E-health relationships diabetes: 50 weeks evaluation

Hybrid e-health support was given to 11 insulin-dependent type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) patients, with electronic support plus a multi-disciplinary health support team. Challenges were low ICT and health literacy. After 50 weeks, attractiveness and feasibility of the intervention were perceived as high: recommendation 9.5 out of 10 and...

Physiotherapists’ experiences with a blended osteoarthritis intervention: A mixed methods study

E-Exercise is an effective 12-week blended intervention consisting of around five face-to-face physiotherapy sessions and a web-based application for patients with hip/knee osteoarthritis. In order to facilitate effective implementation of e-Exercise, this study aims to identify physiotherapists' experiences and determinants related to the usage...

How should a virtual agent present psychoeducation? Influence of verbal and textual presentation on adherence

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: With the rise of autonomous e-mental health applications, virtual agents can play a major role in improving trustworthiness, therapy outcome and adherence. In these applications, it is important that patients adhere in the sense that they perform the tasks, but also that they adhere to the specific recommendations on...

Finding Kairos: The influence of context-based timing on compliance with well-being triggers

A therapy system for post-traumatic stress disorder using a virtual agent and virtual storytelling to reconstruct traumatic memories

Although post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is well treatable, many people do not get the desired treatment due to barriers to care (such as stigma and cost). This paper presents a system that bridges this gap by enabling patients to follow therapy at home. A therapist is only involved remotely, to monitor progress and serve as a safety net....

Generating situation-based motivational feedback in a PTSD E-health system

Motivating users is an important task for virtual agents in behaviour chance support systems. In this study we present a system which generates motivational statements based on situation type, aimed at a virtual agent for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder therapy. Using input from experts (n=13), we built a database containing what categories of...

Improving a web-based employability intervention for work-disabled employees: results of a pilot economic evaluation

Purpose The purpose of this study is to improve web-based employability interventions for employees with work-related health problems for both intervention content and study design by means of a pilot economic evaluation. Methods Uptake rate analysis for the intervention elements, cost effectiveness, cost utility and subgroup analyses were...

Renal transplant patient acceptance of a self-management support system

Background: Self-management support systems (SMSS) have been proposed for renal transplant patients to increase their autonomy and reduce the number of hospital visits. For the design and implementation of such systems, it is important to understand factors influencing patients’ acceptance of a SMSS. This paper aims to identify these key factors...

Stress Prevention@Work: a study protocol for the evaluation of a multifaceted integral stress prevention strategy to prevent employee stress in a healthcare organization: a cluster controlled trial

Background. Adequate implementation of work-related stress management interventions can reduce or prevent work-related stress and sick leave in organizations. We developed a multifaceted integral stress-prevention strategy for organizations from several sectors that includes a digital platform and collaborative learning network. The digital...

Elabel: het antwoord voor geïntegreerde e-health voor zelfmanagement

Bij de zorg voor mensen met een chronisch ziekte zijn vaak veel verschillende zorgverleners betrokken. De patient heeft veel inzicht in het eigen ziekteproces en is vaak goed in staat tot zelfmanagement. Technologie is daarbij ondersteunend. Hiervoor is een scala aan apps, monitoringapparatuur en ICT voor communicatie op de markt. Het...

User preferences and usability of iVitality: optimizing an innovative online research platform for home-based health monitoring

Background: The iVitality online research platform has been developed to gain insight into the relationship between early risk factors (ie, poorly controlled hypertension, physical or mental inactivity) and onset and possibly prevention of dementia. iVitality consists of a website, a smartphone application, and sensors that can monitor these...

Blogboek: geef ouders de eigen regie over het zorgproces, met steun van professionals [Blogbook: empowers parents in giving direction to their child’s multi-disciplinary care process, with support of care professionals]

Blogboek is an e-tool which allows parents to create and manage a personal health record online, and empowers them in giving direction to the multi-disciplinary care process when their child receives care from several professionals. Because Blogbook is created and managed by parents, its answers the current call for more empowerment and...

Hoe halen ouderen the next level? Overtuigende technologie voor een gezond leven

E-health kan ouderen helpen in beweging te komen en te blijven. Via deze technologie kunnen ouderen zelfstandig aan de slag. Onderzoek laat echter zien dat de gebruiker vaak al is uitgekeken op de technologie voordat het gewenste effect bereikt is. E-health vraagt daarom om een nieuwe aanpak die lijkt op die van games: afwisselend, uitdagend en...

Semantic interoperability in sensor applications: Making sense of sensor data

Much effort has been spent on the optimization of sensor networks, mainly concerning their performance and power efficiency. Furthermore, open communication protocols for the exchange of sensor data have been developed and widely adopted, making sensor data widely available for software applications. However, less attention has been given to the...

An empowerment-based approach to developing innovative e-health tools for self-management

E-health is seen as an important technological tool in achieving self-management; however, there is little evidence of how effective e-health is for self-management. Example tools remain experimental and there is limited knowledge yet about the design, use, and effects of this class of tools. By way of introducing a new view on the development...

E-health applications and services for patient empowerment: Directions for best practices in the Netherlands

Objective: E-health may enable the empowerment process for patients, particularly the chronically ill. However, e-health is not always designed with the requirements of patient empowerment in mind. Drawing on evidence-based e-health studies, we propose directions for best practices to develop e-health that promotes patient empowerment. Methods:...