Spoken Animated Self-Management Video Messages Aimed at Improving Physical Activity in People with Type 2 Diabetes: Development and Interview Study

All rights reserved. Background: Web-based tailored interventions are a promising approach to help people with type 2 diabetes successfully adopt regular physical activity. Spoken animation seems to be effective regardless of the characteristics of the user and may be a relevant strategy to communicate complex health information Objective: The objectives of our study were to evaluate (1) pretesting communication elements and user appreciation, and (2) the applied behavior change techniques of the previously designed spoken animated video messages in a tailored self-management program for people with type 2 diabetes. Methods: We conducted semistructured interviews with patients with type 2 diabetes recruited from general practices located in different socioeconomic status urban neighborhoods. Based on the pretesting key communication elements of Salazar's model, we asked participants about the spoken animated video messages' attractiveness, comprehensibility, acceptance, believability, involvement, and relevance and to what extent the video messages motivated them to become more physically active. We also assessed participants' intention to use the spoken animated video messages and to recommend them to others. To evaluate participants' appreciation of the different applied behavior change techniques, we conducted a post hoc analysis of the qualitative data using the MAXQDA program. Transcripts were coded by 2 coders using iterative qualitative content analysis methods to uncover key health communication issues. Results: Of 23 patients who expressed an interest in participating, 17 met the inclusion criteria and 15 took part in the interviews. The positive appreciation of the comprehensibility, believability, and personalization was supported by participants' statements on behavior change techniques and other communication elements. Reinforcement of and feedback on participants' answers were positively evaluated as was the simplicity and concreteness of the spoken animated video messages. Most participants indicated reasons for not feeling motivated to increase their physical activity level, including being already sufficiently physically active and the presence of other impeding health factors. Conclusions: Spoken animated video messages should be simple, short, concrete, and without the use of medical terminology. Providing positive reinforcement, feedback on participants' answers, examples that match user characteristics, and the possibility to identify with the animation figures will enhance involvement in the health message. To connect more with patients' needs and thereby increase the perceived relevance of and motivation to use an animated video program, we suggest offering the program soon after diabetes mellitus is diagnosed. We recommend piloting behavior change techniques to identify potential resistance

Genome Sequences of Four Strains of Mycobacterium avium subsp. hominissuis, Isolated from Swine and Humans, Differing in Virulence in a Murine Intranasal Infection Model

This paper announces the genome sequences of four strains of Mycobacterium avium subsp. hominissuis, isolated from cases of lymphadenopathy in swine and humans, differing in virulence in a murine intranasal infection model

Psychological predictors of adherence to oral hypoglycaemic agents:an application of the ProMAS questionnaire

Objectives: This study aimed to identify psychological predictors of oral hypoglycaemic agent (OHA) adherence and to compare adherence rates between a novel and well-known instrument, i.e. the Probabilistic Medication Adherence Scale (ProMAS) and Medication Adherence Report Scale (MARS-5). Design and main outcome measures: A longitudinal study design was applied with surveys at baseline and 6-month follow-up. At baseline, OHA adherence using the ProMAS and MARS-5, socio-cognitive determinants and demographics were assessed. At follow-up, the ProMAS was applied as outcome measure, on which socio-cognitive determinants and demographics were regressed using linear regression analysis. Results: The baseline and follow-up sample included 304 and 231 participants, respectively. When applying cut-off points of >= 15 for the ProMAS and >= 23 for the MARS-5, 47.4 and 89.5% adhered to their OHAs. Consistent predictors of better adherence comprised a low education, lower severity perceptions, and higher self-efficacy and intention. After correcting for baseline adherence, a low education and higher self-efficacy remained significant adherence predictors. Conclusions: Compared to the MARS-5, ProMAS data was less skewed, similar to objectively collected data, and yielded insights in a broader spectrum of (non)-adherence behaviours. Results stress the need for adherence improving interventions which particularly should target higher educated patients and patients with low self-efficacy, low intention and high severity perceptions

Molecular epidemiology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex in Brussels, 2010-2013

The tuberculosis (TB) incidence rate in Brussels-Capital Region is 3-fold higher than in Belgium as a whole. Eight years after the realization of initial prospective population-based molecular epidemiology investigations in this Region, a similar study over the period 2010-2013 was conducted. TB strains isolated from 945 patients were submitted to genotyping by standardized 24-locus-MIRU-VNTR typing and spoligotyping. The phylogenetic analysis showed that the LAM (16.7%) and Haarlem (15.7%) branches are the two most prevalent TB lineages circulating in Brussels. Analysis of the MDR subgroup showed an association with Beijing strains (39.9%) and patients native of Eastern Europe (40.7%). Genotyping detected 113 clusters involving 321 patients, giving a recent transmission index of 22.9%. Molecular-guided epidemiological investigations and routine surveillance activities revealed family transmission or social contact for patients distributed over 34 clusters. Most of the patients were foreign-born (75.7%). However, cluster analysis revealed only limited transnational transmission. Comparison with the previous study shows a stable epidemiological situation except for the mean age difference between Belgian-born and foreign-born patients which has disappeared. This study confirms that molecular epidemiology has become an important determinant for TB control programs. However, sufficient financial means need to be available to perform all required epidemiological investigations. © 2017 Vluggen et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited