Technology Ease Of Use Research Articles

Healthcare providers' perceptions of virtual-care with children's mental health in a pandemic: A hospital and community perspective.

AimThe purpose of the present study was to explore the experiences of a diverse group of mental health clinicians both in hospital and in the community, who were required to rapidly adopt virtual‐care practices in the delivery of mental health services to children, adolescents, and their families.MethodsMental health clinicians (N = 117) completed the Clinician Virtual‐Care Experience Survey assessing the following domains: ease of technology use, client/patient‐provider interaction quality, and clinician wellbeing.ResultsAlthough over 70% of clinicians had not used virtual‐care to deliver mental health services prior to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic, more than 80% felt it was easy to operate the virtual platforms. Clinicians were divided in their perceptions of the effectiveness of virtual‐care, with only 42% reporting that they felt they were as effective in delivering healthcare services virtually as compared to in‐person. Virtual‐care was described as being more effective for specific populations, while challenges were described in building rapport and when delivering difficult or unexpected feedback.ConclusionsClinicians felt there were some benefits of adopting virtual‐care practices, while challenges were also identified. Understanding of the impact of virtual‐care on service providers is essential in order to strengthen mental healthcare for children, adolescents, and their families even beyond the pandemic.

Physiotherapists and patients report positive experiences overall with telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic: a mixed-methods study.

QuestionWhat were the experiences of physiotherapists and patients who consulted via videoconference during the COVID-19 pandemic and how was it implemented?DesignMixed methods study with cross-sectional national online surveys and qualitative analysis of free-text responses.ParticipantsA total of 207 physiotherapists in private practice or community settings and 401 patients aged ≥ 18 years who consulted (individual and/or group) via videoconference from April to November 2020.MethodsSeparate customised online surveys were developed for physiotherapists and patients. Data were collected regarding the implementation of videoconferencing (cost, software used) and experience with videoconferencing (perceived effectiveness, safety, ease of use and comfort communicating, each scored on a 4-point ordinal scale). Qualitative content analysis was performed of physiotherapists’ free-text responses about perceived facilitators, barriers and safety issues.ResultsPhysiotherapists gave moderate-to-high ratings for the effectiveness of and their satisfaction with videoconferencing. Most intended to continue to offer individual consultations (81%) and group classes (60%) via videoconferencing beyond the pandemic. For individual consultations and group classes, respectively, most patients had moderately or extremely positive perceptions about ease of technology use (94%, 91%), comfort communicating (96%, 86%), satisfaction with management (92%, 93%), satisfaction with privacy/security (98%, 95%), safety (99% both) and effectiveness (83%, 89%). Compared with 68% for group classes, 47% of patients indicated they were moderately or extremely likely to choose videoconferencing for individual consultations in the future. Technology was predominant as both a facilitator and barrier. Falls risk was the main safety factor.ConclusionPatients and physiotherapists had overall positive experiences using videoconferencing for individual consultations and group classes. The results suggest that videoconferencing is a viable option for the delivery of physiotherapy care in the future.

Robust Low-Overhead RF-Based Localization for Realistic Environments

Due to the noisy indoor radio propagation channel, radio frequency (RF)-based location determination systems usually require a tedious calibration phase to construct an RF fingerprint of the area of interest. This fingerprint varies with the used mobile device, changes of the transmit power of smart access points (APs), and dynamic changes in the environment; requiring re-calibration of the area of interest; which reduces the technology ease of use. In this paper, we present <i>IncVoronoi</i> : a novel system that can provide low-overhead accurate RF-based indoor localization that works in realistic environments. The basic idea is that the relative relation between the received signal strength from two APs at a certain location reflects the relative distance from this location to the respective APs. Building on this, <i>IncVoronoi</i> incrementally reduces the user ambiguity region based on refining the Voronoi tessellation of the area of interest. <i>IncVoronoi</i> also includes a number of modules to efficiently run in realtime as well as to handle practical deployment issues including the noisy wireless environment, obstacles in the environment, heterogeneous devices hardware, and smart APs. We analyze the complexity of <i>IncVoronoi</i> and further deploy it on different Android phones using the iBeacons and WiFi technologies in a university campus and a commercial building. Evaluation of <i>IncVoronoi</i> with a side-by-side comparison with traditional fingerprinting techniques shows that it can achieve a consistent median accuracy less than 1.9m under different scenarios with a low beacon density of one beacon every 22m <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$^2$</tex-math></inline-formula> . Compared to fingerprinting techniques, whose accuracy degrades by at least 156 percent, this accuracy comes with no training overhead and is robust to the different user devices, different transmit powers, and over temporal changes in the environment. This highlights the promise of <i>IncVoronoi</i> as a next generation indoor localization system.

Development and Implementation of a Synchronous Online TBL Using Microsoft Forms.

After transitioning to a virtual flipped classroom due to COVID-19, pre-clinical content application session facilitators noted decreased engagement in large group sessions. Thus, we developed a synchronous virtual team-based learning session using Microsoft Forms. Students identified increased engagement, deeper learning, and ease of technology use as benefits to online team-based learning.

Telemedicine Experiences of Athletic Trainers and Orthopaedic Physicians for Patients With Musculoskeletal Conditions.

Telemedicine is the delivery of medical care from a distance using technology. The integration of telemedicine as a supplement to musculoskeletal-based patient encounters may be feasible in sports medicine. To investigate health care professionals' perceptions of and experiences with telemedicine. Cross-sectional explanatory sequential mixed-methods study. A purposeful sample of 17 athletic trainers from a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I institution and 5 orthopaedic physicians from a sports medicine clinic located 92 miles from the campus. Participants were trained on the telemedicine platform and used it over 5 months for initial, follow-up, and discharge patient encounters. Participants completed a preintervention survey containing the Theory of Planned Behavior and Technology Acceptance Model tool. Responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics and an independent-samples t test. After the intervention period, participants completed individual semistructured interviews that we coded using the consensual qualitative research tradition. From the interviews, the clinicians were characterized as telemedicine adopters (n = 14) or nonadopters (n = 8). The adopters reported higher levels of agreement on the Theory of Planned Behavior and Technology Acceptance Model tool as compared with nonadopters for all constructs. When comparing adoption status, we identified a difference (P < .01), with nonadopters reporting a low level of agreement for the subjective norm construct. The interviews revealed 5 domains: integration challenges, integration opportunities, collaborative practice, anticipatory socialization to future use, and benefits of integration. The participants indicated that integration challenges centered on "buy in," whereas opportunities aligned with the patient's condition and technology ease of use. They reflected that the telemedicine encounters required more preparation and yet allowed for cooperative behaviors between clinicians. The benefits of telemedicine included convenience and scheduling preferences that encouraged future use. The integration of telemedicine in sports medicine brought about both challenges and opportunities for collaboration among athletic trainers and physicians that were heavily predetermined by the social pressures of colleagues.

Qualitative Assessment of Rapid System Transformation to Primary Care Video Visits at an Academic Medical Center.

The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic spurred health systems across the world to quickly shift from in-person visits to safer video visits. To seek stakeholder perspectives on video visits' acceptability and effect 3 weeks after near-total transition to video visits. Semistructured qualitative interviews. 6 Stanford general primary care and express care clinics at 6 northern California sites, with 81 providers, 123 staff, and 97614 patient visits in 2019. 53 program participants (overlapping roles as medical providers [n = 20], medical assistants [n = 16], nurses [n = 4], technologists [n = 4], and administrators [n = 13]) were interviewed about video visit transition and challenges. In 3 weeks, express care and primary care video visits increased from less than 10% to greater than 80% and from less than 10% to greater than 75%, respectively. New video visit providers received video visit training and care quality feedback. New system workflows were created to accommodate the new visit method. 9 faculty, trained in qualitative research methods, conducted 53 stakeholder interviews in 4 days using purposeful (administrators and technologists) and convenience (medical assistant, nurses, and providers) sampling. A rapid qualitative analytic approach for thematic analysis was used. The analysis revealed 12 themes, including Pandemic as Catalyst; Joy in Medicine; Safety in Medicine; Slipping Through the Cracks; My Role, Redefined; and The New Normal. Themes were analyzed using the RE-AIM (reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance) framework to identify critical issues for continued program utilization. Evaluation was done immediately after deployment. Although viewpoints may have evolved later, immediate evaluation allowed for prompt program changes and identified broader issues to address for program sustainability. After pandemic-related systems transformation at Stanford, critical issues to sustain video visit long-term viability were identified. Specifically, technology ease of use must improve and support multiparty videoconferencing. Providers should be able to care for their patients, regardless of geography. Providers need decision-making support with virtual examination training and home-based patient diagnostics. Finally, ongoing video visit reimbursement should be commensurate with value to the patients' health and well-being. Stanford Department of Medicine and Stanford Health Care.

An economic evaluation of an advanced video conferencing system for cardiac multidisciplinary team meetings

Current UK and international guidelines advocate the need for multidisciplinary team (MDT) discussion of selected patients undergoing either percutaneous or surgical cardiac procedures to decide the optimal treatment strategy. To date, it is unknown if using videoconference facilities is cost-effective. Therefore, we performed a cost analysis of using a high-speed internet video conferencing system compared with conventional face-to-face MDT meetings. Costs of running a conventional MDT meeting vs a video conferencing MDT were modelled and compared over a 2-year period. Participants were also surveyed on the overall effectiveness of conducting remote MDTs. The set-up and maintenance cost of the video conferencing system over 2 years was £30400. The staff costs of running the face-to-face MDT were £95970 and the video conferencing MDT was £23992.50. The total travel costs of the conventional face-to-face MDTs were £10555.34. In total, the cost of the conventional face-to-face MDT was £106525.34 and the video conferencing MDT was £54392.50 representing a cost saving of 48.9%. Participants rated the effectiveness of conducing a remote MDT and the ease of technology use as very good. Video conferencing systems provide a highly cost-effective method of facilitating MDT meetings between cardiologists and cardiac surgeons at remote centres.

Investigating the antecedents of university students’ perceived ease of using the Internet for learning

ABSTRACT As a key variable determining technology acceptance and adoption, the perceived ease of technology use (PEU) has been in the focus of a considerable body of research. This research examined the external factors that influence perceived ease of use, such as computer self-efficacy and perceived enjoyment, but yielded inconsistent findings and under-emphasized important predictors in the educational context. This study examined the relations between potential antecedents and perceived ease of Internet use for learning of a higher-education student in China. Computer self-efficacy, perceived enjoyment, and students’ perception of external control significantly influenced PEU, while facilitating conditions and technological complexity did not. The total variance of PEU explained by the five antecedents was 98%. This study contributes to the theoretical understanding of perceived ease of use by specifying its antecedents; in the context of Chinese institutions of higher education. It also contributes to practice by identifying the measures required to improve students’ perceived ease of use to facilitate their use of the Internet for learning.

Stay in touch! New insights into end-user attitudes towards engagement platforms

PurposeBecause engagement platforms are becoming an emerging service research context, the purpose of this paper is to understand how consumers may be segmented with respect to attitude towards the mobile instant messaging (MIM) apps used as channels for customer service.Design/methodology/approachConsumers are segmented on the basis of perception of MIM apps by means of data from 478 consumers. A two-step cluster analysis was used to individuate groups according to the similarity of their attitudinal variables and their chat experience with organizations using MIM, while the discriminant function analysis was used to assess the stability of the cluster solution.FindingsThree segments were identified – benevolent, proactive and hesitant – along with significant descriptive variables, such as interaction with organization, opinion regarding effort expectancy, perception of usefulness and perceived ease of technology use. The most engaged, the proactive (30%), are most open to interaction with the organization by means of MIM, while the benevolent (51%) look favourably on the use of instant messaging to communicate with organizations, even if this cluster has never used it with an organization.Practical implicationsUnderstanding how potential customers receive the opportunities offered by MIM as a new channel for improving, extending or completing the service helps to guide the efforts of marketing investments towards a better relationship with customers.Originality/valueThis study explores the use of MIM apps on the part of the customer/organization as engagement platforms from the customer point-of-view. The study highlights how MIM apps can be valuable channels for weaving together relations with customers.

Feasibility of smartphone use in monitoring pain and symptoms among patients with serious illness

Background: Little is known about the feasibility and acceptability of using mobile technology among seriously ill older adults experiencing moderate to severe pain. Objective: A smartphone application was tested for feasibility and acceptability of use among ethnically-diverse older adults experiencing moderate to severe pain. Additionally, authors aimed to document patient perceived barriers and facilitators of using the mobile device for pain monitoring. Methods: Twenty-three participants were enrolled in a prospective feasibility study and followed for 75 days. Participants were provided prepaid smartphones with a preloaded pain application and were asked to send daily reports of pain to a palliative care physician within a managed care clinic. Pain was measured on an 11-point numeric rating scale (NRS) from no pain to worst ever; patients reporting a pain score of greater than 3 were contacted by a palliative care physician. Surveys on technology ease of use, usefulness, and intrusiveness were conducted at 30 days; qualitative interviews were conducted at the end of the 75-day study period. Results: The study was completed fully by 74% of the sample. Qualitative analyses revealed several themes related to benefits of smartphone use in monitoring pain and symptoms While participants reported the physical challenges using the mobile application, most reported application useful, and 100% would recommend to others. Conclusions: Older adults experiencing significant pain may be receptive to using mobile technology to monitor pain and transmit pain reports to physicians. However, simplified technological interactions are needed to overcome challenges experienced by older adults.

선물동기에 따른 모바일 메신저 디지털 쿠폰 선물 증여 모형

스마트폰의 보급으로 인해 인터넷 이용자의 91%가 장소를 불문하고 인터넷을 주된 목적을 채팅과 메신저로 사용하고 있으며 이는 음성/영상통화의 점유율을 앞지르고 있다. 이는 특히 10대에서 30대사이의 젊은 연령층에서 확연히 나타나고 있는 현상으로써, 모바일 메신저를 이용한 쇼핑으로 연결되었다. 본 연구는 이러한 모바일 환경하에서 메신저 사용자가 전통적인 사회적 행위인 선물의 증여를 메신저의 디지털 쿠폰을 사용하여 전달하는 행위의 동기를 찾고, 동기에 따른 구매의도에 기술수용모형의 두 가지 요인인 유용성과 용이성이 어떠한 매개적 영향을 미치는지 알아보았다. 연구결과 모바일 디지털쿠폰을 통해 선물을 증여하는 사용자는 경험적, 의무적, 실용적인 동기 모두 구매의사에 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났으며, 선물의 유용성 보다는 용이성이 모바일 디지털쿠폰을 통해 선물을 하는 매개변수로써 매개효과를 보이고 있음을 알 수 있었다. 즉, 모바일을 통해 디지털 쿠폰을 선물의 수단으로 사용하는 사람들은 기존의 오프라인 선물과 같은 동기로 접근하나, 기술로 인해 선물이 쉬워짐으로써 더 강한 구매의도를 가지게 되는 것으로 나타났다. Since a smart phone has been popular, 91% of the internet users are utilizing the technology in all places for chatting and messenger which overtake share of voice and visual call utilization. The phenomenon is remarkable to young generations between teenager and thirties, which leads to mobile messenger shopping such as mobile digital voucher and coupon buy. In this research, we clarify whether traditional gift-giving motivations works on digital coupon gift-giving, and two technology acceptance model factors: perceived usefulness and ease of use affects between motivations and intention to gift-giving. The result shows three traditional gift-giving motivations: experiential, obligated and practical attitude affects intention to digital mobile coupon gift-giving and ease of use of the digital mobile coupon works parameter of the relation rather than usefulness. In other words, gift-giving purpose digital coupon users give a gift with traditional gift-giving motivation but has the stronger intetnion to gift-giving by technology ease of use.

Assessment of Student Perceptions on a Series of Live Internet-Based Student Journal Clubs Presented Synchronously to Multiple Distance Locations, a Pilot Study

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness, convenience and utility of the novel practice of a student led internet-based journal club which connects students and faculty from different campuses and clinical sites to facilitate discussion of journal articles. Materials and methods: Journal clubs were presented to live local and distance audiences via Wimba ClassroomTM technology. After formal presentations, there was discussion period where questions were posed via different modalities. The presentation was recorded for participants to view at their convenience if unable to attend live presentation. After each session participants were invited by email to complete an anonymous, voluntary, online questionnaire to evaluate their perceptions of the experience. Results: A total of 47 student surveys were completed. A majority of participants agreed that internetbased journal club met the learning objectives (85.1%) as well as provided enhanced discussion (89.4%). 91.5% believed it provided a unique opportunity to easily attend journal club discussions. 61.7% agreed internet-based experience was superior to conventional journal clubs. 75% of presenters agreed there were a greater variety of questions compared to conventional journal clubs. The most commonly identified barrier was ease of technology use. Discussion/Conclusion: Wimba classroom™ based journal club demonstrated the advantages of increased accessibility and perceived improved breadth and depth of discussion. The novel use of a synchronous internetbased journal club demonstrated its effectiveness, convenience and utility as an alternative, and possibly a replacement, to conventional student led journal clubs in pharmacy school curriculums.

Investigation of Relationship between Ease of Use, Innovation Tendency, Perceived Usefulness and Intention to Use Technology: An Empirical study

This study aimed at investigating the relationship between ease of technology use, innovation tendency, perceived usefulness and intention to use technology among librarians. 91 male librarians and 109 female librarians were selected using stratified random sampling. Research questionnaires were distributed among participants. Pearson correlation test results suggested there was a positive significant relationship between Innovation tendency and intention to Use technology, ease of use and perceived usefulness. In addition, there was positive significant relationship between ease of use and perceived usefulness with intention to Use technology. Stepwise regression analysis also showed ease of use, Innovation tendency and perceived usefulness were able to predict intention to Use technology.

INWARD BELIEFS IN HIGH TECHNOLOGICAL PERFORMANCE: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY

ABSTRACT This study samples Taiwan's electronics, mechanical, computer, and bioengineering industries, using a two-step LISREL (LInear Structure RELation) to establish a theoretical model for technological attributes, inward licensing beliefs, and performance (TBPM). The evidence indicates that technology implicitness has strong and positive influences and, through technology usefulness (U), significantly influences performance. Technology implicitness significantly and negatively influences technology ease of use (EOU). Lastly, technology compatibility significantly and positively influences U and performance, respectively. R2 values show that U, technology implicitness, and technology compatibility account for 56 percent of the variance in performance, while technology implicitness and technology compatibility account for 35 percent of the variance in U.

Assistive technology and learning disabilities: today's realities and tomorrow's promises.

Many forms of technology, both "high" and "low," can help individuals with learning disabilities capitalize on their strengths and bypass, or compensate for, their disabilities. This article surveys the current status of assistive technology for this population and reflects on future promises and potential problems. In addition, a model is presented for conceptualizing assistive technology in terms of the types of barriers it helps persons with disabilities to surmount. Several current technologies are described and the research supporting their effectiveness reviewed: word processing, computer-based instruction in reading and other academic areas, interactive videodisc interventions for math, and technologies for daily life. In conclusion, three themes related to the future success of assistive technology applications are discussed: equity of access to technology; ease of technology, use; and emergent technologies, such as virtual reality.