Siblings are important in the lives of individuals with an intellectual disability and pervasive support needs; however, adults’ experiences of the things they do with or for their siblings with pervasive support needs remain underexplored. This study examined positive and challenging aspects of their roles related to their siblings. An online questionnaire was completed by 55 adults whose siblings had pervasive support needs. An inductive approach was used to thematically analyze open-ended questions about their experiences. The respondents described rewarding experiences of being with their siblings, combined with a sense of care and responsibility, and noted how their experiences were affected by their siblings’ support needs. “Being of service” was experienced as both rewarding and as a demanding responsibility. Collaboration with family members and health care professionals was another overarching theme. Our findings highlighted the valuable mutual contributions of siblings in each other’s life when one of them has pervasive support needs. Understanding adults’ experiences relating to their siblings who have pervasive support needs enables service providers to facilitate their contact and support. In addition, these findings can provide input for government agencies and organizations that provide support for people with disabilities by increasing awareness about siblings’ perspectives.
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Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a psychiatric disorder affecting 2% to 3% of world population. Patients having this disorder engage in repetitive and discomforting behaviors usually linked to controlling or cleaning. The potential of technical solutions trying to support both patients and therapists has been to a limited extent explored with some encouraging results. However, the use of a mobile phone application has not yet been explored. We present a study of a distributed application, partly running on mobile phone and partly on a website, with four patients suffering from OCD and their therapist. Our qualitative evaluation yields encouraging conclusions for practitioners and developers of such applications.
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With the rise of chronic diseases as the number one cause of death and disability among urban populations, it has become increasingly important to design for healthy environments. There is, however, a lack of interdisciplinary approaches and solutions to improve health and well-being through urban planning and design. This case study offers an HCI solution and approach to design for healthy urban structures and dynamics in existing neighborhoods. We discuss the design process and design of ROOT, an interactive lighting system that aims to stimulate walking and running through supportive, collaborative and social interaction.
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This study addresses the burgeoning global shortage of healthcare workers and the consequential overburdening of medical professionals, a challenge that is anticipated to intensify by 2030 [1]. It explores the adoption and perceptions of AI-powered mobile medical applications (MMAs) by physicians in the Netherlands, investigating whether doctors discuss or recommend these applications to patients and the frequency of their use in clinical practice. The research reveals a cautious but growing acceptance of MMAs among healthcare providers. Medical mobile applications, with a substantial part of IA-driven applications, are being recognized for their potential to alleviate workload. The findings suggest an emergent trust in AI-driven health technologies, underscored by recommendations from peers, yet tempered by concerns over data security and patient mental health, indicating a need for ongoing assessment and validation of these applications
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Background: The present study investigates the suitability of various treatment outcome indicators to evaluate performance of mental health institutions that provide care to patients with severe mental illness. Several categorical approaches are compared to a reference indicator (continuous outcome) using pretest-posttest data of the Health of Nation Outcome Scales (HoNOS). Methods: Data from 10 institutions and 3189 patients were used, comprising outcomes of the first year of treatment by teams providing long-term care. Results: Findings revealed differences between continuous indicators (standardized pre-post difference score ES and ΔT) and categorical indicators (SEM, JTRCI, JTCS, JTRCI&CS, JTrevised) on their ranking of institutions, as well as substantial differences among categorical indicators; the outcome according to the traditional JT approach was most concordant with the continuous outcome indicators. Conclusions: For research comparing group averages, a continuous outcome indicator such as ES or ΔT is preferred, as this best preserves information from the original variable. Categorical outcomes can be used to illustrate what is accomplished in clinical terms. For categorical outcome, the classical Jacobson-Truax approach is preferred over the more complex method of Parabiaghi et al. with eight outcome categories. The latter may be valuable in clinical practice as it allows for a more detailed characterization of individual patients.
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Light pollution is one of the fastest growing and most pervasive of environmental pollution (Chepesiuk, 2009). In the last couple of years, a lot of research has been done about the effects of light pollution. The interest in light pollution has been growing in many fields of science, extending from the traditional field of astronomy to atmospheric physics, environmental sciences, natural sciences and human sciences. Better insight in light pollution is likely to contribute to design and operation of Facility Management (FM) based on evidence. According to Cinzano, Falchi, & Elvidge (2001), the Netherlands is one of the countries with the highest amount of light pollution, just as the United States. A sample of students in the Netherlands and the United States has been taken to explore differences and similarities between the two countries.
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Dit boekje is uitgegeven in het kader van de inaugurele rede van Richard Griffioen, lector Animal Assisted Interventions (AAI). De inhoud van het lectoraat is zeer divers en richt zich op de impact van AAI (in de zorg) op het welzijn van mens en dier en het beïnvloeden van de mindset in de maatschappij. Het One Health concept, waarin het welzijn van de mens én het dier hand in hand gaan, speelt hierbij een belangrijke rol. Het lectoraat richt zich ook op nieuwe technologieën zoals virtual reality en robotica toepassingen. Het doel is om programma’s te ontwikkelen die zich richten op de hond, boerderijdieren en paarden.
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Purpose – In the domain of healthcare, both process efficiency and the quality of care can be improved through the use of dedicated pervasive technologies. Among these applications are so-called real-time location systems (RTLS). Such systems are designed to determine and monitor the location of assets and people in real time through the use of wireless sensor networks. Numerous commercially available RTLS are used in hospital settings. The nursing home is a relatively unexplored context for the application of RTLS and offers opportunities and challenges for future applications. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – This paper sets out to provide an overview of general applications and technologies of RTLS. Thereafter, it describes the specific healthcare applications of RTLS, including asset tracking, patient tracking and personnel tracking. These overviews are followed by a forecast of the implementation of RTLS in nursing homes in terms of opportunities and challenges. Findings – By comparing the nursing home to the hospital, the RTLS applications for the nursing home context that are most promising are asset tracking of expensive goods owned by the nursing home in orderto facilitate workflow and maximise financial resources, and asset tracking of personal belongings that may get lost due to dementia. Originality/value – This paper is the first to provide an overview of potential application of RTLS technologies for nursing homes. The paper described a number of potential problem areas that can be addressed by RTLS. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited Original article: https://doi.org/10.1108/JET-11-2017-0046 For this paper Joost van Hoof received the Highly Recommended Award from Emerald Publishing Ltd. in October 2019: https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/authors/literati/awards.htm?year=2019
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Eating healthier at work can substantially promote health for office workers. However, little has been investigated on designing pervasive health interventions specialized in improving workday eating patterns. This paper presents a design study of an mHealth app called EAT@WORK, which was designed to support office workers in the Netherlands in developing healthy eating behaviors in work routines. Based on semi-structured interviews with 12 office workers from a variety of occupations, we synthesized four key features for EAT@WORK, including supporting easy access to relevant knowledge, assisting goal setting, integrating with health programs, and facilitating peer supports. The user acceptance of EAT@WORK was examined through a within-subject study with 14 office workers, followed by a qualitative study on the applicability of app features to different working contexts. Quantitative results showed that EAT@WORK was experienced more useful than a benchmark app (p < 0.01) and EAT@WORK was also perceived easier to use than the benchmark app (p < 0.01). The qualitative analysis suggested that the goal assistant feature could be valuable for different working contexts, while the integrated health program was considered more suitable for office work than telework. The social and knowledge support were expected to be on-demand features that should loosely be bonded with the working contexts. Based on these findings, we discuss design implications for the future development of such mHealth technologies to promote healthy eating routines among office workers.
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The shift toward prevention and self-management in health hinges upon a massive realization of behavior change, which involves the use of virtual coaches. Increasing availability of data from mobile devices and techniques for real time analysis provide new opportunities for personalizing virtual coaches. We propose an architecture that takes advantage of those developments. We identify the required knowledge and methods to develop a flexible ecosystem for rapid prototyping of personalized virtual coaches.
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