Determinants of information behaviour and information literacy related to healthy eating among Internet users in five European countries

Introduction. This study investigates how Europeans seek information related to healthy eating, what determines their information seeking and whether any problems are encountered in doing so. Method. A survey was administered through computer-assisted on-line web-interviewing. Respondents were grouped by age and sex (n=3003, age + 16) in Belgium, Denmark, Italy, Poland, and the UK. Analysis. Descriptive statistics and regression analysis were used to analyse the influence of social, demographic, psychological and economic characteristics on the information seeking of the respondents. Results. Nearly half of those surveyed do not know where to look for information on healthy diets. Men, less well educated, poorer and sicker person know less about where to look for such information and are less likely to attempt finding it. Most of the respondents searching for information on the Internet use Google as a search tool. Conclusions. Individual and environmental factors affect information behaviour and should be taken into account in public campaigns aimed at changing eating habits of the population to increase their effectiveness. More emphasis should be placed on raising health information literacy of the information-poor, men, the uneducated, and the economically disadvantaged

INDEPENDENT HEROES: Supporting Type 1 Diabetic Young Adults’ Transition to Independent Living

This Master of Design Thesis project focuses on the condition of severe hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) in young adults living with type 1 diabetes by carefully understanding the unique challenges they face in transitioning to adult care. This research surfaces the needs that often get blurred in the transition process and offers a design for an appropriate solution to support the identified issues. Canadian young adults living with type 1 diabetes often find themselves at the risk of hypoglycemia during emerging adulthood. The concept of emerging adulthood has not been considered extensively in managing chronic illness and transition from pediatric to adult care. Yet, this is a critical time when a person may first assume full responsibility for their diabetes self-care while simultaneously facing all the usual challenges young adults face. Additionally, the fear of hypoglycemia is strongest in this group. A review of the literature informs us about previous work done in this field. However, most current interventions are in the form of bulky printed materials. Another critical issue with the development of most recent tools is the absence of user involvement in the creative process leading to unmet user needs. In this project, participatory design methodologies were introduced in a human-centered approach, collaborating with young adults to understand and address the transition process gap. It included actively listening to user narratives and co-creating the solution. The synthesis of primary and secondary research resulted in the designed outcome of a smart wearable device that will work in conjunction with the Continuous glucose monitor (CGM) and alerts the bystander and emergency contacts by turning them into potential lifesavers. It will inform them of a diabetic emergency and guide them through the life-saving instructions. Additionally, it will alert the medical emergency services for prompt assistance if needed. The solution attempts to provide early intervention during emergency and could also alleviate the fear of hypoglycemia in young adults. This in turn will reduce the load on the already burdened healthcare system

Diabetes Management System for a New Type 2 Diabetes Geriatric Cohort: Improve the Interaction of Self-management

abstract: According to the ADA (American Diabetes Association), diabetes mellitus is one of the chronic diseases with the highest mortality rate. In the US, 25 million are known diabetics, which may double in the next decade, and another seven million are undiagnosed. Among these patients, older adults are a very special group with varying physical capabilities, cognitive functions and life expectancies. Because they run an increased risk for geriatric conditions, Type 2 diabetes treatments for them must be both realistic and systematic. In fact, some researchers have explored older adults’ experiences of diabetes, and how they manage their diabetes with new technological devices. However, little research has focused on their emotional experiences of medical treatment technology, such as mobile applications, tablets, and websites for geriatric diabetes. This study will address both elderly people's experiences and reactions to devices and their children's awareness of diabetes. It aims to find out how to improve the diabetes treatment and create a systematic diabetes mobile application that combines self-initiated and assisted care together.Dissertation/ThesisMasters Thesis Design 201

Munchausen by internet: current research and future directions.

The Internet has revolutionized the health world, enabling self-diagnosis and online support to take place irrespective of time or location. Alongside the positive aspects for an individual's health from making use of the Internet, debate has intensified on how the increasing use of Web technology might have a negative impact on patients, caregivers, and practitioners. One such negative health-related behavior is Munchausen by Internet

Health care seeking behaviors in type 2 diabetic patients in East Azerbaijan

Background. Timely and effective use of health care services is essential to delay or prevent complications and reduce the burden of diabetes. Positive health care seeking behaviors can improve diabetes control and, as a result, reduce the incidence of the complications. So, this study aimed to investigate the status of health care seeking behaviors and affecting factors in type 2 diabetic patients. Materials and methods. This was a cross-sectional study. There were 1139 patients with type 2 diabetes aged > 18 years selected who referred to educational hospitals, Endocrinologist office, primary health care centers, and Clinics. Data collected using a researchermade questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS software version 22. Results. 36.3% of diabetic patients initially referred to a physician in the event of illness symptoms, and 70.7% of patients referred to a physician in case of exacerbating of disease symptoms. 58.4% of patients preferred to consult a specialist directly. 78.85 of patients reported that they had referred to a physician on a regular basis and 59.9% of patients followed up their treatment process on a regular basis. The physician was the main source of information for the majority of patients. Income, education and health insurance status, disease severity, chronicity of DM, the history of hospitalization due to DM were the affecting factors on health care seeking behaviors (p < 0.05). Conclusion. Most of the diabetics often did not follow the official structure of health care providing to manage their illness, and despite the referral system and family practitioner program more than half of the patients went directly to the specialist physician’s office. Factors related to the patient (an income and education status), disease characteristics (disease severity, chronicity of DM and the history of hospitalization due to DM) and health care system factors (type of the basic insurance and supplementary insurance status) affect the health care seeking behaviors

FAT FOR LIFE: THE DEVELOPMENT OF A LOW-CARBOHYDRATE HIGH-FAT DIETARY TOOLKIT FOR TYPE 2 DIABETES IN RURAL SOUTHEAST KANSAS

The purpose of this project was to identify the feasibility of a low-carbohydrate high-fat (LCHF) diet in less affluent type 2 diabetics in rural Southeast Kansas, specifically, Crawford County. The author assessed this through the identification of the resources offered in Crawford County, and ultimately, the development of an LCHF dietary toolkit utilizing these resources. The toolkit offers an array of LCHF resources including compliant foods, grocery prices, shopping lists, phone applications, books, internet websites and blogs, accountability forums, and fitness centers. Upon completion of the dietary toolkit a select few healthcare providers directly involved with diabetes in Crawford County were sought out for feedback. Findings from the LCHF dietary toolkit development indicated an LCHF diet for less affluent type 2 diabetics is feasible from a financial and resource standpoint. The feedback received from providers was also positive. While more research is recommended on long-term adherence, the toolkit offers a great starting foundation for implementing an LCHF diet

Understanding, measuring and treating eating disorders in those with type 1 diabetes

The purpose of this thesis was to explore the nature of Eating Disorders in Type 1 Diabetes. Whether or not Eating Disorders are more prevalent in this demographic is a topic of contention but regardless there is a consensus that those with comorbid Type 1 have considerably worse outcomes and are significantly more difficult to treat. It has been argued that this may be due to a feature unique to this population; insulin omission for weight control. The first aim of this thesis was to systematically review how Eating Disorders have been measured in Type 1 Diabetes, paying particular attention to whether researchers have taken the role of Diabetes regimen and insulin omission into account. Following this a comparison between two Eating Disorder scales, one Diabetes specific the other not, was made in order to compare prevalence rates, to explore which items may be potentially biased and to investigate what the effect of modification may be. The structure of the Diabetes specific scale (the Diabetes Eating Problem Scale Revised) was then explored. The second aim of this thesis was to replicate a pilot study that aimed to explore demographic, psychological and health seeking features of those with Type 1 Diabetes related Eating Disorders. This formed the basis of a structural model whereby psychological and Diabetes specific traits were hypothesised to predict Eating Disorder behaviour and elevated blood glucose levels. A questionnaire built for that study regarding patient attributions was also reanalysed using new data. The final aim was to investigate how Eating Disorders in Type 1 Diabetes have been treated by reviewing literature from the last 2 decades, paying particular attention as to how treatment providers have accommodated the unique needs of those with T1D and whether or not programmes have been successful in relation to both psychological and biological outcomes

Bad news: analysis of the quality of information on influenza prevention returned by Google in English and Italian

Information available to the public influences the approach of the population toward vaccination against influenza compared with other preventative approaches. In this study, we have analyzed the first 200 websites returned by searching Google on two topics (prevention of influenza and influenza vaccine), in English and Italian. For all the four searches above, websites were classified according to their typology (government, commercial, professional, portals, etc.) and for their trustworthiness as defined by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) score, which assesses whether they provide some basic elements of information quality (IQ): authorship, currency, disclosure, and references. The type of information described was also assessed to add another dimension of IQ. Websites on influenza prevention were classified according to the type of preventative approach mentioned (vaccine, lifestyle, hygiene, complementary medicine, etc.), whether the approaches were in agreement with evidence-based medicine (EBM) or not. Websites on influenza vaccination were classified as pro- or anti-vaccine, or neutral. The great majority of websites described EBM approaches to influenza prevention and had a pro-vaccine orientation. Government websites mainly pointed at EBM preventative approaches and had a pro-vaccine orientation, while there was a higher proportion of commercial websites among those which promote non-EBM approaches. Although the JAMA score was lower in commercial websites, it did not correlate with the preventative approaches suggested or the orientation toward vaccines. For each of the four search engine result pages (SERP), only one website displayed the health-of-the-net (HON) seal. In the SERP on vaccines, journalistic websites were the most abundant category and ranked higher than average in both languages. Analysis using natural language processing showed that journalistic websites were mostly reporting news about two specific topics (different in the two languages). While the ranking by Google favors EBM approaches and, in English, does not promote commercial websites, in both languages it gives a great advantage to news. Thus, the type of news published during the influenza season probably has a key importance in orienting the public opinion due to its high visibility. This raises important questions on the relationships between health IQ, trustworthiness, and newsworthiness

Alexithymia and psychological distress affect perceived quality of life in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Backgrounds: Psychological factors may affect patients' ability to cope with chronic illness, which occur with a high incidence as they represent age related disorder. Anxiety, depression and alexithymia could specifically interfere with compliance and adherence leading to predictable consequences and predicting morbidity and mortality independently of several confounders. The present work aims at investigating the relationship between alexithymia and affective dimension such as anxiety and depression levels, and health related quality of life in T2DM patients. Particularly, alexithymia was analyzed in its three main facets and time since diagnosis was considered with also metabolic control. Methods: Forty seven patients with T2DM were consecutively enrolled and assessed with a gold standard interview and with a psycho-diagnostic evaluation. Clinical psychological exploration consisted of HAM-A, BECK-II, SF-36 and TAS-20 administration. Statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS statistical version 25. Data were analyzed anonymously. Results: 47 participants showed moderate depressive symptoms as confirmed by the mean BDI-II and HAMA-A score (15.14 ± 8.95 and 24.31 ± 6.95, respectively), suggesting a high prevalence of anxiety in the enrolled subjects. It was observed a lower perceived QoL as resulted by the MCS and PCS mean values (37.68 ± 9.41 and 39.31 ± 12.29, respectively) and TAS-20 highlighted considerable mean values of 60.53 ± 7.93 in the recruited participants with a prevalence in EOT values (27.51± 4.27), in comparison with mean DID and DDF values (17.26 ± 5.52 and 15.48 ± 3.84, respectively). Conclusions: Our study may suggest a predictive role of alexithymia in patients with T2DM. Moreover, lower PCS and MCS, revealing worst perceived QoL were associated to both higher anxiety and disease duration