Mobile alert app to engage community volunteers to help locate missing persons with dementia.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Neubauer N
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8289012 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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| S-EPMC9345357 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND:Globally, family members account for the main source of caregiving of persons with dementia living at home. Providing care to family members with dementia often has negative health consequences for caregivers such as stress, depression and low quality of life. Yet, formal support for family caregivers (FCs) is limited. Telehealth technology has the potential to provide health care and social support to FCs. This study aims to assess the effectiveness of providing support by healthcare professionals (HPs) through a mobile app in reducing stress, depressive symptoms and loneliness, and improving mental health and quality of life of FCs of persons with dementia. METHODS:Using a pragmatic intervention design, this study will use pre- and post-intervention assessment to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed intervention in a sample of 78 FCs of persons with dementia (PWD). The intervention will be implemented by approximately 5 HPs specialized in dementia care based in the municipalities in Sweden. The main thrust of the intervention is to provide professional support, with help of an interactive mobile app, to family members in their caregiving role for PWDs. Qualitative interviews with HPs and FCs form the groundwork of the development of the mobile app. By using the app on smart phone or tablet, the FC, in groups of 8-10, will communicate with peers and a HP exchanging ideas on how to deal with PWD's behavioral and cognitive changes and get support. They will also be able to discuss stressful events and access mindfulness exercises focused on themselves. Quantitative data will be collected before and at three time points after the 8-week intervention to assess changes in the health outcomes of the FCs. In-depth interviews will be conducted after the intervention to capture the experiences of FCs and HPs regarding the ease of use and acceptability of the app. DISCUSSION:This tailor-made mobile app has the high potential to be a practical platform for supporting FCs to alleviate stress and improve mental health irrespective of distance to the nearest health care or social service center. TRIAL REGISTRATION:ISRCTN, ISRCTN46137262 . Registered 10 October 2019.
| S-EPMC7449058 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND:Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a disabling condition with a wide variety of clinical presentations including contamination fears, fear of harm, and relationship-related obsessions. Cognitive behavioral models of OCD suggest that OC symptoms result from catastrophic misinterpretations of commonly occurring intrusive experiences and associated dysfunctional strategies used to manage them. OCD-related maladaptive beliefs including inflated responsibility, importance and control of thoughts, perfectionism, and intolerance for uncertainty increase the likelihood of such misinterpretations. OBJECTIVE:Considering accumulating evidence suggesting that mobile health (mHealth) apps based on cognitive-behavioral principles may lead to significant reductions in psychopathological symptoms, we assessed the effectiveness of a novel cognitive training app (GGRO) designed to challenge OCD-related beliefs. METHODS:A total of 97 students were randomized to groups undertaking immediate-use (iApp) or delayed use (dApp) of GGRO. All participants were requested to complete Web-based assessments, with questionnaires relating to maladaptive beliefs, mood, and OC symptoms at baseline (T1), 15 days from baseline (T2), and 30 days from baseline (T3). Participants in iApp group started using the app at baseline and continued using the app for 15 consecutive days. They were then requested to stop using the app until T3. Participants in the dApp group were requested to wait for 15 days and only then start using the app (crossover) for 15 consecutive days. RESULTS:All participants used the app for a mean of 14.07 (SD 1.41) days with 2.94 levels per day. Consistent with previous findings, app use was associated with medium-large effect size reductions in both iApp (n=51) and dApp (n=46) groups. In the iApp group, all effects remained significant during the 15 days of follow-up. Analyses focusing on the first two assessment occasions revealed significant treatment × repeated measures interactions on maladaptive beliefs, several OC symptom measures, and self-esteem. CONCLUSIONS:This study provides further evidence for the efficacy of GGRO as a mobile-delivered training exercise that is useful for reducing OCD-related beliefs and symptoms. TRIAL REGISTRATION:ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03571464; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03571464 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/7675sYPsH).
| S-EPMC6391643 | biostudies-literature
Project description:In recent years, there has been a rapid increase in technology use in dementia caregiving, particularly the use of mobile applications (apps) which are highly accessible, cost-effective and intuitive. Yet, little is known about the experiences of family caregivers of persons living with dementia who use apps to support caregiving activities. This is of particular concern given that limited understandings of the user experience in designing technology have often led to end-users experiencing barriers in technology adoption and use. Using a qualitative descriptive approach, the purpose of the study was to explore the experiences of family caregivers of persons living with dementia on using apps in their caregiving roles. A purposive sample of five family caregivers in Ontario, Canada participated in two interviews each, with the second interview informed by photo-elicitation methods. Thematic analysis of the collected data revealed a central overarching theme, Connecting to support through apps in my, your and our lives, which explicated how apps played an important role in the lives of the caregiver, the care recipient and both together as a dyad. Three core themes also emerged: Adapting apps to meet individual needs of the dyad, Minimising the impact of the condition on the person and the family and Determining the effectiveness of apps. The findings highlighted that the value of apps extends beyond their mere functionality and their ability to help with care provision as they are also able to promote richer interpersonal connections, enhance personhood and sustain family routines. This research advances our understanding of the impact of app use in caregiving and provides direction for future research, policy, education, practice and app development.
| S-EPMC9237854 | biostudies-literature
Project description:International registered report identifier (irrid)RR2-10.3928/19404921-20210825-02.
| S-EPMC10131779 | biostudies-literature
Project description: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.
| S-EPMC7081135 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundEating disorders severely impact psychological, physical, and social functioning, and yet, the majority of individuals with eating disorders do not receive treatment. Mobile health apps have the potential to decrease access barriers to care and reach individuals who have been underserved by traditional treatment modalities.ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a tailored, fully automated self-help version of Recovery Record, an app developed for eating disorders management. We examined differences in eating disorder symptom change in app users that were randomized to receive either a standard, cognitive behavioral therapy-based version of the app or a tailored version that included algorithmically determined clinical content aligned with baseline and evolving user eating disorder symptom profiles.MethodsParticipants were people with eating disorder symptoms who did not have access to traditional treatment options and were recruited via the open-access Recovery Record app to participate in this randomized controlled trial. We examined both continuous and categorical clinical improvement outcomes (measured with the self-report Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire [EDE-Q]) in both intervention groups.ResultsBetween December 2016 and August 2018, 3294 Recovery Record app users were recruited into the study, out of which 959 were considered engaged, completed follow-up assessments, and were included in the analyses. Both study groups achieved significant overall outcome improvement, with 61.6% (180/292) of the tailored group and 55.4% (158/285) of the standard group achieving a clinically meaningful change in the EDE-Q, on average. There were no statistically significant differences between randomized groups for continuous outcomes, but a pattern of improvement being greater in the tailored group was evident. The rate of remission on the EDE-Q at 8 weeks was significantly greater in the group receiving the tailored version (d=0.22; P≤.001).ConclusionsThis is the first report to compare the relative efficacy of two versions of a mobile app for eating disorders. The data suggest that underserved individuals with eating disorder symptoms may benefit clinically from a self-help app and that personalizing app content to specific clinical presentations may be more effective in promoting symptomatic remission on the EDE-Q than content that offers a generic approach.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT02503098; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02503098.
| S-EPMC6895866 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectivesWe analyzed the effectiveness of the Canadian COVID Alert app on reducing COVID-19 infections and deaths due to the COVID-19 virus.MethodsTwo separate but complementary approaches were taken. First, we undertook a comparative study to assess how the adoption and usage of the COVID Alert app compared to those of similar apps deployed in other regions. Next, we used data from the COVID Alert server and a range of plausible parameter values to estimate the numbers of infections and deaths averted in Canada using a model that combines information on number of notifications, secondary attack rate, expected fraction of transmissions that could be prevented, quarantine effectiveness, and expected size of the full transmission chain in the absence of exposure notification.ResultsThe comparative analysis revealed that the COVID Alert app had among the lowest adoption levels among apps that reported usage. Our model indicates that use of the COVID Alert app averted between 6284 and 10,894 infections across the six Canadian provinces where app usage was highest during the March-July 2021 period. This range is equivalent to 1.6-2.9% of the total recorded infections across Canada in that time. Using province-specific case fatality rates, 57-101 deaths were averted during the same period. The number of cases and deaths averted was greatest in Ontario, whereas the proportion of cases and deaths averted was greatest in Newfoundland and Labrador. App impact measures were reported so rarely and so inconsistently by other regions that the relative assessment of impact is inconclusive.ConclusionWhile the nationwide rates are low, provinces with widespread adoption of the app showed high ratios of averted cases and deaths (upper bound was greater than 60% of averted cases). This finding suggests that the COVID Alert app, when adopted at sufficient levels, can be an effective public health tool for combatting a pandemic such as COVID-19.
| S-EPMC9172601 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Understanding the degree of connectivity between coastal and island landscapes and nearby coral reefs is vital to the integrated management of terrestrial and marine environments in the tropics. Coral reef fish are capable of navigating appropriate settlement habitats following their pelagic larval phase, but the mechanisms by which they do this are unclear. The importance of olfactory cues in settlement site selection has been demonstrated, and there is increasing evidence that chemical cues from terrestrial sources may be important for some species. Here, we test the olfactory preferences of eight island-associated coral reef fish recruits and one generalist species to discern the capacity for terrestrial cue recognition that may aid in settlement site selection. A series of pairwise choice experiments were used to evaluate the potential role that terrestrial, water-borne olfactory cues play in island-reef recognition. Olfactory stimuli tested included near-shore water, terrestrial rainforest leaf litter, and olfactory cues collected from different reef types (reefs surrounding vegetated islands, and reefs with no islands present). All eight island-associated species demonstrated high levels of olfactory discrimination and responded positively toward olfactory cues indicating the presence of a vegetated island. We hypothesize that although these fish use a suite of cues for settlement site recognition, one mechanism in locating their island/reef habitat is through the olfactory cues produced by vegetated islands. This research highlights the role terrestrial olfactory cues play in large-scale settlement site selection and suggests a high degree of ecosystem connectivity.
| S-EPMC3287328 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Estimating the relationships between individuals is one of the fundamental challenges in many fields. In particular, relationship estimation could provide valuable information for missing persons cases. The recently developed investigative genetic genealogy approach uses high-density single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to determine close and more distant relationships, in which hundreds of thousands to tens of millions of SNPs are generated either by microarray genotyping or whole-genome sequencing. The current studies usually assume the SNP profiles were generated with minimum errors. However, in the missing person cases, the DNA samples can be highly degraded, and the SNP profiles generated from these samples usually contain lots of errors. In this study, a robust machine learning approach was developed for estimating the relationships with high error SNP profiles. In this approach, a hierarchical classification strategy was employed first to classify the relationships by degree and then the relationship types within each degree separately. As for each classification, feature selection was implemented to gain better performance. Both simulated and real data sets with various genotyping error rates were utilized in evaluating this approach, and the accuracies of this approach were higher than individual measures; namely, this approach was more accurate and robust than the individual measures for SNP profiles with genotyping errors. In addition, the highest accuracy could be obtained by providing the same genotyping error rates in train and test sets, and thus estimating genotyping errors of the SNP profiles is critical to obtaining high accuracy of relationship estimation.
2022-07-27 | GSE209804 | GEO