The Impact Of Health Card On Citizens’ Quality Of Life: Evidence In Bangladesh

People living in the rural areas in developing countries are deprived of the basic needs including health. In Bangladesh, the rural poor people are facing difficulties to be facilitated from the enhanced medical services, mostly because of the increased medical expenses, and the time required to complete the whole process. Henceforth, it is necessary for the government to enhance the medical facilities to its rural citizens for proper development. It has been argued that the health card service system in Bangladesh can enhance the medical services. However, no studies have been conducted to investigate the impact of health card on the quality of life of rural people in Bangladesh. This study attempts to investigate this issue from actual beneficiary perspective. The main objective of this study is to provide a synopsis of the roles of health card on rural citizen of Bangladesh. The data were collected through telephone and face to face interview from a purposive sample in rural community, Bangladesh. The findings show that by using health card service system, rural poor people can get the facilities to visit the doctor directly whereas previously they had to buy ticket and wait for a long time in front of the doctors’ room. The result of this study suggests that, by using health card the quality of medical service can be enhanced as well as the time, cost and number of visit can be minimized. The findings of this research will be very useful for policy maker in Bangladesh

Analysis of Research in Adoption of Assistive Technologies for Aged Care

The main objective of this study is to provide detailed analysis on the research conducted in the area of adoption for assistive technologies in aged care. The article analyses the studies and concludes with avenues, guidelines and gaps for research in this area. This study has conducted a systematic search on eight popular academic databases and identified relevant papers published. The paper identifies potential technologies that have been utilised to address seniors’ daily life difficulties in three areas: independent living, social isolation, dementia and medication taking. The article presents the theoretical lenses used for studying the adoption of these technologies in aged care. In addition to that, the systematic review has come up with interesting demographics on research approaches, and fields of publication for the research in this area. The paper outlines that the Australian research in adoption of assistive technologies for aged care has been over focused on healthcare domain and has largely ignored information system outlets. The possible reasons and potential directions for this issue have been discussed

PERSONAL HEALTH RECORDS AND THEIR IMPACT ON BREAST CANCER SCREENING AMONG WOMEN

Screening for breast cancer, the most common cancer in women and the second leading cause of cancer death, facilitates early detection and timely treatment that can reduce cancer-related morbidity and mortality. Increasingly, health information technology, including personal health records (PHRs) which contain detailed health information, has been suggested as having the potential to improve outcomes and reduce disparities in health care. Updated and relevant health information can help at-risk women participate in breast cancer screening and make appropriate clinical decisions.This dissertation consists of three essays that explore health information seeking behaviors of women at potential risk of breast cancer through PHRs and examines the effects of PHRs on the use of recommended breast cancer screening services, with a focus on racial/ethnic and geographic disparities.The first essay explores the decision-making process of health information seeking among women through the PHR use by developing the two-part Hurdle model. This essay finds that two distinct processes influence health information seeking through PHRs: the use of PHRs and the frequency of use. Furthermore, determinants of these two processes are different: demographic factors are the primary factors for the use of PHRs, and socioeconomic factors, salience, self-efficacy, and health status are the main factors associated with the frequency of use.The second essay examines health information seeking behavior of women at potential risk of breast cancer by exploring factors associated with the use of PHRs for health information seeking. The essay finds that women who use PHRs are younger, more educated, and more interested in exchanging medical information with a provider electronically, as well as value more the importance of getting their own medical information electronically compared with those who do not use PHRs. The third essay examines the effects of PHRs on breast cancer screening among women and its racial and geographic differences using an instrumental variables approach. This essay finds that use of PHRs is positively associated with the use of recommended breast cancer screening services among women, particularly among underserved and racial/ethnic minorities. In conclusion, PHR use can empower at-risk women, particularly underserved and minority women, to participate in recommended breast cancer screening

'I am the master of my fate': Digital technology paradoxes and the coping strategies of older consumers

The UK Government and charity-based initiatives encourage the use of digital devices to improve connectivity and address health care challenges across an escalating, ageing population. However, research on the lived experiences of older adults using technology is limited. The aim of this study is to build on technology paradox theory to provide a greater understanding of older adults’ use of digital devices and the associated coping strategies that are adopted. A qualitative approach, employing event-based diaries, reveals functional, social and psychological paradoxes as well as influences on self-worth. The findings also identify how older adults adapt to the challenges of such technology paradoxes by developing novel coping strategies such as, adjusting and acceptance. Furthermore, implications for policy and practice are established

Design Strategy for Integrated Personal Health Records: Improving the User Experience of Digital Healthcare and Wellbeing

This dissertation addresses the timely problem of designing Integrated Personal Health Records (PHR). The goal is to provide citizens with digital user experiences, sustainable and flexible enough, for gaining control over their personal health information in a seamless way. Most importantly, so that people are able to reflect and act upon their selfknowledge, towards the accomplishment of their good health and wellbeing. Towards this end, the Integrated PHR as an emerging model in the field of Health IT, was the framework that set this research forward on exploring how communication and collaboration between patients and providers can be improved, which naturally impacts the field of HCI. Acknowledging that today patients are the ones who own all that is recorded about their health data, this new model was object of a design strategy that shaped the results presented in this dissertation. These have showed how patients can have more control of their health over time, through a patient-centered, organic system, which has the ability of combining multiple sources of data both from patient and provider side. As this new type of PHR fosters the creation of integrated networks, this milestone was achieved in this research by interacting with cross-channel user experiences that took part of nationwide healthcare ecosystems. The work presented herein, has demonstrated through the analysis and development of two use cases in cooperation with organizations connected to the Portuguese Ministry of Health, how an Integrated PHR can be a powerful personal tool, to be used by the citizen with undeniable value to the demands of an aging society. The use cases structured the thesis into two parts. The first part in collaboration with the Portuguese National Patient Portal, combines an Integrated PHR and incorporates the Portuguese Data Sharing Platform (PDS), which can be used by any Portuguese citizen. This use case study led to a proposal of the portal by also creating a foundational model for designing Integrated PHRs. The second part in collaboration with the Portuguese National Senior Telehealth Program (Saúde 24 Sénior), led to another proposal for an Integrated PHR, applying the outcomes from Part 1 and the requirements that derived from the findings explored in this second use case study. The proposed solution, has the potential to be used by the Portuguese senior community in the scope of home assistive care. Both proposals applied a user experience design methodology and included the development of two prototypes. The engagement of the stakeholders during the two case studies was accomplished with participatory design methods and followed a multidisciplinary approach to create solutions that would meet the human, politics and behavior interdependencies that were inherent to the process of working with large healthcare organizations. The provided contributions from this thesis intent to be part of a transition process that is changing the behavior of the healthcare sector, which is increasingly moving towards the improvement of the patient-provider relationship, patient engagement, collaborative care and positive computing, where digital technologies play a key role

ELIJAH: Electronic Linkage for Inflammatory bowel disease to deliver Joint Access to Health-reports

Aims The aim of my research was to evaluate a novel way to empower patients with inflammatory bowel disease by giving them access to personalised information about their condition and management. I also reviewed the literature relating to personal health records and have reflected on my experience of conducting research from my perspective as a nurse practitioner. Methods We took a pragmatic mixed methods approach to the study. We convened a local focus group and employed a summative analysis technique to explore the topic. Based on the outcomes of the focus group we developed an intervention (ELIJAH) that extended the local IBD electronic health record to enable the creation of individualised IBD health reports that were educationally enriched. We tested this intervention in a pragmatic randomised controlled feasibility study with 61 patients from one District General Hospital in South Wales. From the learning and recommended modifications of the feasibility study we drew up a protocol for a fully powered phase III trial of the intervention. Results The focus group showed that patients wanted more access to their IBD health records and individualised education about their disease. The randomised controlled feasibility study of the ELIJAH intervention showed that the intervention met the clinical and feasibility criteria, and the intervention with modifications could be progressed for a fully powered phase III trial. Conclusion The ELIJAH intervention is wanted by patients and is feasible to produce and test