Daily Life Management Research Articles

Experiences of Using Weighted Blankets among Children with ADHD and Sleeping Difficulties.

Sleeping difficulties are common in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). A sleep intervention with weighted blankets was designed to increase current understanding of using weighted blankets to target children's individual needs in connection with sleep and daytime functioning. To explore how children with ADHD and sleeping difficulties experience the use of weighted blankets. An explorative qualitative design in which 26 children with ADHD and sleeping difficulties, 6-15 years old, were interviewed about a sleep intervention with weighted blankets. Four categories emerged from qualitative content analysis. Children's experiences revealed that the use of weighted blankets 1) requires a commitment, by adjusting according to needs and preferences and adapting to the environment; 2) improves emotional regulation by feeling calm and feeling safe; 3) changes sleeping patterns by creating new routines for sleep and improving sleep quality; and 4) promotes everyday participation by promoting daily function and balancing activity and sleep. Using weighted blankets promoted children's management of daily life with ADHD and sleeping difficulties. Occupational therapists can improve the assessment and delivery of weighted blankets tailored to individual needs based on increased knowledge from the children themselves.

Dementia : current guidelines for clinical management

Dementia is an umbrella term used to describe a group of symptoms associated with a decline in cognitive abilities that are severe enough to interfere with daily functioning and independence. While Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most frequent cause, dementia in old aged persons represents rather a syndrome caused by various underlying conditions and diseases. Successful treatment allows for the individual clinical picture, and should be aimed at helping the patient regarding his cognitive deficits, behavioral and psychiatric complaints, sleep disorders, as well as management of daily life. Recently published promising study results on the use of monoclonal antibody therapies in AD give reason to believe that treatments will be available soon that can modulate disease progression at the neurobiological level.

Examining the Relationship of Clergy Distress, Spiritual Well-Being, Stress Management and Irritation to Life Satisfaction among Black Pastors in the USA

This study sought to determine the level of clergy distress and other psychological characteristics of Black pastors and their relationship to life satisfaction through a convenience sample of 2786 Black pastors in historically Black Protestant denominations and nondenominational Black churches. The response rate equaled 10.1% (283/2786) while the survey completion rate equaled 77% (218/283). These 218 Black pastors were serving as either senior pastors (86.3%) or co-pastors (13.7%). This study found clergy distress in Black pastors did not differ based on gender or age but differed by church size and denomination. Clergy distress (r = − .187, p = .023) and irritation (r = − .293, p = .003) possessed significant relationships with satisfaction with life as expected, but stress management (r = .039, p = .641), spiritual well-being in daily life (r = .140, p = .140), and spiritual well-being in ministry (r = − .064, p = .475) did not, which was surprising. Notably strong relationships existed between stress management and spiritual well-being in daily life (r = .469, p = .003) and stress management and irritation (r = − .359, p = .003). These two important relationships may offer some guideposts for Black pastors in developing strategies to combat the impact of both clergy distress and irritation. The study concludes with implications for Black pastors and suggestions for future research.

Lamellar Nanocomposite Based on a 1D Crayfish-like CeIII-Substituted Phospho(III)tungstate Semiconductor and Polyaniline Used as a High-Performance Humidity Sensing Device.

In order to meet people's demand for intelligent management of daily life and health, manufacturing and developing humidity monitoring equipment with convenience, high sensitivity, easy miniaturization, and low cost is particularly important in the era of rapid development of artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things. Polyaniline (PANI) is an attractive humidity sensing material due to its designable functional properties. However, PANI modified polyoxometalates (POMs) for humidity sensing are still rare. As a proof of concept, a novel moisture sensing composite material was obtained based on PANI and a novel 1D rare-earth-substituted phospho(III)tungstate [H2N(CH3)2]9Na3H6[Ce2(H2O)3W5O13(C2O4)][HPIIIW9O33]2[(HPIII)2W15O54]·42H2O (1). Notably, the anion structure of 1 contains trivacant Keggin-type [B-α-HPIIIW9O33]8- and Dawson-like [(HPIII)2W15O54]10- subunits linked by a heterometallic [Ce2(H2O)3W5O32(C2O4)]30- cluster. Furthermore, the 1/PANI composite shows a typical semiconductive characteristic with a "band-like" conductive mechanism. The fabricated 1/PANI-based humidity sensing device exhibits a broad sensing range (11∼97% relative humidity), fast response/recovery time (3.45 s/3.24 s), good repeatability, and long-term stability (over 3 months). Additionally, the possible sensing mechanism is proposed. This work offers an enormous possibility for the design of high-performance humidity sensing materials through POM material chemistry.

Internet addiction in young adults: The role of impulsivity and codependency.

Excessive Internet use has demonstrated comorbidity with other psychological symptoms and psychiatric disorders, as well as impairments in the management of daily life, relationships and emotional stability. Recent findings in the literature have consistently supported the relationship between impulsivity and Internet addiction. The present study hypothesized that, in addition to impulsivity, a further predictor of Internet addiction might be relational co-dependency, which is also associated in the literature with addiction phenomena, but mainly substance addiction. This paper investigates the role and predictive weight of impulsivity and codependency on Internet addiction on a sample of young adult university students (n = 481) by using a hierarchical regression analysis. The participants were administered the UADI-2, the BIS-11 and the SFCDS. In terms of percentage distribution, 38 % of the participants were in the dependency range, while 37.7 % demonstrated Internet abuse behavior. The results confirmed the role of impulsiveness (β = 0.312) and added to the literature by showing the significant role of relational codependency (β = 0.275), gender (β = 0.174) and age (β = 0.196). Thus, male participants were more dependent, more impulsive and more co-dependent, with increasing age in the given range (18–30). The present study shed light to the presence of this issue among young adults and that, as a preventive and restraining measure, there is a need not only for targeted awareness-raising programmes but also for interventions to promote greater emotional control and a more balanced management of personal relationships.

Long Term Physical Activity Improves Quality of Life Perception, Healthy Nutrition, and Daily Life Management in Elderly: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Physical activity (PA) is a key element in the management of successful aging. The aim of this paper was to show the effects of PA on the quality of life perception, nutritional status, and daily life management of 178 older adults (aged 63.87 ± 8.17) randomly assigned to an Experimental Group (EG), which performed moderate-to-high intensity aerobic and strengthening training, and a Control Group (CG) which performed low-impact PA, assessed after 6, 12, and 24 months. The Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36), Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA), and Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly (PASE) were used for the study. In the SF-36 assessment, EG showed a good quality of life perception maintained after 24 months, while CG showed a worsening in the same period (p = 0.018). The EG reported a significant better nutritional status as compared to pre-intervention assessment (p = 0.003) and to CG (p < 0.001). Regarding the PASE, the EG showed a higher level of weekly activities than the CG after 24 months (p = 0.011), while the CG showed a worsening after 12 months (p = 0.008). The prolonged engagement in moderate-to high-intensity PA allowed the maintenance of a good quality of life perception, a good level of nutritional status, and daily life activities.

Critical Competences for the Management of Post-Operative Course in Patients with Digestive Tract Cancer: The Contribution of MADIT Methodology for a Nine-Month Longitudinal Study.

There is a high postoperative morbidity rate after cancer surgery, that impairs patients’ self-management, job condition and economic strength. This paper describes the results of a peculiar psychological intervention on patients undergoing surgery for esophageal, gastric and colorectal cancer. The intervention aimed to enhance patients’ competences in the management of postoperative daily life. A narrative approach (M.A.D.I.T.—Methodology for the Analysis of Computerised Text Data) was used to create a questionnaire, Health and Employment after Gastro-Intestinal Surgery—Dialogical Questionnaire, HEAGIS-DQ, that assesses four competences. It was administered to 48 participants. Results were used as guidance for specific intervention, structured on patients’ competence profiles. The intervention lasted nine months after surgery and was structured in weekly to monthly therapeutic sessions. Quality of Life questionnaires were administered too. At the end of the intervention, 94% of patients maintained their job and only 10% of patients asked for financial support. The mean self-perception of health-related quality of life was 71.2. The distribution of three of four competences increased after nine months (p < 0.05). Despite economic difficulties due to lasting symptoms after surgery, and to the current pandemic scenario, a structured intervention with patients let them to resume their jobs and continue activities after surgery.

The Clinical Effects of Type 2 Diabetes Patient Management Using Digital Healthcare Technology: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

The disease control rate is very low (at less than 30%) for diabetes. The use of digital healthcare technology is increasing recently for continuous management in daily life. In this study, a meta-analysis was conducted to evaluate the clinical effects of digital healthcare technology for patients with type 2 diabetes management. For a review of the literature, databases such as PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library were searched using Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) terms published up to 9 August 2021. As a result, 2354 articles were identified, and 12 randomized controlled trial articles were finally included. Digital healthcare technology combined management for type 2 diabetes significantly decreased HbA1c (p < 0.00001, standardized mean difference (SMD) = −0.49) and marginally decreased triglyceride, compared with usual care (p = 0.06, SMD = −0.18). However, it did not significantly affect BMI (p = 0.20, SMD = −0.47), total cholesterol (p = 0.13, SMD = −0.19), HLD-C (p = 0.89, SMD = −0.01), LDL-C (p = 0.95, SMD = −0.01), systolic BP (p = 0.83, SMD = 0.03), or diastolic BP (p = 0.23, SMD = 0.65), compared with usual care. These results indicate that digital healthcare technology can improve HbA1c and triglyceride levels of type 2 diabetes patients. Further well-designed randomized controlled clinical trials are needed to confirm the clinical effect of digital healthcare technology.

How South Korean Internet users experienced the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic: discourse on Instagram

This study explores how South Korean individuals managed the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in their daily lives during a time of continuous and sustained social distancing using 8241 Instagram posts from May 6 to June 16, 2020. Co-word analysis found two main theme clusters highlighting individuals’ endeavors in daily life management and their fear of COVID-19 infection. DMR topic modeling analysis resulted in five higher-order themes, each reflecting different aspects of people’s COVID-19 experiences. Overall, the results shed light on individuals’ resilience in managing their daily lives despite the fear and discomfort caused by the pandemic. Results also highlight the possibility that the discursive practices of Social Network Services (SNS) reinforce hatred against social minorities and frame otherizing COVID-19 patients as legitimate. The present study suggests the need for a range of social support to help individuals and communities during the prolonged pandemic, including a long-term, large-scale psychological quarantine system. Deliberate social measures also need to be taken to promote the process of social sharing through media texts and SNS to resist hateful frames and othering of social minorities. Limitations of the study and suggestions for future research are provided.

약용 생물자원 빅데이터 구축 : 2019~2021

This study aims to describe the big data for medicinal biological resources and to discuss how to use the data. The medicinal biological resources data was constructed by producing and processing the information related to medicinal materials in medicinal biological resources big data center of forest big data platform. The big data center has produced 54 million 168 GB data for 27 datasets of 9 types from 2019 to 2021 and has opened it to the public for free. This study also presents valuable use cases in two fields. The information on medicinal biological resources can be used in personal health management in daily life based on Korean medicine. In addition, it can be used to build a big data platform that analyzes biomedical data by combining the compounds of medicinal materials and existing bio big data in the biomedical fields.

The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic Containment Measures on Families and Children with Moderate and High-Functioning ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder)

The present study focuses on the impact of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) transmission prevention measures and, in particular, home confinement of families with children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in Greece. It is assumed that the implemented new measures during the pandemic constitute a profound change for children on the spectrum, considering that the core ASD symptoms include the persistence and adherence to routine and stability, a condition that also directly affects the children’s parents. Semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted. Participants were 10 caregivers with a child diagnosed with ASD of medium or high functioning in Greece. The ages of the children range from 6.5 to 15 years old. The results of the thematic analysis revealed three main themes: (1) the educational framework, (2) the management of daily life, and (3) the construction of the new daily routine. These three themes represent the levels that have undergone a decisive transition, and the sub-themes recommend the areas, individual ways of dealing with this shift. So far, the impact of the pandemic mitigation measures cannot be described as generally positive or negative, as there have been advances and setbacks for children and families alike. Finally, governmental measures and technology-assisted teaching (distance learning) were considered necessary but not sufficient enough for full adaptation.

A New Prototype of Smart Wearable Monitoring System Solution for Alzheimer's Patients.

PurposeThe daily life management of patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) constitutes a significant and rapidly expanding health-care responsibility. In this study, an innovative prototype of a wireless-sensing smart wearable medical device (SWMD) is proposed as a multi-functions solution for Alzheimer patients. The SWMD is aimed to assemble three main biomedical engineering advances: 1) use of a Wi-Fi microcontroller, 2) simultaneous monitoring of a set of vital biomarkers, and 3) cautions of fall down conditions, in addition to GPS location indicator.MethodsThe SWMD employs a Wi-Fi controller that is incorporated with electronic circuits to monitor three vital signals (temperature, heart rate, and oxygen saturation), fall down conditions in three directions (X, Y, and Z axis), and GPS location. The SWMD was connected to the Firebase Service (database hosted on the Internet Cloud). The proposed device was tested on 13 normal volunteers. The left side, right side, forward, and backward fall down conditions were assessed. The prototype’s functions during daily activity such as rising hand, sitting down or standing up, and walking conditions were also assessed.ResultsThe three assembled functions were all successfully incorporated to build the SWDM device as a suggested solution offering real-time alerts during daily activity to AD patients. The Bland-Altman statistical test showed no significant difference (p-value >0.05) between the SWMD biomarkers’ acquisition and the reference methods. The gyro/accelerator sensor yielded 93% sensitivity in fall down detection and 95% specificity during daily activities. The GPS yielded correct positioning of the SWDM holder, while the internet cloud allowed saving and managing all vital biomarkers daily.ConclusionThe SWMD is a possible solution for daily life support for AD patients. It incorporates three functions in one single device, GPS location indicator, monitoring set of biomarkers, and fall down alert, which are all controlled via a Wi-Fi micro controller on-line connected to Internet Cloud. It successfully would allow the management of the daily records as well as the real-time alerts to remote persons.

Time Organization Patterns of Adolescents: Agreement between Self- Report and Parent Report

Aims Occupational therapy services include measurement and promotion of time organization as important for adolescents' daily life management and well-being into adulthood. This study examined the internal consistency reliability of the Time Organization and Participation Scale (TOPS) among adolescents and their parents, associations between time organization and age, gender differences in time organization, and agreement levels between adolescents' and parents' perceptions of time-organization abilities. Methods Seventy-five adolescents with typical development and their parents completed the TOPS self-report and parent versions. Results Both TOPS versions showed high internal consistency (.80–.94). No significant correlations were found between age and time-organization patterns. Girls self-reported significantly more emotional response following disorganization in time. Parents' total scores explained 52.1% of the variance in their children's total scores. Conclusions Adolescence, a critical transitional period of preparing for independent adult life, involves a continual interaction between person, occupation, and environment while using skills to organize in time. The TOPS’s self- and parent-reports are reliable and can raise awareness of time-organization deficiencies in daily activities and emotional consequences. The use of the TOPS to assess adolescents’ time-organization abilities can inform intervention design to help adolescents develop an awareness of their time use and foster their daily performance.

Exploring the Shift in International Trends in Mobile Health Research From 2000 to 2020: Bibliometric Analysis.

BackgroundSmartphones have become an integral part of our lives with unprecedented popularity and a diverse selection of apps. The continuous upgrading of information technology has also enabled smartphones to display great potential in the field of health care.ObjectiveWe aimed to determine the future research direction of mobile health (mHealth) by analyzing its research trends and latest research hotspots.MethodsThis study collected mHealth-related literature published between 2000 and 2020 from the Web of Science database. Descriptive statistics of publication trends of mHealth research were determined by analyzing the annual number of publications in the literature and annual number of publications by country. We constructed visualization network maps of country (or regional) collaborations and author-provided keyword co-occurrences, as well as overlay visualization maps of the average publication year of author-provided keywords to analyze the hotspots and research trends in mHealth research.ResultsIn total, 12,593 mHealth-related research papers published between 2000 and 2020 were found. The results showed an exponential growth trend in the number of annual publications in mHealth literature. JMIR mHealth and uHealth, the Journal of Medical Internet Research, and JMIR Research Protocols were the 3 top journals with respect to number of publications. The United States remained the leading contributor to the literature in this area (5294/12,593, 42.0%), well ahead of other countries and regions. Other countries and regions also showed a clear trend of annual increases in the number of mHealth publications. The 4 countries with the largest number of publications—the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia—were found to cooperate more closely. The rest of the countries and regions showed a clear geographic pattern of cooperation. The keyword co-occurrence analysis of the top 100 authors demonstrated 5 clusters, namely, development of mHealth medical technology and its application to various diseases, use of mHealth technology to improve basic public health and health policy, mHealth self-health testing and management in daily life, adolescent use of mHealth, and mHealth in mental health. The research trends revealed a gradual shift in mHealth research from health policy and improving public health care to the development and social application of mHealth technologies.ConclusionsTo the best of our knowledge, the most current bibliometric analysis dates back to 2016. However, the number of mHealth research published between 2017 and 2020 exceeds the previous total. The results of this study shed light on the latest hotspots and trends in mHealth research. These findings provide a useful overview of the development of the field; they may also serve as a valuable reference and provide guidance for researchers in the digital health field.

Toward Control Over Time: Participant Experience of Attending the Let's Get Organized Group Intervention.

Time management is crucial for managing daily activities but is difficult for many people with neurodevelopmental or mental disorders. Few sustainable interventions have addressed time management in daily life. To describe the experiences and meaning of attending the Swedish version of the Let's Get Organized (LGO-S) group intervention. Qualitative design with interviews 1 to 4 mo after the completed intervention. Outpatient psychiatric and adult habilitation clinics. Twelve adults with neurodevelopmental or mental disorders. LGO-S, a manual-based group intervention that focuses on time-management skills. Outcomes and Measures: Semistructured interviews analyzed with qualitative content analysis. All authors took an active part in the analysis process; consensus was reached. The overarching theme, "a roller-coaster process toward control over time in daily life," describes the participants' process during and after intervention. Four main categories describe the meaning of understanding why time management is difficult and how to use tools for improvement, a process of change that was facilitated by the learning environment. Participants described the process as a struggle to take control over time, but they noted that the positive changes in daily life made it worthwhile. Participation had a positive impact on daily life. The opportunity for skills training with support over an extended period, a changed view on failure, and the group format appear to be important success factors. What This Article Adds: The LGO-S, with its structured training of time-management skills, contributes to occupational therapy practice with an intervention that clients experience as bringing meaningful and positive changes to daily life functioning.

Reflections on How Tinnitus Impacts the Lives of Children and Adolescents.

Objectives The aim of this study was to generate a conceptual framework describing which aspects of children and adolescents' lives are affected by chronic tinnitus. Design Views and experiences of 32 participants from two participant groups informed this study: (a) a tinnitus group, consisting of adults who had experienced tinnitus during childhood and/or adolescence and primary carers of children/adolescents with tinnitus, and (b) a clinicians' group, consisting of clinicians who provided care for children/adolescents with tinnitus. Participants produced statements describing aspects of children/adolescents' lives that may be affected by chronic tinnitus. Key concepts were identified through the processes of sorting the statements and rating them for degree of associated impact. Result Participants identified 118 unique aspects of the lives of children/adolescents who may be affected by chronic tinnitus. These were clustered into four concepts: (a) emotional well-being, (b) academic performances, (c) social/relationa, and (d) auditory/cognitive processing. At a group level, participants rated the impact of tinnitus as above a slight degree but below a moderate degree of impact. However, individual participant's ratings indicated a range of perceived impact for each statement. Conclusions The experience of chronic tinnitus during childhood and adolescence extends beyond the mere perception of sound. The perception of tinnitus may impact a child's emotional well-being, academic performances, social/relational, and auditory/cognitive processing. The impact of tinnitus in one aspect of a child's life may influence other aspects of their life. While at a group level, participants regarded the impact of tinnitus as "somewhat more than mild" to "less than moderate"; individual participant's ratings indicate that the impact from chronic tinnitus may be highly individual and highlighted the importance of individual assessment and management. Clinically, tinnitus management during childhood and adolescence may be improved if clinicians consider the impact and manifestation of tinnitus within each child's daily life and tailor tinnitus education and management strategies accordingly.

(Invited) Cavitas Sensors: Non-Invasive Bio/Chemical Sensing in Human Body Cavities for Medical and Healthcare

Introduction A non-invasive monitoring is important not only for medical inspection in hospitals but also healthcare management in daily life. For 30 years, we have developed several types of detachable sensors into human cavitas sites (conjunctiva, pharyngeal, oral cavity, etc.) with biocompatible materials and harmless device-techniques (Fig. 1). “Cavitas sensors” attached to body cavities such as a contact lens type and a mouthguard (“no implantable”, “no wearable”) are attracted attention for preventive medicine [1]. In this contribution, the cavitas sensors (soft contact-lens [SCL] and mouthguard [MG] biosensors) in human body cavities will be introduced as novel non-invasive biosensing devices. Soft contact lens type glucose sensor The soft contact lens type biosensor was designed for continuous glucose monitoring in tear fluids (Fig. 2) [2]. Biocom-patible poly(MPC-co-PMEH) (PMEH) (Fig. 3) [3,4] and polydimethyl siloxane (PDMS) were employed as the biosensor material. The biosensor consists of a flexible Pt working electrode and an Ag/AgCl reference/counter electrode, which were formed by micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) technique. Glucose oxidase (GOD) was immobilized on the sensitive area by entrapping with PMEH polymer. The contact lens biosensor showed a good relationship between the output current and glucose concentration in a range of 0.03–5.0 mM, covering the reported tear glucose concentrations in normal and diabetic patients. Also, the biosensor was applied to a rabbit for the purpose of tear glucose monitoring. The basal tear glucose was estimated to 0.14 mM. Also, the change of tear glucose induced by the change of blood sugar level was assessed by the oral glucose tolerance test. As a result, tear glucose level increased with a delay of few min from blood sugar level (Fig. 4). The result showed that the contact lens biosensor is expected to provide further detailed information about the relationship between dynamics of blood glucose and tear glucose. Invisible Mouth guard type sensors with BLE transmitter The telemetric mouthguard-biosensor was developed with dental materials integrated with Bluetooth low energy (BLE) wireless module for measurement of saliva glucose [5]. The electrodes were formed on the thinner mouthguard surface which made of a polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG) using the same method as the contact lens one (Fig. 5). The BLE module, small potentiostat and battery were mounted and heat-sealed between upper and lower mouth guards. In the investigation of in-vitro characterization, the transparent biosensor showed excellent relationship between the output current and the glucose concentration (Fig. 6). In artificial saliva consisting of salts and proteins, the glucose sensor exhibits high-sensitive detection in a range of 5-1000 µmol/L including glucose concentration of human saliva. We demonstrated the capability of the sensor and wireless communication module to characterize an inclusion in oral phantom that imitative structure of human oral cavity. Stable and long-term monitoring (more than 1 day) using telemetry system was established. Monitoring of real-time changes of glucose concentration in artificial saliva with evaluation system of phantom jaw was demonstrated. The mouthguard device would be useful not only for monitoring of the oral chemical and physical information but also for unconstrained controlling of external device and system [6]. Future potential of cavitas sensors The self-detachable cavitas sensors are expected to allow the non-invasive bio/chemical monitoring, thus improving quality of life in view of the aging of society in near future.

만성폐쇄성폐질환자의 자가관리 경험과 구조화된 자가관리 측정도구의 내용 비교

Purpose: This study aimed to compare interviews on self-management experiences in patients with the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) using structured self-management measurement tools (SMTs). Methods: Secondary analysis of interview data was conducted for the frequency of symptom monitoring items and management in daily life and during acute exacerbation (AE). The interview contents were compared with the categories and items of the three COPD SMTs selected through a systematic review. Results: Daily symptom monitoring included 13 symptoms, such as dyspnea, coughing, and sputum. Regarding daily self-care, five categories including ‘disease prevention’, ‘exercise’, ‘medication’, ‘diet’, and ‘rest’, and 13 items were identified. Symptoms of AE included 12 symptoms, such as dyspnea at rest, coughing, and dyspnea during exercise. In terms of AE management, four categories including ‘medication’, ‘medical service’, ‘enough rest’, and ‘breathing technique’, and eight items were identified. The categories and items of daily self-care in AE, derived from interviews, were consistent with those from SMTs. However, two items of daily self-care derived from interviews (i.e., “Take health supplements,” “Eat mainly vegetables”) were not included in the SMTs. Conclusion: The interviews revealed that COPD patients’ self-management experiences presented the categories and items of the SMTs. Further research is needed to identify the scientific evidence of the self-care items of patients with COPD not included in the SMTs. These findings should be reflected in COPD SMTs.

Patient and physician perspectives of a smartphone application for depression: a qualitative study

BackgroundDespite an increasing number of smartphone apps, such therapeutic tools have not yet consistently demonstrated their efficacy and many suffer from low retention rates. To ensure the development of efficient apps associated with high adherence, we aimed to identify, through a user-centred design approach, patient and physician expectations of a hypothetical app dedicated to depression.MethodsWe conducted semi-structured interviews with physicians (psychiatrists and general practitioners) and patients who had experienced a major depressive episode during the last 12 months using the focus group method. The interviews were audio recorded, transcribed and analysed using qualitative content analysis to define codes, categories and emergent themes.ResultsA total of 26 physicians and 24 patients were included in the study. The focus groups showed balanced sex and age distributions. Most participants owned a smartphone (83.3% of patients, 96.1% of physicians) and were app users (79.2% of patients and 96.1% of physicians).The qualitative content analysis revealed 3 main themes: content, operating characteristics and barriers to the use of the app. Expected content included the data collected by the app, aiming to provide information about the patient, data provided by the app, gathering psychoeducation elements, therapeutic tools and functionalities to help with the management of daily life and features expected for this tool. The “operating characteristics” theme gathered aims considered for the app, its potential target users, considered modalities of use and considerations around its accessibility and security of use. Finally, barriers to the use of the app included concerns about potential app users, its accessibility, safety, side-effects, utility and functioning. All themes and categories were the same for patients and physicians.ConclusionsPhysician and patient expectations of a hypothetical smartphone app dedicated to depression are high and confirmed the important role it could play in depression care. The key points expected by the users for such a tool are an easy and intuitive use and a personalised content. They are also waiting for an app that gives information about depression, offers a self-monitoring functionality and helps them in case of emergency.

GENERATOR Breast DataMart-The Novel Breast Cancer Data Discovery System for Research and Monitoring: Preliminary Results and Future Perspectives.

Background: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is increasingly used for process management in daily life. In the medical field AI is becoming part of computerized systems to manage information and encourage the generation of evidence. Here we present the development of the application of AI to IT systems present in the hospital, for the creation of a DataMart for the management of clinical and research processes in the field of breast cancer. Materials and methods: A multidisciplinary team of radiation oncologists, epidemiologists, medical oncologists, breast surgeons, data scientists, and data management experts worked together to identify relevant data and sources located inside the hospital system. Combinations of open-source data science packages and industry solutions were used to design the target framework. To validate the DataMart directly on real-life cases, the working team defined tumoral pathology and clinical purposes of proof of concepts (PoCs). Results: Data were classified into “Not organized, not ‘ontologized’ data”, “Organized, not ‘ontologized’ data”, and “Organized and ‘ontologized’ data”. Archives of real-world data (RWD) identified were platform based on ontology, hospital data warehouse, PDF documents, and electronic reports. Data extraction was performed by direct connection with structured data or text-mining technology. Two PoCs were performed, by which waiting time interval for radiotherapy and performance index of breast unit were tested and resulted available. Conclusions: GENERATOR Breast DataMart was created for supporting breast cancer pathways of care. An AI-based process automatically extracts data from different sources and uses them for generating trend studies and clinical evidence. Further studies and more proof of concepts are needed to exploit all the potentials of this system.