various forms throughout the illness trajectory. It is well known that such information transmitted badly can have devastating psychosocial consequences for patients and their families and, conversely, that difficult information exchanged with sensitivity can lend tremendous support. This study aimed to extend our understanding of how such communications are received and interpreted by patients, so that we might optimally apply what we know about general principles of effective communication within the particularly challenging context of predicting futures.Methods: We conducted a combined secondary analysis of two prior qualitative studies into patient perceptions of helpful and unhelpful health care communication with 200 cancer patients and 30 persons with chronic illness. These data sets offered a rich resource for comparing perceptions across a range of contextual variables, and secondary analysis focused on future-oriented interactions, including both prognostication and prediction.Results: The accounts of patients with cancer and chronic illness reveal various ways in which health care communications involving future projections interact with their human experience of hope, powerfully shaping their capacity to make sense of and live with serious illness. They include a synthesis of what patients recommend health care professionals know and understand about this challenging dynamic.Significance of results: The findings of this study offer a distinct angle of vision onto the various communications that involve future predictions, illuminating a patient perspective with the potential to inform health care communication approaches that are both informative and therapeutic. As such, the study supports a dynamic understanding of the tenuous balance between hope and honesty in the clinical encounter.

scholarly journals se-atlas: Mapping of Health Care Providers for People With Rare Diseases - a Cross-sectional Survey From the User Perspective

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jannik Schaaf ◽  
Michaela Neff ◽  
Manuela Till ◽  
Niels Tegtbauer ◽  
Holger Storf
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Rare Diseases ◽  
User Satisfaction ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Total Period ◽  
Patient Organisations ◽  
System Usability Scale

Abstract BackgroundIn rare diseases, only a low number of regionally distributed experts are available in medical care. The health service platform for rare diseases (www.se-atlas.de) provides a search for health care providers and patient organisations in Germany for specific rare diseases and presents the results to patients or physicians. The objective of this study was to examine the background and purpose, user satisfaction and usability when using se-atlas and to receive suggestions on improvements for implementation in the next release of se-atlas. MethodsWe conducted an online survey over a total period of five weeks between December 2020 and January 2021. Participants were members of patient organisations of rare diseases and experts of rare diseases centres in Germany. The questionnaire addressed the objectives of this study in 10 questions. We used Likert scales (4 to 6 points), as well as the System Usability Scale to measure usability (range: 0 to 100). The data obtained from the survey was analysed descriptively. ResultsIn total, 55 participants completed the survey (16 experts and 39 members of patient organisations). The results demonstrate that users know se-atlas mainly through patient organisations and the German National Action League for People with Rare Diseases. Furthermore, the experts use se-atlas more frequently than members of patient organisations do. Regarding to user satisfaction, participants were satisfied when using se-atlas (scale 1-6, mean = 4.31, SD = 1.18). They rated se-atlas functions with an average between 3.82 and 4.4 (scale 1-6). Additionally, se-atlas functions were considered as important with an average between 3.11 and 3.75 (scale 1-4). With regard to usability, the website was rated with an overall SUS score of 67.1, whereas the results differ between the participants group (experts = 76.1, patient organisations = 63.1). Moreover, participants made suggestions, e.g. that more disease entries should be available and usability can be improved. ConclusionsThis study involved experts and members of patient organisations to assess the background and purpose, user satisfaction and usability when using se-atlas. Despite the promising results and first new implementations, further optimisations of the platform in terms of usability and various functionalities are necessary.

scholarly journals Buprenorphine/naloxone addiction in a pharmacist as a result of migraine self-treatment

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 127-130
Author(s):  
Merrill Norton ◽  
Ah Young Cho ◽  
Courtney Giebler ◽  
Taylor Smith ◽  
Kathryn Walton
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Prescription Drugs ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Hospital Pharmacist ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Drug Misuse ◽  
Treatment Center ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Migraine Headaches

Abstract Objective: A unique case report is presented to demonstrate addiction in a pharmacist through the use of buprenorphine/naloxone film for the self-prescribed treatment of migraine headaches. Case Summary: A 35-year-old female hospital pharmacist was admitted to treatment for opioid use disorder for using buprenorphine/naloxone film to self-medicate her migraine headaches. After daily use of sublingual buprenorphine/naloxone, and several failed attempts to discontinue use, the pharmacist was admitted to a partial hospitalization treatment program. She was prescribed sumatriptan subcutaneous injection for her migraines, while maintaining buprenorphine/naloxone abstinence. Upon completion, the pharmacist transitioned to the aftercare program, where she maintains sobriety and uses her story to help aid in other patients' recoveries at the treatment center. Discussion: Addiction and substance abuse affect a substantial number of health care professionals. Pharmacists are particularly vulnerable to prescription drug misuse and addiction as a result of their direct access and vast pharmacologic knowledge. In a 2004 self-report survey of a random sample of health care providers, 58.7% of pharmacists reported using nonprescribed prescription drugs at least once in their lifetime. This case is a story of rehabilitation and recovery of a pharmacist who has a desire to return to the practice of pharmacy through the use of effective pharmacologic and behavioral interventions.

scholarly journals Spirituality as an Essential Element of Person-Centered Care

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 885-886
Author(s):  
Rachel Nathan ◽  
Deborah Zuercher ◽  
Steven Eveland ◽  
Anjana Chacko ◽  
Raya Kheirbek
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Chronic Illness ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Spiritual Care ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Essential Element ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Sensitivity Assessment ◽  
Centered Care

Abstract Data demonstrate that the majority of patients with serious or chronic illness would like their clinicians to address their spirituality but that the majority of clinicians do not provide such care. Reasons cited include lack of training. Palliative Medicine, built on the biopsychosocial-spiritual model of care, has long recognized the critical role of spirituality in the care of patients with complex, serious, and chronic illness. There is mounting evidence that spiritual care is a fundamental component of all high-quality compassionate health care, and it is most effective when it is recognized and reflected in the attitudes and actions of both patients and health care providers. We conducted focus groups as a first step in the process to arrive at a consensus definition of “spiritual care.” A second step involved collecting and comparing frameworks and models that recognize that providers cannot be made compassionate simply through the imposition of rules; methods were needed to achieve behavior change. The study group developed and piloted curriculum to train health care providers. The created curricula covered the definitions of a spiritual care, self-awareness, cultural sensitivity, assessment, and skills. As part of ongoing curriculum development processes, training included evaluation tools to accompany skill development . Our work demonstrated the need for compassionate presence during encounters, for applying the spirituality in professional life; and for identifying ethical issues in inter-professional spiritual care. We concluded that it is feasible to train clinicians to address spirituality and provide holistic and patient-centered care in an effort to minimize suffering.

scholarly journals Knowledge and awareness among nursing students regarding the COVID-19: a cross sectional study

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (7) ◽  
pp. 2518
Author(s):  
K. P. Joshi ◽  
Leena Madhura ◽  
Deepak Jamadar
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Nursing Students ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Educational Interventions ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Basic Knowledge ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Snowball Sampling ◽  
Outbreak Response ◽  
Cross Sectional

Background: The health care providers are at the front line of the outbreak response of current pandemic of COVID-19 and exposed to hazards that put them at risk of infection. Rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has become a major cause of concern for the healthcare profession in all over the world. All health care professional must stay aware of the latest information on the COVID-19 outbreak. This research paper deals with the knowledge and awareness about COVID-19 among nursing students.Methods: By non-probability snowball sampling method the sample size was 407. Predesigned and pretested questionnaire was used in this study. Questions were related to knowledge and awareness about current COVID-19. The participant was directed to complete the self-report survey by online. The data was tabulated and analysed statistically. MS-Excel and Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 22.0 used for all statistical analysis.Results: A total of 407 nursing students participated in this study. Over all 75.58±3.21 participants showed good knowledge and awareness about COVID-19. Around 87.47% respondents were aware about high risk age group for COVID-19. 83.54% participants were aware about concept of hand hygiene and 83.37% were well aware of PPE for suspected or confirmed COVID-19 cases.Conclusions: The study participants showed adequate basic knowledge and awareness of COVID-19. There is a strong need to implement periodic educational interventions and training programs on infection control practices and other updates of COVID-19 across all healthcare professions including nursing students.

scholarly journals Clinical Encounters and Treatment Initiation for Chronic Hepatitis C Patients: Applications of Adaptive Leadership Framework for Chronic Illness

SAGE Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 215824401882446 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald E. Bailey ◽  
Andrew J. Muir ◽  
Judith A. Adams ◽  
N. Marcus Thygeson ◽  
Hants Williams ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Chronic Hepatitis ◽  
Hepatitis C ◽  
Chronic Illness ◽  
Chronic Hepatitis C ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
The United States ◽  
Clinical Encounter ◽  
Adaptive Leadership ◽  
Care Providers

Chronic hepatitis C (CHC) is the most common blood-borne infection in the United States. Patients with CHC undergoing treatment face many challenges including adherence to medications and management of symptoms; health care practitioners are well positioned to facilitate patients’ ability to address these challenges. We used the Adaptive Leadership for Chronic Illness Framework to investigate the difficulties inherent in affecting behavior change in patients undergoing treatment. We enrolled 11 patient participants and 10 provider participants. We used data from the first clinical encounter between patients and providers during which treatment was discussed. We found examples of adaptive leadership and categorized these behaviors into three themes: support for medication, coping with family/home life, and strategizing to manage employment. We also saw examples of what we termed missed opportunities for adaptive leadership. This study illustrates the contributions of adaptive leadership behaviors by health care providers and the potential risk to patients in their absence.

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