Using an ecological framework to design mobile technologies for pediatric asthma management

ABSTRACT Mobile technologies, due to their ubiquitous nature, play an important role in supporting health care. However, it is not easy to design useful integrated mobile services without a systematic understanding of users, and this is especially true for children. Therefore, we propose a new theoretical perspective for generating design concepts in the early stage of the design process. Our ecological model is based on Ecological Systems Theory which approaches development in terms of the child's relationships and environmental context. It leverages the fact that mobile technologies are deeply involved with users' circumstances. We argue that the ecological model can provide a heuristic to help researchers understand users' needs in context and generate concepts logically and creatively. Here we explore pediatric asthma management as a case study for this model. Finally, five promising mobile technology concepts are provided as examples for further development of mobile technologies related to pediatric asthma management

Asthma Prevalence: Focus on Prevention Management in Community Settings

Asthma prevalence continues to increase across the United States of America, affecting more than 43.1 million people and projected to affect over 50 million people by 2025. Asthma prevalence differs by demographic characteristics, such as race, ethnicity, socio-economic status, education, age and gender. Poor quality of life is common among people who suffer from asthma, in addition to school and work absenteeism. In 2008, children 5-17 years old with at least one reported asthma attack missed 10.5 million school days in the past year (CDC, 2010). Healthcare use for asthma is high and disparities remain in asthma healthcare use and reimbursement. In community settings, reimbursement for asthma education and prevention has been problematic due to current reimbursement mechanisms (Bodenheimer et al. (2003); Halterman (2010); CDC (2011) and Laster et al. 2010) that do not go far enough in assisting low-income communities manage their asthma medically nor have uniform standards for billable services associated with asthma management provided by both healthcare professionals and public health workers. A change in reimbursement policy is advocated and the evidence for the effectiveness of community health workers in asthma management is examined

Multimedia-based Medicinal Plants Sustainability Management System

Medicinal plants are increasingly recognized worldwide as an alternative source of efficacious and inexpensive medications to synthetic chemo-therapeutic compound. Rapid declining wild stocks of medicinal plants accompanied by adulteration and species substitutions reduce their efficacy, quality and safety. Consequently, the low accessibility to and non-affordability of orthodox medicine costs by rural dwellers to be healthy and economically productive further threaten their life expectancy. Finding comprehensive information on medicinal plants of conservation concern at a global level has been difficult. This has created a gap between computing technologies’ promises and expectations in the healing process under complementary and alternative medicine. This paper presents the design and implementation of a Multimedia-based Medicinal Plants Sustainability Management System addressing these concerns. Medicinal plants’ details for designing the system were collected through semi-structured interviews and databases. Unified Modelling Language, Microsoft-Visual-Studio.Net, C#3.0, Microsoft-Jet-Engine4.0, MySQL, Loquendo Multilingual Text-to-Speech Software, YouTube, and VLC Media Player were used. Keywords: Complementary and Alternative Medicine, conservation, extinction, medicinal plant, multimedia, phytoconstituents, rural dweller

A Systems Engineering Approach to a Just-In-Time intervention system

Systems Engineering, a diverse engineering field provides tools and processes to develop efficient systems across different domains. Design thinking, and Agile methodologies are some of the commonly used tools in system design. A mobile health solution using Systems Engineering principle is proposed in managing one of the costliest and common chronic diseases, Asthma. Out of many chronic diseases, Asthma is chosen to be studied, since it has shown a multi-fold increase in the last thirty years. Also, one in nine children in the United States is affected by Asthma. There is no cure for this chronic disease, but it can be controlled by proper medication and symptom tracking. The Just-in-Time Asthma Self-Management and Intervention (JASMIN) is a hybrid mobile application that provides efficient ways for patients to track the asthma symptoms, to learn and get educated about Asthma and their allergens, to communicate and get the necessary support from the care team in the long-term asthma control. JASMIN system is built on a Bio-Behavioral model which encourages and enables the use of system including parents, peers, school personnel and health care providers. JASMIN sends text message interventions to the entire care team when the child fails to track the symptom, ensuring the regularity in symptom adherence. The action plan which is rarely used when written in a physical journal has been given a digital form in JASMIN enabling the provider or parent to update it whenever the need arises. JASMIN is proposed to be used in a pilot study at East Tennessee Children Hospital recruiting 60 children who are between 7-17 years old and their parents and the providers treating their asthma

Whispers2mom: a Young Adult Prenatal Text Messaging Intervention

WHISPERS2MOM: A YOUNG ADULT PRENATAL TEXT MESSAGING INTERVENTION by Christine P. Laurent The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2018 Under the Supervision of Dr. Jennifer Doering Purpose: To evaluate the feasibility of Whispers2Mom, a prenatal text messaging educational intervention designed for young adults, 18 to 26 years old. The findings of this study may inform nursing strategies to improve breastfeeding intention and rates in the emerging adult population. Background: Childbearing young adults are among the least likely populations to breastfeed, yet their infants stand to benefit greatly from breastfeeding. Current methods of prenatal education have failed to increase rates of breastfeeding intention or initiation. Methods: The feasibility of the Whispers2Mom prenatal text messaging program was evaluated through exploration of adherence and acceptability using a mixed methods design. Prior to data collection, daily text messages were delivered for one month. Texts addressed breastfeeding practices, barriers to breastfeeding, strategies for overcoming barriers, and these texts augmented usual prenatal care practices. A convenience sample was recruited. Data were collected using surveys and semi-structured interviews with 14 participants. Interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: The original intent was to recruit adolescents for this study, but due to many challenges with recruitment, the final sample was comprised only of young adults. Participants were on average 24 (SD= 2.4) years old, high school graduates, and married or partnered. Participants were adherent in using the Whispers2Mom prenatal text message program. Participants indicated that they found the Whispers2Mom prenatal text message program to be acceptable. Generally, the texts were helpful, informative, and provided good information. Several of the interview responses indicated increasing feelings of attachment to baby. Conclusions: Findings suggest the Whispers2Mom intervention, as measured by self-report of acceptability and adherence was feasible. The prenatal text messaging intervention Whispers2Mom, when used as an educational tool, may be an appropriate adjunct to usual care practices. Given the positive preliminary results in this study and the fact that technology is a common and important part of the young adult’s life, text messaging may be an efficacious addition to interventions that already exist for health promotion and disease prevention during the prenatal period in emerging adults

Faculty Publications and Creative Works 2004

Faculty Publications & Creative Works is an annual compendium of scholarly and creative activities of University of New Mexico faculty during the noted calendar year. Published by the Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development, it serves to illustrate the robust and active intellectual pursuits conducted by the faculty in support of teaching and research at UNM

An exploration of the strengths and weaknesses of using text messaging as a tool for self-report data collection in psychological research

Short Message Service (SMS) has immense potential for self-report data collection because it makes use of mobile phones that people already own, and allows researchers to communicate with participants regardless of physical location. Though interest in the possibilities of SMS as a tool for psychological research is slowly growing, to date, there has been no structured investigation of how this potential may be applied in psychological research. The research within this thesis examined the feasibility of using SMS as a tool for self-report psychological research, focussing on its strengths and weaknesses as a research mode. Across fifteen studies, this was investigated using a mixture of literature review, meta-analysis, surveys, and interviews. Participant samples varied from the broad (general population, university students) to specific (the elderly, the deaf). Strengths of SMS as a tool for self-report psychological research included growing interest in research community; positive perceptions of SMS as a research tool amongst potential sample; prompt responses and high response rate; suitability for frequent repeated sampling; and usefulness as a reminder prompt to support other modes of data collection. Weaknesses included a disconnect between stated willingness to participate and actual participation; response incompleteness; unsuitability for infrequent sampling; and some problems with psychometric equivalence in relation to other research modes like online or paper surveys. This was the first structured evaluation of SMS as a tool for self-report data collection in psychological research. Conclusions are limited by somewhat arbitrary design choices (such as the psychological topic within surveys) made in the absence of guiding background literature. Future research can refine these choices and use the logic presented here to guide further investigation into how SMS performs with more varied samples, different psychological topics, and as part of different research designs. This research has shown that while SMS has great potential as a tool for psychological self-report research, it has a number of weaknesses. Identifying these strengths and weaknesses, and some design choices which may mitigate the weaknesses, will open up possibilities for a wide range of future psychological research