Pivoting an MCI Empowerment Program to Online Engagement

In the Spring of 2020, closures and safe distancing orders swept much of the United States due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper presents a case study of pivoting an in-person empowerment program focused on lifestyle interventions for people newly diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) to an online program. Working as rapidly as possible to sustain participant engagement, our design decisions and subsequent iterations point to initial constraints in telehealth capabilities, as well as learning on the fly as new capabilities and requirements emerged. We present the discovery of emergent practices by family members and healthcare providers to meet the new requirements for successful online engagement. For some participants, the online program led to greater opportunities for empowerment while others were hampered by the lack of in-person program support. Providers experienced a sharp learning curve and likewise missed the benefits of in-person interaction, but also discovered new benefits of online collaboration. This work lends insights and potential new avenues for understanding how lifestyle interventions can empower people with MCI and the role of technology in that process.

Disruption Leads to Methodological and Analytic Innovation in Developmental Sciences: Recommendations for Remote Administration and Dealing With Messy Data

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted data collection for longitudinal studies in developmental sciences to an immeasurable extent. Restrictions on conducting in-person standardized assessments have led to disruptive innovation, in which novel methods are applied to increase participant engagement. Here, we focus on remote administration of behavioral assessment. We argue that these innovations in remote assessment should become part of the new standard protocol in developmental sciences to facilitate data collection in populations that may be hard to reach or engage due to burdensome requirements (e.g., multiple in-person assessments). We present a series of adaptations to developmental assessments (e.g., Mullen) and a detailed discussion of data analytic approaches to be applied in the less-than-ideal circumstances encountered during the pandemic-related shutdown (i.e., missing or messy data). Ultimately, these remote approaches actually strengthen the ability to gain insight into developmental populations and foster pragmatic innovation that should result in enduring change.

Videos Improve Attention and Cheap Talk in Online Surveys

Cheap Talk (CT) is a mainstay technique among stated preference practitioners to reduce Hypothetical Bias (HB). The usefulness of CT may be questionable in online surveys due to the limited control researchers have on participant engagement. In the context of an online choice experiment on hotels, we compare a control group of respondents who receives a CT script as a traditional passage of text versus a group who must answer an attention-check question to verify their comprehension of the script as well as another group who receives the CT script as a video and then answer the attention-check question. We find that compared to the control group, simply offering the attention-check question reduced willingness to pay (WTP), and those who answer the attention-check question correctly behaved differently to those who did not. Overall, video CT script is shown to improve attention and be more effective in reducing potential HB than a text-based script.

Global monitoring of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic through online surveys sampled from the Facebook user base

Simultaneously tracking the global impact of COVID-19 is challenging because of regional variation in resources and reporting. Leveraging self-reported survey outcomes via an existing international social media network has the potential to provide standardized data streams to support monitoring and decision-making worldwide, in real time, and with limited local resources. The University of Maryland Global COVID-19 Trends and Impact Survey (UMD-CTIS), in partnership with Facebook, has invited daily cross-sectional samples from the social media platform's active users to participate in the survey since its launch on April 23, 2020. We analyzed UMD-CTIS survey data through December 20, 2020, from 31,142,582 responses representing 114 countries/territories weighted for nonresponse and adjusted to basic demographics. We show consistent respondent demographics over time for many countries/territories. Machine Learning models trained on national and pooled global data verified known symptom indicators. COVID-like illness (CLI) signals were correlated with government benchmark data. Importantly, the best benchmarked UMD-CTIS signal uses a single survey item whereby respondents report on CLI in their local community. In regions with strained health infrastructure but active social media users, we show it is possible to define COVID-19 impact trajectories using a remote platform independent of local government resources. This syndromic surveillance public health tool is the largest global health survey to date and, with brief participant engagement, can provide meaningful, timely insights into the global COVID-19 pandemic at a local scale.

Measuring the Impact of Human-Centered Design Research

Background/Objective: Human-centered design (HCD) is an approach to research that aims to facilitate participant engagement in research studies. Research Jam is the Patient Engagement Core of the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (Indiana CTSI) that applies HCD to health research. The objective of this project is to assess the impact and efficacy of the HCD approach in health research. This project follows-up with previous investigators who have completed a project with Research Jam to measure impact on investigators’ attitudes towards HCD and participant engagement as well as the efficacy and implementation of the project-specific tools and deliverables that resulted from the work with Research Jam. Project Methods: A survey was developed in Qualtrics and sent to investigators (N=34) from Research Jam’s portfolio of completed projects (2015-2020). Five follow-up interviews were conducted and analyzed in NVivo. Results: Survey response rate was 50%. Of the projects listed by the investigators, 89% had deliverables that were reported as feasible and relevant to the target audience. Long-term sustainability of the deliverables showed room for improvement. For all projects, 81% were reported to have helped the investigator learn how to better engage with participants to inform their subsequent research. Potential Impact: These findings demonstrate that HCD produces deliverables that are feasible and relevant to target audiences, and health researchers view HCD as a useful method to engage more directly with research participants. These results can serve as a guide for Research Jam to continue to refine processes, such as improving long-term sustainability of the deliverables, and to direct future projects.

Designing dolls according to Youkai stories and Shinto beliefs in Eastern culture

<p>Contrary to the contemporary views on the function and complex mastery skills of an object, the Eastern world puts more emphasis on the value of the object is in its inner spirit. This view is based on Shinto beliefs, where everything is spiritual and valuable. My project undertakes a case study of the relationship between humans and things. This is done by building on the uses of Shinto beliefs to design an object that initiates a narrative. More specifically dolls. Thus, invites a relationship and engages the belief that objects have souls. The dolls which I designed are an intersection of the spirit world and reality. By providing a process that facilitates the traditional Youkai story base on Shinto beliefs and how it has developed in modern society. In promoting participant engagement through design methods and processes, this project discovered a new vision of forming meaningful relationships between humans and objects empowers the true value of an object. This project visualizes participant experiences created an exploration of a narrative that contains the spirit.</p>

Designing dolls according to Youkai stories and Shinto beliefs in Eastern culture

<p>Contrary to the contemporary views on the function and complex mastery skills of an object, the Eastern world puts more emphasis on the value of the object is in its inner spirit. This view is based on Shinto beliefs, where everything is spiritual and valuable. My project undertakes a case study of the relationship between humans and things. This is done by building on the uses of Shinto beliefs to design an object that initiates a narrative. More specifically dolls. Thus, invites a relationship and engages the belief that objects have souls. The dolls which I designed are an intersection of the spirit world and reality. By providing a process that facilitates the traditional Youkai story base on Shinto beliefs and how it has developed in modern society. In promoting participant engagement through design methods and processes, this project discovered a new vision of forming meaningful relationships between humans and objects empowers the true value of an object. This project visualizes participant experiences created an exploration of a narrative that contains the spirit.</p>

A MODEL OF ENGAGEMENT FOR CORRECTIONAL PRACTICE

<p>Despite recent advances in correctional rehabilitation, rates of treatment attrition remain high and low efficacy rates suggest improvements in treatment development and delivery are needed. Treatment engagement is an important concept which remains poorly understood. In order to enhance understanding and facilitate higher levels of engagement in treatment, robust theoretical models need to be developed. In light of this, two key questions need to be answered; (1) what is engagement? And (2) what are the underlying causal mechanisms which facilitate or hinder engagement? I explore the contributions of current conceptualisations and models of correctional treatment engagement. I explain how evolutionary psychology, agency, norms and the therapeutic alliance can contribute to our theoretical understanding. These concepts are then integrated to form the Model of Engagement for Correctional Practice. Engagement is conceptualised as a set of adaptive, goal-directed behaviours occurring as a result of the dynamic interactions between contextual, psychological and social processes. I argue that these factors influence the nature of the therapeutic alliance and subsequently participant engagement. The model is then evaluated in terms of critical features required for a robust theory of engagement. I then suggest some practice principles and guidelines to demonstrate how this model can be applied to enhance treatment engagement.</p>

A MODEL OF ENGAGEMENT FOR CORRECTIONAL PRACTICE

<p>Despite recent advances in correctional rehabilitation, rates of treatment attrition remain high and low efficacy rates suggest improvements in treatment development and delivery are needed. Treatment engagement is an important concept which remains poorly understood. In order to enhance understanding and facilitate higher levels of engagement in treatment, robust theoretical models need to be developed. In light of this, two key questions need to be answered; (1) what is engagement? And (2) what are the underlying causal mechanisms which facilitate or hinder engagement? I explore the contributions of current conceptualisations and models of correctional treatment engagement. I explain how evolutionary psychology, agency, norms and the therapeutic alliance can contribute to our theoretical understanding. These concepts are then integrated to form the Model of Engagement for Correctional Practice. Engagement is conceptualised as a set of adaptive, goal-directed behaviours occurring as a result of the dynamic interactions between contextual, psychological and social processes. I argue that these factors influence the nature of the therapeutic alliance and subsequently participant engagement. The model is then evaluated in terms of critical features required for a robust theory of engagement. I then suggest some practice principles and guidelines to demonstrate how this model can be applied to enhance treatment engagement.</p>