Just-in-time adaptive intervention (JITAI) has gained attention recently and previous studies have indicated that it is an effective strategy in the field of mobile healthcare intervention. Identifying the right moment for the intervention is a crucial component. In this paper the reinforcement learning (RL) technique has been used in a smartphone exercise application to promote physical activity. This RL model determines the ‘right’ time to deliver a restricted number of notifications adaptively, with respect to users’ temporary context information (i.e., time and calendar). A four-week trial study was conducted to examine the feasibility of our model with real target users. JITAI reminders were sent by the RL model in the fourth week of the intervention, while the participants could only access the app’s other functionalities during the first 3 weeks. Eleven target users registered for this study, and the data from 7 participants using the application for 4 weeks and receiving the intervening reminders were analyzed. Not only were the reaction behaviors of users after receiving the reminders analyzed from the application data, but the user experience with the reminders was also explored in a questionnaire and exit interviews. The results show that 83.3% reminders sent at adaptive moments were able to elicit user reaction within 50 min, and 66.7% of physical activities in the intervention week were performed within 5 h of the delivery of a reminder. Our findings indicated the usability of the RL model, while the timing of the moments to deliver reminders can be further improved based on lessons learned.
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Non-attendance in mental healthcare is a substantial problem. Research hasshown that sending a short message service (SMS) reminder could reduce non-attendance by 50 percent in general health services and by 25 percent in mental health institutions. However, no studies exist on the effect of sending SMS reminders in mental healthcare for addiction. Objectives: To examine the influence of SMS reminders on non-attendance in mental health care for addiction and to examine whether different effects occur between appointments for intake or for treatment. Methods. In a specialized institution for addictioncare in the north of the Netherlands 193.474 appointments of outpatient patients, representing 12.797 unique patients, were analyzed for non-attendance and related to registered SMS reminders. Results: Non-attendance was statistically significantly lower for appointments of patients who had received an SMS reminder (20.5%) than for appointments of patients who had not received a reminder (21.9%). Effects were found to be greater for intakeappointments in several analyses. Conclusions: Sending an SMS reminder is associated with a statistically significant lower non-attendance at appointments by patients with a substance use disorder, but the differences have hardly any clinical significance. Special characteristics of the population of patients with substance use disorders may explain this small clinical effect.
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Background: A quality improvement collaborative is an intensive project involving a combination of implementation strategies applied in a limited “breakthrough” time window. After an implementation project, it is generally difficult to sustain its success. In the current study, sustainability was described as maintaining an implemented innovation and its benefits over a longer period of time after the implementation project has ended. The aim of the study was to explore potentially promising strategies for sustaining the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) programme in colonic surgery as perceived by professionals, three to six years after the hospital had successfully finished a quality improvement collaborative. Methods: A qualitative case study was performed to identify promising strategies to sustain key outcome variables related to the ERAS programme in terms of adherence, time needed for functional recovery and hospital length of stay (LOS), as achieved immediately after implementation. Ten hospitals were selected which had successfully implemented the ERAS programme in colonic surgery (2006–2009), with success defined as a median LOS of 6 days or less and protocol adherence rates above 70%. Fourteen semi-structured interviews were held with eighteen key participants of the care process three to six years after implementation, starting with the project leader in every hospital. The interviews started by confronting them with the level of sustained implementation results. A direct content analysis with an inductive coding approach was used to identify promising strategies. The mean duration of the interviews was 37 minutes (min 26 minutes – max 51 minutes). Results: The current study revealed strategies targeting professionals and the organisation. They comprised internal audit and feedback on outcomes, small-scale educational booster meetings, reminders, changing the physical structure of the organisation, changing the care process, making work agreements and delegating responsibility, and involving a coordinator. A multifaceted self-driven promising strategy was applied in most hospitals, and in most hospitals promising strategies were suggested to sustain the ERAS programme. Conclusions: Joining a quality improvement collaborative may not be enough to achieve long-term normalisation of transformed care, and additional investments may be needed. The findings suggest that certain post-implementation strategies are valuable in sustaining implementation successes achieved after joining a quality improvement collaborative.
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De beroepsgroep van diëtisten staat voor de uitdaging om de bijdrage van diëtistische zorg in de behandeling transparanter te maken. Het aantonen van (kosten)effectiviteit van de behandeling wordt door de beroepsgroep gezien als een urgente en noodzakelijke voorwaarde voor de continuïteit van de bedrijfsvoering en als wapen tegen dreigende bezuinigingen door overheid en zorgverzekeraars. Diëtisten hebben bovendien te maken met de toegenomen marktwerking in de zorg. De afgelopen jaren hebben steeds meer organisaties voor Thuiszorg afdelingen diëtetiek afgestoten en zijn diëtisten als zelfstandig ondernemer verder gegaan. Meer dan ooit wordt de noodzaak gevoeld om de toegevoegde waarde van de diëtist inzichtelijk te kunnen maken in onderhandelingen met zorgverzekeraars en zorggroepen. Zoals een diëtist het verwoordt: ?Zorgverzekeraars zullen in toenemende mate eisen stellen aan het aantonen van meerwaarde van dieet-behandeling en willen resultaat zien.? Van daaruit ontstaat vanuit de beroepspraktijk de vraag: ?Hoe kunnen we de meerwaarde van de diëtist aantonen op het niveau van de eigen praktijk én als beroepsgroep als geheel?? Eenduidige registratie en evaluatie van doelen van dieetbehandeling is een voorwaarde om uiteindelijk de (kosten)effectiviteit van de dieetbehandeling te kunnen aantonen. Op dit moment wordt binnen diëtistenpraktijken niet eenduidig geregistreerd, gemeten en geëvalueerd. Diëtisten zijn zich hiervan bewust en hebben de wens geuit op niveau van eigen praktijk, groepspraktijk en zelfs landelijk te willen komen tot een afstemming over registratie van data (welke data, op welk meetmoment en op welke manier). In diverse kleine voortrajecten hebben diëtisten uit het werkveld, samen met het lectoraat Voeding in relatie tot Sport en Gezondheid (VSG) van de HAN, toegewerkt naar een keuze voor doelen, meetinstrumenten en meetmomenten voor dieetbegeleiding bij cardiovasculair risicomanagement (CVRM). Een belangrijke en nog te beantwoorden vraag is of de gekozen methoden werkbaar en inpasbaar zijn in de dagelijkse praktijkvoering.
