Patient-centered care process enabled by Integrative Social Media Platform in an outpatient setting

As an effort to guide patients toward being more informed and more involved as healthcare decision makers in the clinical processes, health care organizations have adopted a new technology referred to as an integrative social media platform (ISMP). This ISMP combines features of mobile technology and those of social media technology, integrating healthcare systems in order to support a more patient-centered healthcare process. However, users, both physicians and patients, have showed varied usages of ISMP, as a results, have shown mixed results of ISMP. To provide a better understanding of the use of ISMP, especially the interaction between patients and physicians, I turned to the concept of affordances. Affordances describe the possibilities for goal-oriented actions that a technical object offers to a user. Using a mixed-method approach with real archival event log data, conversation texts, documents, interview, and focus-group data from a large hospital which had adopted an ISMP, I confirmed three types of affordance: perceived affordance, behavioral affordance, and interactive affordance. I identified two key affordances of ISMP that lead to patient-centered care, namely ubiquitous access and virtual healthcare consultation, which represent a behavioral affordance and an interactive affordance, respectively. I also explored how different types of affordances are actualized and how they interact with each other to contribute to patient-centered care

Designing with and for People with Dementia: Wellbeing, Empowerment and Happiness

Designing with and for People with Dementia: Wellbeing, Empowerment and Happiness is the International Conference 2019 of the MinD Consortium, the DRS Special Interest Group on Behaviour Change and the DRS Special Interest Group on Wellbeing and Happiness, hosted by the Technische Universität Dresden, in Dresden, Germany. The conference proceedings provide trans-disciplinary contributions for researchers, practitioners, end-users and policy makers from the design and health care professions in terms of new findings, approaches and methods for using design to improve dementia care and to support people with dementia and their carers. The conference has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 691001, and from the DFG German Research Foundation

Online reputation management by cancer hospitals: A systematic literature review in the USA and Spain

Cancer hospitals manage social media platforms in a professional way to improve their relationships with internal and external stakeholders and reinforce their corporate brand. To do so, they need their health professionals to be involved: these professionals become brand ambassadors able to influence society. Nevertheless, they face different challenges: legal issues, new patients’ demands, privacy-related matters, or the difficulty of disseminating scientific content. This literature review paper analyzes how cancer hospitals manage their social media platforms to improve their reputation. To do this, we carry out a systematic literature review focused on papers published in the USA and Spain, based on the Salsa framework proposed by Grant and Booth (2009). We then define an online corporate communication model allowing cancer hospitals to improve their reputation through Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube (MedPac Model for Building Cancer Hospital Brands). The paper concludes that this model is useful for cancer hospitals because it prioritizes persons (brand ambassadors) rather than companies, focuses on scientific and emotional content rather than business information, and is based on human values.This paper is a result of the “Interactive storytelling and digital visibility in the digital documentary and structured journalism” research project funded by Feder and the Spanish Ministry of Sciences, Innovation, and Universities (RTI2018-095714-B-C21)

Individualised care for patients with breast or prostate cancer aided by an interactive app : a frame of process evaluation

Background: Patients receiving outpatient cancer treatment often experience distressing symptoms and unmet needs. Collecting patient-reported outcomes via apps (ePROs) facilitates patient-clinician communication regarding symptoms and is recommended in clinical guidelines. Previous studies of an interactive app (Interaktor) for individualised symptom management show reduced symptom burden for patients undergoing breast and prostate cancer treatment. Aim: To contribute to the knowledge of the value of implementing ePRO in clinical practice by studies framed as a process evaluation of an intervention for individualised symptom management assisted by Interaktor. Methods: Following the Medical Research Council framework for process evaluation of complex interventions, qualitative and quantitative data were collected along two randomised controlled trials (RCTs). Patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer (N=149), and radiotherapy for prostate cancer (N=150) were randomised to standard care with or without intervention. Intervention group patients reported symptoms and concerns daily by questionnaire and free text. The app included selfcare advice and symptom history graphs. Oncology nurses responded to alerts triggered by severe symptoms. Study I investigates which and how patients engaged, by analysing adherence and usage predictors from logged data and telephone interviews with patients. Study II analyses the effects on patients' perceptions of individualised care and health literacy by questionnaires. Study III assesses if the intervention is cost-effective according to the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare. Cost-effectiveness analyses (CEA) estimate gains in Quality-adjusted lifeyears (QALYs), intervention costs, and the patient's healthcare utilisation as obtained from the Stockholm Council database. Acute healthcare use is also explored. Results: Study I shows that adherence to daily symptom reporting was 83 %; most patients used the self-care advice and free text. Patients regarded the app easy to use and helpful for self-management. Marital status, age, education level, and comorbidity were associated with usage variations. Study II shows no between-group differences in individualised care or health literacy among patients with breast cancer. Intervention group patients with prostate cancer rated their support for decision control as more individualised than their control group, and their ability to seek, understand and communicate health information improved. Study III shows the intervention produced significantly more QALYs, although the effect was small. The weekly intervention cost per patient was low. The cost-effectiveness depended on the type of healthcare costs studied. The intervention was cost-effective for patients with breast cancer if non-acute healthcare costs were excluded, and for patients with prostate cancer, considering all healthcare costs. Healthcare costs varied greatly. Patients with breast cancer who used the app had more acute visits for fever. Patients with prostate cancer who used the app had fewer acute visits for urinary problems. Conclusions: Patients used and valued Interaktor as promoting assurance and participation in care. Using the app can positively affect care individualisation and health literacy for patients with prostate cancer during radiotherapy. It may be beneficial to increase the individualisation of features and settings for patients with breast cancer. The intervention may be cost-effective, but to show if healthcare savings can be achieved requires a larger study

A Clinician-Created Art And Activity Workbook For Children And Adolescents Used During The Covid-19 Pandemic

The Covid-19 Pandemic provided a unique need for telepsychology services. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is an evidence-based approach applicable to a variety of populations and referral concerns, applicable both for in-person or telehealth settings. In the literature review presented here, the development and use of CBT as well as the advantages, challenges, and considerations of teletherapy with children and adolescents is examined. After, a proposed supplemental intervention material is explored: an adaptable art and activity workbook for children and adolescents that is rooted in CBT. Designed for use during telehealth sessions, but adaptable for in-person sessions as well, this workbook is created to emphasize adaptability towards an individual’s unique skills, strengths, challenges, and abilities. Evaluation of this workbook as well as limitations and future directions are discussed