Technology Use by Registered Dietitians for Patient Care in an Outpatient Setting

Background Technology use in digital health tools has increased significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted many in-office patient care services. Although healthcare practices have adopted several technologies, they remain surrounded by a saturated increase in consumer-based wearables and smartphone applications. As a result, attitudes and acceptability toward integrating these technologies for patient care are evolving. Digital health tools is an umbrella term including several technologies utilized among health care providers for the purpose of patient care. The inclusion of digital health tools by Registered Dietitian Nutritionists’ (RDNs) in practice provides a more robust and personalized approach to patients and their health needs. Reasons for decisions about incorporating digital health tools into the RDN practice setting are limited in the professional literature. Methods An exploratory cross-sectional survey design was used. Professionals working as Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDNs) were recruited utilizing a snowball sampling approach among several practice settings. Survey compilation included a literature review, identifying and utilizing two surveys otherwise used for different purposes and target audiences. Data collection consists of a 2-step process with a survey pilot test and distribution of a final survey administered via Qualtrics. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS v27.0. Results Sixteen of 20 professionals completed the survey in its entirety: 2 working in employee wellness, 13 in a hospital-based system, and 1 in both employee wellness and community/public health. Quantitative analysis depicted the highest usage of tele-visits/virtual visits and less appreciation for technology in eating disorders. Additionally, RDNs reported heightened chances of adopting a tool if the technology is the standard of care. Qualitative analysis indicated that professionals working in a setting for diabetes had a positive attitude towards wearable or smartphone nutrition applications. Moreover, other practice settings such as dialysis and post-liver transplant, eating disorders, or employee wellness produced either a neutral or negative attitude. Conclusions Registered dietitian nutritionists are highly interested in using digital health tools for patient care. However, it is difficult to conclude the current use of technology in outpatient practice. RDNs understand the potential of technology, such as wearables, in offering patients care concerning their illness or diagnosis. Although RDNs utilize telehealth, other technologies such as wearables and smartphone nutrition apps have yet to be widely adopted. The use of technology among RDNs who practice in an outpatient setting is highly variable, and therefore a presumption cannot be made. Therefore, future research is warranted, focusing on patients with various health conditions and diverse samples

Covid-19 as a breakdown in the texture of social practices

A lot of things need to be repaired and a lot of relationships are in need of a knowledgeable mending. Can we start to talk/write about them? This invitation - sent by one of the authors to the others - led us, as feminist women in academia, to join together in an experimental writing about the effects of COVID-19 on daily social practices and on potential (and innovative) ways for repairing work in different fields of social organization. By diffractively intertwining our embodied experiences of becoming together-with Others, we foreground a multiplicity of repair (care) practices COVID-19 is making visible. Echoing one another, we take a stand and say that we need to prevent the future from becoming the past. We are not going back to the past; our society has already changed and there is a need to cope with innovation and repairing practices that do not reproduce the past.Funding Agencies|European Research Council (ERC) under the European Unions Horizon 2020 research and innovation programmeEuropean Research Council (ERC) [715950]</p

Experiences of user-centred design with agile development for clinically supported self-management of Long Covid

The aim of the study reported here was to reflect and report on lessons learned from adapting HCI methods to fit into an agile development process delivering a digital intervention for people managing Long Covid. During the project, we maintained a record of all activities and interim design products. Subsequently, selected records were analysed qualitatively. Challenges included engaging patients managing this complex, debilitating health condition and fitting the digital intervention into different and evolving patient pathways provided by clinics. The key contributions of this paper are a description of the clinically supported self-management app, Living With Covid Recovery, and of adapted methods for user-centred design and testing; narratives on engaging diverse clinics integrating a digital health intervention in their care pathways; reflections on designing for diverse users; implications for design of future technologies for supported self-management; and insights into multidisciplinary working that are rarely discussed within HCI

National Academy of Medicine of Korea (NAMOK) Key Statements on COVID-19

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Integrating implementation during the conceptualization and early development of health technology innovations: the RECENTRE program

BackgroundFor successful health technology innovation and implementation, it is key to understand the problem and whether a proposed innovation is the best way to solve the problem. However, making this workable for academic and early development settings can be challenging. A case study is presented on the organization of innovation and implementation activities throughout a 5-year interdisciplinary research program titled Risk-based lifEstyle Change: daily lifE moNiToring and Recommendations (RECENTRE).MethodsRECENTRE integrates state-of-the-art theories and models for sustainable implementation of innovations in healthcare practice. The process is facilitated by an implementation specialist. The program now runs for 1 year. Dedicated “implementation sessions” were organized with each of the 6 work packages and during consortium meetings.FindingsTogether with work packages, implementation definitions, assumptions, knowledge gaps and support needs were explored. An initial stakeholder analysis was performed for the clinical use cases of daily life monitoring and recommendations for people with obesity and colon cancer. An implementation research strategy plan was drafted taking into account identified complexities for RECENTRE’s proposed use cases, innovations, organizational structure, and individual work package plans. Integrated follow-up activities and tools include dedicated contextual inquiry, interdisciplinary collaboration, expert consultations, training, innovation management, and strategy evaluation.DiscussionSo far, program members were positive about the involvement of an implementation specialist. The pro-active way of working supports early awareness, finding a common objective, and holistic innovation perspectives. This is considered essential for making conscious choices regarding next steps for development, evaluation, and implementation in clinical practice

Covid-19 as a breakdown in the texture of social practices.

‘A lot of things need to be repaired and a lot of relationships are in need of a knowledgeable mending. Can we start to talk/write about them?’ This invitation — sent by one of the authors to the others — led us, as feminist women in academia, to join together in an experimental writing about the effects of COVID-19 on daily social practices and on potential (and innovative) ways for repairing work in different fields of social organization. By diffractively intertwining our embodied experiences of becoming together-with Others, we foreground a multiplicity of repair (care) practices COVID-19 is making visible. Echoing one another, we take a stand and say that we need to prevent the future from becoming the past. We are not going back to the past; our society has already changed and there is a need to cope with innovation and repairing practices that do not reproduce the past

COVID-19 Booster Vaccine Acceptance in Ethnic Minority Individuals in the United Kingdom: a mixed-methods study using Protection Motivation Theory

Background: Uptake of the COVID-19 booster vaccine among ethnic minority individuals has been lower than in the general population. However, there is little research examining the psychosocial factors that contribute to COVID-19 booster vaccine hesitancy in this population.Aim: Our study aimed to determine which factors predicted COVID-19 vaccination intention in minority ethnic individuals in Middlesbrough, using Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) and COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs, in addition to demographic variables.Method: We used a mixed-methods approach. Quantitative data were collected using an online survey. Qualitative data were collected using semi-structured interviews. 64 minority ethnic individuals (33 females, 31 males; mage = 31.06, SD = 8.36) completed the survey assessing PMT constructs, COVID-19conspiracy beliefs and demographic factors. 42.2% had received the booster vaccine, 57.6% had not. 16 survey respondents were interviewed online to gain further insight into factors affecting booster vaccineacceptance.Results: Multiple regression analysis showed that perceived susceptibility to COVID-19 was a significant predictor of booster vaccination intention, with higher perceived susceptibility being associated with higher intention to get the booster. Additionally, COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs significantly predictedintention to get the booster vaccine, with higher conspiracy beliefs being associated with lower intention to get the booster dose. Thematic analysis of the interview data showed that barriers to COVID-19 booster vaccination included time constraints and a perceived lack of practical support in the event ofexperiencing side effects. Furthermore, there was a lack of confidence in the vaccine, with individuals seeing it as lacking sufficient research. Participants also spoke of medical mistrust due to historical events involving medical experimentation on minority ethnic individuals.Conclusion: PMT and conspiracy beliefs predict COVID-19 booster vaccination in minority ethnic individuals. To help increase vaccine uptake, community leaders need to be involved in addressing people’s concerns, misassumptions, and lack of confidence in COVID-19 vaccination

Ambivalence Over Emotion Expression and the Effects of Religious Coping in African American Christians

African Americans are 10% more likely than non-Hispanic Whites to report having serious mental health issues from psychological stressors. Mental health concerns, such as depression and anxiety, that arise from psychological stressors, are more than likely to go untreated in African Americans. African Americans are more likely to turn to religion- their church, their pastors, and fellow parishioners to address these concerns. Religion and religious coping has influenced African Americans’ attitudes regarding help-seeking and mental health treatment, with the “Black Church” historically being a source of many things, including mental health care. Pargament’s theory of religious coping served as a theoretical framework to look at how religion and religious coping affected help-seeking attitudes as well as symptoms of depression and anxiety in African American Christians. How ambivalence over emotion expression (AEE) interacted with and moderated the relationship between religious coping and symptoms of depression and anxiety was also analyzed. Multivariate multiple regression was used to analyze the relationship between the variables positive religious coping, negative religious coping, AEE, help-seeking attitudes, and symptoms of anxiety and depression in African Americans. Positive religious coping had no significant interaction with help-seeking, symptoms of anxiety, or symptoms of depression. Negative religious coping was significant in predicting symptoms of anxiety and symptoms of depression, but not help-seeking attitudes. AEE moderated the relationship between positive religious coping and symptoms of anxiety and depression. Potential implications for social change from this research could be an increase in cultural competency for practitioners and help close the gap on the disparities between African Americans and non-Hispanic Whites in relation to mental health