Background: Self-management of exacerbations in COPD patients is important to reduce exacerbation impact. There is a need for more comprehensive and individualized interventions to improve exacerbation-related selfmanagement behavior. The use of mobile health (mHealth) could help to achieve a wide variety of behavioral goals. Understanding of patients and health care providers perspectives towards using mHealth in promoting selfmanagement will greatly enhance the development of solutions with optimal usability and feasibility. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore perceptions of COPD patients and their health care providers towards using mHealth for self-management of exacerbations. Methods: A qualitative study using focus group interviews with COPD patients (n = 13) and health care providers (HCPs) (n = 6) was performed to explore perceptions towards using mHealth to support exacerbation-related selfmanagement. Data were analyzed by a thematic analysis. Results: COPD patients and HCPs perceived mostly similar benefits and barriers of using mHealth for exacerbationrelated self-management. These perceived benefits and barriers seem to be important drivers in the willingness to use mHealth. Both patients and HCPs strengthen the need for a multi-component and tailored mHealth intervention that improves patients’ exacerbation-related self-management by determining their health status and providing adequate information, decision support and feedback on self-management behavior. Most importantly, patients and HCPs considered an mHealth intervention as support to improve self-management and emphasized that it should never replace patients’ own feelings nor undermine their own decisions. In addition, the intervention should be complementary to regular contact with HCPs, as personal contact with a HCP was considered to be very important. To optimize engagement with mHealth, patients should have a positive attitude toward using mHealth and an mHealth intervention should be attractive, rewarding and safe. Conclusions: This study provided insight into perceptions of COPD patients and their HCPs towards using mHealth for self-management of exacerbations. This study points out that future mHealth interventions should focus on developing self-management skills over time by providing adequate information, decision support and feedback on self-management behavior and that mHealth should complement regular care. To optimize engagement, mHealth interventions should be attractive, rewarding, safe and tailored to the patient needs.
Background: The aim of this study is to validate a newly developed nurses' self-efficacy sources inventory. We test the validity of a five-dimensional model of sources of self-efficacy, which we contrast with the traditional four-dimensional model based on Bandura's theoretical concepts. Methods: Confirmatory factor analysis was used in the development of the newly developed self-efficacy measure. Model fit was evaluated based upon commonly recommended goodness-of-fit indices, including the χ2 of the model fit, the Root Mean Square Error of approximation (RMSEA), the Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI), the Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR), and the Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC). Results: All 22 items of the newly developed five-factor sources of self-efficacy have high factor loadings (range .40-.80). Structural equation modeling showed that a five-factor model is favoured over the four-factor model. Conclusions and implications: Results of this study show that differentiation of the vicarious experience source into a peer- and expert based source reflects better how nursing students develop self-efficacy beliefs. This has implications for clinical learning environments: a better and differentiated use of self-efficacy sources can stimulate the professional development of nursing students.
De markt voor gezondheids-apps en ‘wearable’ gezondheidsmeters is enorm in opkomst en brengt veel beloften met zich mee om mensen in beweging te krijgen en gezonde keuzes te laten maken. De meeste van deze toepassingen zijn echter niet gebaseerd op wetenschappelijke methoden over gedragsverandering. Meer inzicht is nodig in de intrinsieke motieven van mensen om deze ICT-technieken al dan niet te gebruiken en effectiever te maken bij het gezond houden van mensen. In deze context wil een samenwerkingsverband van Selfcare BV, een technostarter die een digitaal platform heeft gebouwd waar persoonlijke gezondheidsdata van wearables worden gekoppeld, Fit!vak, de branchevereniging van erkende sport- en bewegingscentra, en het lectoraat Leven Lang in Beweging van Avans Hogeschool, een KIEM project uitvoeren met als centrale onderzoeksvraag hoe gebruikers het gebruik van wearables in combinatie met een digitaal dataplatform ervaren. Het project draagt bij aan de realisatie van het CLICK KIA cross-over programma Create Health. Een onderzoeksteam van Avans Hogeschool volgt gedurende een jaar ca. 60 medewerkers van Avans Hogeschool die een Fitbit sporthorloge in combinatie met het Selfcare dataplatform gebruiken. De uitkomsten van dit verkennend onderzoek zullen worden gebruikt om (voorlopige) aanbevelingen te doen aan de betrokken mkb’ers en een gezamenlijk voorstel voor vervolgonderzoek op te stellen.
A feeling of worry, anxiety, loneliness and anticipation are commonplace in both medical and non-medical arenas such as elderly care. An innovative solution such as the ‘simple and effective’ comfyhand would offer better patient care and improved care efficiency with a high chance of long-term, economic efficiency. ComfyHand is a start-up in the healthcare sector that aims to develop sustainable products to improve patient wellbeing in healthcare settings. It does this by emulating the experience of holding a hand which gives the person comfort and support in moments where real human contact is not possible. Right now the comfyhand is in the development phase, working on several prototypes for test trials in elderly care and hospitals. In this project we want to explore the use of 3D printing for producing a comfyhand. Desired properties for the prototype include optimal heat transfer, softness, regulation of sweat, durability and sustainability. The goal of this study is to develop a prototype to test in a trial with patients within Envida, a care centre. The trial itself is out of scope of this project. This proposal focuses on researching the material of choice and the processability. Building on knowledge gained in a previous Kiem GoChem project and a Use Case (Shape3Dup) of a currently running Raak MKB project (Enlighten) on 3D printing of breast prostheses, several materials, designs and printing parameters will be tested.
-Chatbots are being used at an increasing rate, for instance, for simple Q&A conversations, flight reservations, online shopping and news aggregation. However, users expect to be served as effective and reliable as they were with human-based systems and are unforgiving once the system fails to understand them, engage them or show them human empathy. This problem is more prominent when the technology is used in domains such as health care, where empathy and the ability to give emotional support are most essential during interaction with the person. Empathy, however, is a unique human skill, and conversational agents such as chatbots cannot yet express empathy in nuanced ways to account for its complex nature and quality. This project focuses on designing emotionally supportive conversational agents within the mental health domain. We take a user-centered co-creation approach to focus on the mental health problems of sexual assault victims. This group is chosen specifically, because of the high rate of the sexual assault incidents and its lifetime destructive effects on the victim and the fact that although early intervention and treatment is necessary to prevent future mental health problems, these incidents largely go unreported due to the stigma attached to sexual assault. On the other hand, research shows that people feel more comfortable talking to chatbots about intimate topics since they feel no fear of judgment. We think an emotionally supportive and empathic chatbot specifically designed to encourage self-disclosure among sexual assault victims could help those who remain silent in fear of negative evaluation and empower them to process their experience better and take the necessary steps towards treatment early on.
