Utility of a video-based mobile app as a health literacy tool for older adults living at home - The DigiAdherence study protocol (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catarina Nunes-Da-Silva ◽  
André Vitorino ◽  
Marta Lemos ◽  
Ludmila Porojan ◽  
Andreia Costa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Literacy ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Treatment Adherence ◽  
Care Center ◽  
Family Health ◽  
Mobile App ◽  
Falls Prevention ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Health Care Unit ◽  
Literacy Tool

BACKGROUND People aged 65 and over are more likely to have health problems related to aging, polypharmacy, and low treatment adherence. Moreover, health literacy levels decrease with increasing age. OBJECTIVE To assess an app’s utility in promoting health literacy in people aged 65 and over. METHODS A multidisciplinary team of professionals has developed a simple, intuitive, and video-based app (DigiAdherence) with recipes, nutritional counseling, physical activity, cognitive exercise, motivation to adhere to treatment, falls' prevention, and health literacy content. A total of 25 seniors attending the Personalized Health Care Unit of Portimão or the Family Health Unit of Portas do Arade (ACeS Algarve II - Barlavento, ARS Algarve, Portugal), will be recruited. Subjects must have 65 years of age or more, own a smartphone or tablet, and be willing and consent to participate. Those who do not know how to use or do not have a smartphone/tablet will be excluded. Likewise, people with major cognitive or physical impairment as well as living in a long-term care center will also not be included in this study. Participants will have access to the application for 4 weeks and will be evaluated at 3 different timepoints. Participants will be asked about the app’s utility, expectations (before access to the app), satisfaction (after access to the app), and benefits for their health. Subjects will be assessed in a clinical interview with a semi-structured questionnaire, including questions of users’ experience, satisfaction, app’s utility, quality of life, treatment adherence and lifestyles. RESULTS This study is expected to start recruiting before mid-2021. CONCLUSIONS Since the next generation of elderly is quite digitized, information and communication technologies could potentially be used as a health literacy tool to improve lifestyles among seniors.

Health Literacy and Long-Term Care Needs among Thai Elderly in Rural Communities

2020 ◽  
Vol 103 (12) ◽  
pp. 1315-1324
Keyword(s):  
Depressive Symptom ◽  
Health Literacy ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Long Term Care ◽  
Health Knowledge ◽  
Elderly Persons ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Study Results

Background: Factors related to long-term care needs have been studied widely, but there is limited research about the influence of health literacy on long-term care needs among the elderly in rural communities where the social context and care environment are uniquely different. Objective: To examine factors influencing long-term care needs among Thai elderly in rural communities. Materials and Methods: The present study used the cross-sectional design. The study sample included 477 elderly persons, who were members of the communities in Nakhon Ratchasima Province. Multi-stage random sampling was used to select participants. They were interviewed using the demographic and health information questionnaire, the Thai Geriatric Depression Scale (TGDS), the health literacy scale of Thai adults and long-term care needs questionnaire. The selected factors examined as independent variables included some demographic factors, depressive symptom, and health literacy. Results: The present study results revealed significant positive relationships existing between long-term care needs with age and depressive symptom, while negative relationships between income and health literacy were reported. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated that four of nine determinants of long-term care needs: age, depressive symptom, health knowledge and understanding, and ability managing their health condition significantly predicted long-term care needs at a level of 18% (R² adjusted=0.18, p<0.001). Conclusion: The present study results showed associations between personal and health literacy factors with long-term care needs. These findings prove that it is vitally important for healthcare professionals to consider the rural elderly’s mental health status and health literacy when providing care and planning treatment. Keywords: Health literacy, Long-term care needs, Rural community

scholarly journals A Mobile App to Optimize Social Participation for Individuals with Physical Disabilities: Content Validation and Usability Testing

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 1753
Author(s):  
Dahlia Kairy ◽  
Mir Abolfazl Mostafavi ◽  
Catherine Blanchette-Dallaire ◽  
Eva Belanger ◽  
Andrea Corbeil ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Social Participation ◽  
Physical Disabilities ◽  
Mobile App ◽  
User Centered Design ◽  
Mobility Limitations ◽  
User Friendliness ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Information Optimization

Background: Social participation is beneficial for individuals’ health. However, people with disabilities that may lead to mobility limitations tend to experience lower levels of social participation. Information and communication technologies such as the OnRoule mobile application (app) can help promote social participation. Objectives: To obtain potential users’ perceptions on the usability and content of the OnRoule app for providing information on accessibility, as well as its potential to optimize social participation. Materials and Methods: Cross-sectional user-centered design study. Individuals with physical disabilities (n = 18) were recruited through community organizations and interviewed using a semi-structured guide. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: Three main themes were identified: (1) “user-friendliness”; (2) “balance between the amount and relevance of information”; and (3) “potential use of the app”. Discussion and Conclusion: Findings from this study indicated that the app was easy to use, had pertinent information, and enabled a positive experience of finding information. However, several areas of improvement were identified, such as the clarity of specific elements, organization and amount of information, optimization of features, and inclusiveness. Apps such as OnRoule could optimize social participation by facilitating the process of finding resources in the community and building a sense of connectedness between users.

scholarly journals Opportunities for Mobile App–Based Adherence Support for Children With Tuberculosis in South Africa

10.2196/19154 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. e19154
Author(s):  
Rachel M Morse ◽  
Hanlie Myburgh ◽  
David Reubi ◽  
Ava E Archey ◽  
Leletu Busakwe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Treatment Adherence ◽  
Mobile Apps ◽  
Mobile App ◽  
Tuberculosis Treatment ◽  
Mobile Technologies ◽  
Patient Treatment ◽  
Pilot Studies ◽  
Adherence Support ◽  
Positive Treatment

Tuberculosis is the number one infectious cause of death globally. Young children, generally those younger than 5 years, are at the highest risk of progressing from tuberculosis infection to tuberculosis disease and of developing the most severe forms of tuberculosis. Most current tuberculosis drug formulations have poor acceptability among children and require consistent adherence for prolonged periods of time. These challenges complicate children’s adherence to treatment and caregivers’ daily administration of the drugs. Rapid developments in mobile technologies and apps present opportunities for using widely available technology to support national tuberculosis programs and patient treatment adherence. Pilot studies have demonstrated that mobile apps are a feasible and acceptable means of enhancing children’s treatment adherence for other chronic conditions. Despite this, no mobile apps that aim to promote adherence to tuberculosis treatment have been developed for children. In this paper, we draw on our experiences carrying out research in clinical pediatric tuberculosis studies in South Africa. We present hypothetical scenarios of children’s adherence to tuberculosis medication to suggest priorities for behavioral and educational strategies that a mobile app could incorporate to address some of the adherence support gaps faced by children diagnosed with tuberculosis. We argue that a mobile app has the potential to lessen some of the negative experiences that children associate with taking tuberculosis treatment and to facilitate a more positive treatment adherence experience for children and their caregivers.

Usability of mobile applications: A Concept Analysis to be used in health promotion (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Po-Jen Kung ◽  
Ching-Min Chen
Keyword(s):  
Health Promotion ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
User Experience ◽  
Mobile Applications ◽  
User Satisfaction ◽  
Concept Analysis ◽  
Mobile App ◽  
Model Case ◽  
Antecedents And Consequences ◽  
Definition Of

BACKGROUND Following the rise of health awareness in modern societies, health promotion has attracted progressively more attention in both academia and industry. This, along with the evolution of information and communication technologies, has resulted in the development of several mobile applications used in health promotion. Unfortunately, users of the applications have not achieved their goals, since many applications have not provided a smooth user experience. OBJECTIVE To clearly identify the defining attributes of mobile app usability in the context of health promotion in order to guide the design of apps which provide smooth user experience. METHODS It is thus first necessary to conduct an exploration into app usability, for which this study applies the concept analysis method by Walker and Avant, which includes: (1) identifying the use of the concept, (2) determining the defining attributes, (3) constructing a model case, (4) constructing model, contrary, borderline, and related cases, (5) identifying antecedents and consequences, and (6) defining empirical referents. RESULTS We then derive a unified definition of usability from the healthcare perspective—that the defining attributes of "usability of mobile application" are: efficiency, user satisfaction, and learnability. CONCLUSIONS It is concluded that mobile applications with these attributes could achieve their designed goals and reach maximal efficacy, since users would continue using the app on a regular basis, and would recommend it to others.

Mental Health Literacy tool for the Workplace

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Moll ◽  
Mona Zanhour ◽  
Scott B. Patten ◽  
Heather Stuart ◽  
Joy MacDermid
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Literacy ◽  
Mental Health Literacy ◽  
Literacy Tool

Health Literacy im Kindes- und Jugendalter und die Notwendigkeit von Family Health Literacy

2020 ◽  
pp. 41-97
Author(s):  
Uwe H. Bittlingmayer ◽  
Zeynep Islertas ◽  
Elias Sahrai ◽  
Stefanie Harsch ◽  
Isabella Bertschi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Literacy ◽  
Family Health

scholarly journals The role of functional health literacy in long-term treatment outcomes in psychosocial care for adolescents

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (11) ◽  
pp. 1547-1554
Author(s):  
L. Beukema ◽  
S. A. Reijneveld ◽  
M. Jager ◽  
J. Metselaar ◽  
A. F. de Winter
Keyword(s):  
Health Literacy ◽  
Treatment Adherence ◽  
Psychosocial Care ◽  
Psychosocial Problems ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
Functional Health ◽  
Functional Health Literacy ◽  
Treatment Processes ◽  
Inadequate Health Literacy ◽  
Over Time

Abstract Although among adolescents with psychosocial problems low health literacy may increase the risk of poor treatment outcomes, the contributing mechanisms within treatment remain unclear. A better understanding of these mechanisms could contribute to improved treatment processes and outcomes. This study aims to examine the relationship between functional health literacy, treatment processes (treatment adherence, learning processes), and treatment outcome (level of psychosocial problems) in adolescents in psychosocial care. We used data from a prospective cohort study among adolescents aged 12–18 (N = 390), collected in four successive measurements: at entry into care, and 3, 12, and 24 months thereafter. We used a mixed effect model to investigate the association between level of functional health literacy (adequate vs. inadequate) and treatment processes (treatment adherence, learning processes) and treatment outcome (level of psychosocial problems). Between adolescents with adequate and inadequate functional health literacy, we found no differences or change over time in adherence or learning processes. The level of psychosocial problems significantly declined over time (β = − 1.70, 95% CI [− 2.72, − 0.69], p = .001) to a similar degree in both groups, though, in all measurements, the level was consistently higher for adolescents with inadequate health literacy. We conclude that health literacy levels did not affect change in treatment processes nor in outcomes of psychosocial treatment. However, the consistently higher level of psychosocial problems among adolescents with inadequate health literacy suggests an unaddressed need in psychosocial care.

scholarly journals Factors Associated With Exacerbation of Heart Failure Include Treatment Adherence and Health Literacy Skills

2009 ◽  
Vol 85 (6) ◽  
pp. 651-658 ◽  
Author(s):  
MD Murray ◽  
W Tu ◽  
J Wu ◽  
D Morrow ◽  
F Smith ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heart Failure ◽  
Health Literacy ◽  
Treatment Adherence ◽  
Literacy Skills ◽  
Factors Associated
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