Mobile Health

In today's world, the number of diseases like covid 19, pneumonia is increasing due to ignorance, lethargy, and some medication non-adherence of the individuals. So, there is a need to monitor the vitals of an individual. Especially elder patients are greatly affected because of their age-related complications like Diabetes, Hypertension, or Hypotension. The most common vitals that have to be noticed are heart rate, body temperature and respiratory rate. But the existing techniques proposed either a health monitoring system or pill dispenser. The de-merits of these techniques are the patients have to afford two different systems to take care of their health. So, therefore in this paper, we've discussed a solution to this by proposing an idea of a wearable Health monitoring system along with a Smart pill dispenser box. Therefore, the goal of this survey is to evaluate the different methods of monitoring systems using the technology used and to compare its merits and demerits to help the upcoming researchers to make a system as per the need to overcome the coercions in the existing systems.

Cette communication présente une méthode de recherche approximative des plus proches voisins (APPV) modérément sûre mais très efficace. Nous partons d'une méthode de recherche APPV se basant sur des distances entre données quantifiées calculées à l'avance : les PQ-codes. Se plaçant dans le modèle « honnête mais curieux » dans lequel le serveur et l'utilisateur suivent le protocole mais sont capables de déduire de l'information sur les données transitées, nous analysons les menaces en terme de fuite d'information pour cette méthode. Pour empêcher une reconstruction du signal requête par le serveur, nous proposons une version des PQ-codes utilisant deux quantificateurs distincts pour le serveur et l'utilisateur. Les avantages de notre méthode sont (a) une perte significative d'information de la requête par le serveur (b) une base de taille fixée (c) aucune perte dans la qualité de la recherche.

Je tiens à remercier sincèrement mes directeurs de recherche, le professeur Shengrui Wang, et la professeure Hélène Pigot, pour la pertinence de leur encadrement, leurs valeureux conseils et encouragements, et surtout pour leurs qualités humaines. Leur rigueur scientifique, leurs conseils judicieux et leur disponibilité tout au long de cette thèse ont joué un rôle déterminant et m'ont permis de mener à terme ce travail de recherche avec les qualités escomptées. Avec mes directeurs de recherche, j'ai appris la flexibilité, l'efficacité et la patience. Ils demeurent des professeurs envers qui j'ai beaucoup de respect. Je remercie également le Conseil de Recherches en Sciences naturelles et en Génie du Canada pour le soutien financier durant deux ans. Je ne peux oublier de remercier ma famille : ma mère, mon père, mes frères et ma soeur pour leur soutien et leurs encouragements durant toute cette période. Mes vifs remerciements vont particulièrement à ma femme. Merci de m'avoir soutenu et encouragé dans les moments difficiles. Merci d'être aussi patiente avec moi. Merci pour tout. ii Abréviations LDA Latent Dirichlet Allocation HMM Hidden Markov Model BN Réseau Bayésien (Bayesian Network) NB Bayésien Naif (Naive Bayes

Purpose: The study aimed to investigate influence of pricing strategy on microinsurance uptake among micro and small enterprises in Nairobi County, Kenya.

Methodology: The study used a descriptive research methodology and positivist perspective.  From a population of 12,429 registered MSEs in Nairobi County, a representative sample of 387 MSEs was chosen by multistage random selection.  Structured questionnaires were used in data collecting; a pilot test was done to guarantee dependability and validity.  SPSS version 27 let one examine quantitative data.  While inferential analysis used several regression and correlation strategies to assess hypotheses at a 95% confidence level (p < 0.05), descriptive statistics including means and standard deviations were computed.

Findings: Strong positive associations between microinsurance adoption and pricing techniques were found by the study (r = 0.672), notably at p < 0.01.  Regression models revealed that pricing explained 45.2% of the microinsurance adoption variation.  The ANOVA findings show an F-statistic of 247.449 with a p-value of 0.000 further indicating that the association between microinsurance acceptance and pricing strategy approach was statistically significant at the 95% confidence level.  With an unstandardized coefficient (B) for the pricing strategy of 0.409, one unit increase in the pricing strategy resulted in 0.409 units rise in microinsurance adoption.

Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The study therefore recommended that microinsurance providers should implement flexible pricing structures tailored to the financial realities of MSEs. This includes staggered payment plans, seasonal premium adjustments, income-based premiums, and loyalty discounts. Additionally, transparent communication of costs and benefits must accompany any pricing model to enable informed decision-making by businesses.

ien que de nos jours, il existe de nombreux outils logiciels conviviaux pour les calculs scientifiques et la simulation de réseaux électriques, on ne disposait pas encore d'outils satisfaisants aux besoins spécifiques de la modélisation et de l'analyse de la qualité de l'énergie électrique. Un tel outil devrait être d'utilisation simple et produire des formes d'ondes analogues dans le temps à celles enregistrées dans le monde réel. Etat actuel de la simulation de la qualité de l'énergie Il existe actuellement un grand nombre de logiciels conviviaux permettant d'étudier le comportement stationnaire de réseaux électriques en ce qui concerne la qualité de l'énergie électrique. Alors qu'ils permettent par exemple d'étudier l'amplitude de chutes de tension, les modèles pour régime permanent ne se prêtent pas à la détermination de la durée de ces chutes. La même limitation existe lorsque les utilisateurs désirent inclure le comportement d'éléments complexes, tels que des fours à arc, des entraînements électriques, des parafoudres, etc., à l'aide du modèle du système. Une autre déficience de ces outils pour régime stationnaire est qu'ils ne permettent pas d'appliquer, de vérifier et de tester des algorithmes de protection et de surveillance fournis par des systèmes fondés sur microprocesseurs. Le programme de transitoires électromagnétiques EMTP (ElectroMagnetic Transients Program) est utilisé couramment par les ingénieurs électriciens pour étudier le comportement transitoire de réseaux électriques. Toutefois, un problème majeur du programme EMTP Le PQ-SMART™ est un outil de planification pour réseaux d'énergie électrique qui combine des produits logiciels usuels du marché en vue de leur application par des utilisateurs disposants de différents niveaux de connaissances techniques. L'intention à la base du PQ-SMART, l'abréviation de Power Quality Simulation, Monitoring And Relay Testing (Simulation de la qualité de l'énergie électrique, surveillance et essai de relais), résidait la réutilisation de logiciels déjà existants et d'usage très courant dans le Groupe ABB. Cela explique le choix de la plate-forme fondée sur PC, avec la technique à fenêtres et les programmes MATLAB et EMTP. Cet outil est destiné à l'analyse et à la modélisation de problèmes de qualité de l'énergie dans des réseaux électriques.

Stakeholder interaction and value co-creation are critical in creating a sustainable digital health ecosystem. While digital health is widely recognized for its potential to transform healthcare, previous studies tend to neglect the interactions among actors involved in digital health projects and give even less emphasis to how those interactions contribute to value co-creation in sustainable ways. Furthermore, existing research predominantly focuses on developed economies where digital infrastructure, healthcare systems, and technology adoption are more mature. Consequently, the findings from previous studies, while valuable, are not entirely applicable to developing economies where challenges such as limited digital infrastructure, resource constraints, low digital literacy, and fragmented healthcare systems prevail. This research-inprogress paper aims to explore this issue and attempts to propose a noble conceptual research framework on how a sustainable digital health business model is developed through social exchange theory (SET), Service-Dominant (S-D) Logic, and Triple Bottom Line (TBL) theories.

MomConnect was designed to provide crucial health information to mothers during pregnancy and in the early years of child rearing in South Africa. The design drew on the success of the Mobile Alliance for Maternal Action&#39;s programme in South Africa, as well as a growing list of mobile health (mHealth) interventions implemented internationally. Services such as MomConnect are dependent on user acceptability as all engagements are voluntary, meaning that tools have to be easy to use and useful to be successful. This paper describes the evaluation of the tool by pregnant women and new mothers using the tool. A purposive sample of 32 individual semistructured interviews and 7 focus groups were conducted, across five provinces in South Africa. All the sessions were transcribed and then analysed using a contextualised interpretative approach, with the assistance of Atlas.ti. The women were consistently positive about MomConnect, attaching high value to the content of the messages and ...

Mihail Cocosila is a Ph.D. student at Michael G. DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University. He holds an M.S. in engineering, an M.S. in economic sciences with a major in informatics, and a Ph.D. in engineering, all from Romania, as well as a MASc degree from the University of British Columbia, Canada. He has held research and faculty positions and he has been involved in pioneering several Internet applications in Romania. His present research interests include human computer interaction, mobile and wireless services, and applications of wireless technology in healthcare. Coursaris is a Ph.D. candidate in Management Science/Systems, concentrating on electronic business (e-Business) and mobile commerce (m-Commerce). He holds an M.B.A. in e-Business (2001) from McMaster University (Hamilton, Ontario), and a B.Eng. in Aerospace (1998) from Carleton University (Ottawa, Ontario). He has held management positions in information technology, retail, and hospitality. His research interests in the wireless telecommunications industry include an examination of business applications and their respective consumer needs and concerns (e.g. privacy, security, usability). Constantinos was a conference speaker at the McMaster World Congress on the Management of e-Business. His work has also been published in the Quarterly Journal of Electronic Commerce, the Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, and in a book titled "Wireless Networks and Telecommunications".

This study explored how established dyadic social ties-particularly spousal relationships-influence older adults' physical activity. While social support is often viewed as a positive force in promoting health behaviours, long-standing spousal dynamics can exert both enabling and constraining effects. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 22 older adults who participated in a field experiment examining the effects of feedback from fitness trackers and spousal influence, this study delves into the relational, individual, and situational factors shaping physical activity patterns. These factors led to both positive and negative outcomes in terms of step counts, goal attainment, and a diminished interdependence in couples' physical activity. Motivation to be physically active was driven by partner support (including pestering) and observational learning, while demotivation arose from discouraging or unwilling partners. Notably, the findings demonstrate how the coupled identity in older couples can impede behaviour change within dyads. In many cases, entrenched habits, established lifestyles, and dyadic nomos limited the capacity for joint change, particularly when one partner was less motivated or valued autonomy. Several participants described cultivating individual activity spheres that remained largely immune to spousal input, often due to divergent expectations. This suggests that interventions aimed at promoting physical activity amongst older adults may be more effective when tailored to individuals rather than couples. Overall, this study contributes to a more nuanced understanding of later-life health behaviours, highlighting the complexities of spousal influence and the importance of attending to the relational contexts in which physical activity is embedded.

Background In the absence of a vaccine or effective treatment for COVID-19, countries have adopted nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) such as social distancing and full lockdown. An objective and quantitative means of passively monitoring the impact and response of these interventions at a local level is needed. Objective We aim to explore the utility of the recently developed open-source mobile health platform Remote Assessment of Disease and Relapse (RADAR)–base as a toolbox to rapidly test the effect and response to NPIs intended to limit the spread of COVID-19. Methods We analyzed data extracted from smartphone and wearable devices, and managed by the RADAR-base from 1062 participants recruited in Italy, Spain, Denmark, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands. We derived nine features on a daily basis including time spent at home, maximum distance travelled from home, the maximum number of Bluetooth-enabled nearby devices (as a proxy for physical distancing), step count, ave...

Background: Using a mobile health (mHealth) intervention consisting of a smartphone and compatible medical device has the potential to enhance chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) treatment outcomes while mitigating health care costs. Objective: This study aims to describe the demographics, use, and access to smartphones of patients with COPD. It also aims to explore and develop an understanding of potential facilitators and barriers that might influence patients using mHealth interventions for COPD management. This was an explanatory, sequential mixed methods study. Patients who attended respirology clinics completed a questionnaire on technology access and use. We conducted semistructured individual interviews with the patients. Interview topics included the following: demographics, mHealth use, perceptions toward challenges of mHealth adoption, factors facilitating mHealth adoption, and preferences regarding features of mHealth interventions for COPD management. Results: A total of 100 adults completed the survey but 22 participants were excluded because they were not diagnosed with COPD. Of these, 10 patients with COPD participated in the interview. The quantitative component revealed that many patients with COPD owned a mobile phone, but only about one-fourth of the participants (18/77, 23%) owned a smartphone. The likelihood of owning a smartphone was not associated with age, sex, marital status, or geographical location, but patients with high educational status were more likely to own a smartphone. The qualitative component found that patients with COPD, in general, had a positive attitude toward mHealth adoption for COPD management, but several facilitators and barriers were identified. The main facilitators of mHealth adoption are possible health benefits for patients, ease of use, educating patients, and credibility. Alternatively, the barriers to adoption are technical issues, lack of awareness, potential limited uptake from older adults, privacy and confidentiality issues, finances, and lack of interest in mHealth Conclusions: It is important to understand the perceptions of patients with COPD regarding the adoption of innovative mHealth interventions for COPD management. This study identifies some potential facilitators and barriers that may inform the successful development and implementation of mHealth interventions for COPD management.

Background: Using a mobile health (mHealth) intervention consisting of a smartphone and compatible medical device has the potential to enhance chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) treatment outcomes while mitigating health care costs. Objective: This study aims to describe the demographics, use, and access to smartphones of patients with COPD. It also aims to explore and develop an understanding of potential facilitators and barriers that might influence patients using mHealth interventions for COPD management. This was an explanatory, sequential mixed methods study. Patients who attended respirology clinics completed a questionnaire on technology access and use. We conducted semistructured individual interviews with the patients. Interview topics included the following: demographics, mHealth use, perceptions toward challenges of mHealth adoption, factors facilitating mHealth adoption, and preferences regarding features of mHealth interventions for COPD management. Results: A total of 100 adults completed the survey but 22 participants were excluded because they were not diagnosed with COPD. Of these, 10 patients with COPD participated in the interview. The quantitative component revealed that many patients with COPD owned a mobile phone, but only about one-fourth of the participants (18/77, 23%) owned a smartphone. The likelihood of owning a smartphone was not associated with age, sex, marital status, or geographical location, but patients with high educational status were more likely to own a smartphone. The qualitative component found that patients with COPD, in general, had a positive attitude toward mHealth adoption for COPD management, but several facilitators and barriers were identified. The main facilitators of mHealth adoption are possible health benefits for patients, ease of use, educating patients, and credibility. Alternatively, the barriers to adoption are technical issues, lack of awareness, potential limited uptake from older adults, privacy and confidentiality issues, finances, and lack of interest in mHealth Conclusions: It is important to understand the perceptions of patients with COPD regarding the adoption of innovative mHealth interventions for COPD management. This study identifies some potential facilitators and barriers that may inform the successful development and implementation of mHealth interventions for COPD management.

Background: Using a Mobile Health (mHealth) intervention, consisting of a smartphone and compatible medical device, has the potential to enhance Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) treatment outcomes while mitigating health care costs. The purpose of this study is to understand the perceptions of health care providers (HCPs) regarding the use of mHealth in COPD management. Objective: To explore the potential facilitators and barriers among HCPs regarding the use of mHealth interventions for COPD management. Methods: This is a qualitative study. Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with 30 HCPs, including nurses, pharmacists, and physicians who work directly with COPD patients. A flexible prompts guide was used to facilitate discussions. Topics included: demographics, mHealth usage, perceptions towards challenges of mHealth adoption, factors facilitating mHealth adoption, and preferences regarding features of the mHealth intervention for COPD management. Interviews were conversational in nature and items were not asked verbatim or in the order presented. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and compared against the digital recordings to ensure the accuracy of the content. After creating a codebook for analysis, two researchers independently coded the remaining interview data using pattern coding. They discussed commonalities and differences in coding until consensus was reached. Results: A total of 30 nurses, physicians, and pharmacists participated. The main facilitators to mHealth adoption are possible health benefits for patients, ease of use, educating patients and their HCPs, credibility, and reducing the cost to the healthcare system. Alternatively, the barriers adoption are technical issues, privacy and confidentiality issues, lack of awareness, potential limited uptake from the elderly, potential limited connection between patients and HCPs, and finances. Conclusions: It is important to understand the perceptions of HCPs regarding adoption of innovative mHealth interventions for COPD management. This study identifies some potential facilitators and barriers that may inform the successful development and implementation of mHealth interventions for COPD management.

The rapid rise of mobile healthcare applications is transforming patient care, providing tools for remote consultation, diagnosis and health monitoring. However, these advancements often fail to accommodate the needs of technology-shy users, a demographic that includes older adults and individuals with limited digital literacy. This paper highlights the barriers faced by technology-shy patients and presents strategies to enhance inclusivity in healthcare applications. By simplifying user interfaces, offering personalized onboarding and incorporating accessibility features, we can bridge the technological divide and foster an inclusive healthcare environment.

BACKGROUND Several tools have been developed for health care professionals to monitor the physical activity of their patients, but most of these tools have been considering only the needs of users in North American and European countries and applicable for only specific analytic tasks. To our knowledge, no research study has utilized the participatory design (PD) approach in the Middle East region to develop such tools, involving all the stakeholders in the product development phases, and no clear use cases have been derived from such studies that could serve future development in the field. OBJECTIVE This study aims to develop an interactive visualization tool (ActiVis) to support local health care professionals in monitoring the physical activity of their patients measured through wearable sensors, with the overall objective of improving the health of the Qatari population. METHODS We used PD and user-centered design methodologies to develop ActiVis, including persona development,...

Background: Technological advancements have facilitated disease management. These technologies can be used to educate multiple sclerosis (MS) patients at any time and place and improve the health of patients. Objectives: The present study aimed to investigate the effect of mobile health training on the fatigue levels of MS patients in Zahedan. Methods: This quasi-experimental study involved 80 MS patients who joined the Zahedan Multiple Sclerosis Association in 2023. Patients were selected through convenience sampling and then randomly assigned to either the intervention or control group. Patients in the intervention group received mobile health education on fatigue reduction strategies using a website (www.Betterlifems.ir) created by the researcher, in addition to the standard education. The control group received only the standard education. In both groups, data were collected through a demographic information questionnaire and the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) at the beginning and two months after the intervention, using the interview method. The SPSS software (version 26) was used to analyze the collected data via paired t-test, independent t-test, chi-square test, and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) at a significance level set at less than 0.05 (P < 0.05). Results: In the control group, the average fatigue score increased from 43.72 ± 9.04 to 44.07 ± 9.13, which did not demonstrate a significant increase (P = 0.69). Conversely, in the intervention group, the average fatigue score significantly decreased from 43.47 ± 8.15 to 30.10 ± 8.28 (P = 0.001). The ANCOVA results, which accounted for significant pretest score effects, revealed a significant difference in mean fatigue scores between the two groups after the intervention (P = 0.0001). Conclusions: This study confirms that mobile health training has a significantly positive effect on the fatigue experienced by patients with MS. Therefore, mobile health can be utilized to teach self-care strategies to manage and alleviate fatigue in MS patients.

The Continuous-Time Hidden Markov Model (CT-HMM) is an attractive approach to modeling disease progression due to its ability to describe noisy observations arriving irregularly in time. However, the lack of an efficient parameter learning algorithm for CT-HMM restricts its use to very small models or requires unrealistic constraints on the state transitions. In this paper, we present the first complete characterization of efficient EM-based learning methods for CT-HMM models, as well as the first solution to decoding the optimal state transition sequence and the corresponding state dwelling time. We show that EMbased learning consists of two challenges: the estimation of posterior state probabilities and the computation of end-state conditioned statistics. We solve the first challenge by reformulating the estimation problem as an equivalent discrete time-inhomogeneous hidden Markov model. The second challenge is addressed by adapting three distinct approaches from the continuous time Markov chain (CTMC) literature to the CT-HMM domain. Additionally, we further improve the efficiency of the most efficient method by a factor of the number of states. Then, for decoding, we incorporate a state-of-the-art method from the (CTMC) literature, and extend the end-state conditioned optimal state sequence decoding to the CT-HMM case with the computation of the expected state dwelling time. We demonstrate the use of CT-HMMs with more than 100 states to visualize and predict disease progression using a glaucoma dataset and an Alzheimer's disease dataset, and to decode and visualize the most probable state transition trajectory for individuals on the glaucoma dataset, which helps to identify progressing phenotypes in a comprehensive way. Finally, we apply the CT-HMM modeling and decoding strategy to investigate the progression of language acquisition and development.

Mobile health (mHealth) tools such as smartphone applications (apps) have potential to support sleep self-management. The objective of this review was to identify the status of available consumer mHealth apps targeted toward supporting sleep self-management and assess their functionalities. We searched four mobile app stores (iTunes Appstore, Android Google Play, Amazon Appstore, and Microsoft Appstore) using the terms &quot;sleep&quot;, &quot;sleep management,&quot; &quot;sleep monitoring,&quot; and &quot;sleep tracking.&quot; Apps were evaluated using the Mobile Application Rating Scale (MARS) and the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics functionality scores. We identified 2,431 potentially relevant apps, of which 73 met inclusion criteria. Most apps were excluded because they were unrelated to sleep self-management, simply provided alarm service, or solely played relaxation sounds in an attempt to improve sleep. The median overall MARS score was 3.1 out of 5, and more than ha...

Resumen. Objetivos: El objetivo del trabajo es la descripción de las herramientas y algoritmos utilizados para la construcción de un prototipo mobile, con la capacidad de realizar un reconocimiento óptico de caracteres (OCR) de la imagen del empaque del medicamento obtenida mediante el uso de la cámara del dispositivo o su código de barras y obtener información farmacéutica. Metodología: Implementación de un prototipo para la plataforma IOS utilizando el lenguaje de programación Objective C y C. Resultados: Se implementó un prototipo capaz de reconocer texto en una imagen que incluye algoritmos de procesamiento de imágenes, algoritmos de procesamiento de texto y el estudio de técnicas algorítmicas para la manipulación y búsqueda de información en la base de datos. Discusión: Las técnicas utilizadas debieron contemplar aquellas limitaciones propias de la plataforma: tiempo de procesamiento y capacidad de almacenamiento. Se decidió trabajar con aquellos algoritmos y estructuras que presentaron el mejor rendimiento en ambos aspectos, en relación con los resultados obtenidos.

Background: Quality of life (QoL) is affected even at early stages in older adults with cognitive impairment. The use of mobile health (mHealth) technology can offer support in daily life and improve the physical and mental health of older adults. However, a clarification of how mHealth technology can be used to support the QoL of older adults with cognitive impairment is needed. Objective: To investigate factors affecting mHealth technology use in relation to self-rated QoL among older adults with cognitive impairment. Methods: A cross-sectional research design was used to analyse mHealth technology use and QoL in 1,082 older participants. Baseline data were used from a multi-centered randomized controlled trial including QoL, measured by the Quality of Life in Alzheimer's Disease (QoL-AD) Scale, as the outcome variable. Data were analyzed using logistic regression models. Results: Having moderately or high technical skills in using mHealth technology and using the internet via mHealth technology on a daily or weekly basis was associated with good to excellent QoL in older adults with cognitive impairment. Conclusions: The variation in technical skills and internet use among the participants can be interpreted as an obstacle for mHealth technology to support QoL.

Background: Quality of life (QoL) is affected even at early stages in older adults with cognitive impairment. The use of mobile health (mHealth) technology can offer support in daily life and improve the physical and mental health of older adults. However, a clarification of how mHealth technology can be used to support the QoL of older adults with cognitive impairment is needed. Objective: To investigate factors affecting mHealth technology use in relation to self-rated QoL among older adults with cognitive impairment. Methods: A cross-sectional research design was used to analyse mHealth technology use and QoL in 1,082 older participants. Baseline data were used from a multi-centered randomized controlled trial including QoL, measured by the Quality of Life in Alzheimer’s Disease (QoL-AD) Scale, as the outcome variable. Data were analyzed using logistic regression models. Results: Having moderately or high technical skills in using mHealth technology and using the internet via mHe...

The K4D Emerging Issues report series highlights research and emerging evidence to policy-makers to help inform policies that are more resilient to the future. K4D staff researchers work with thematic experts and DFID to identify where new or emerging research can inform and influence policy. This report is based on twelve days of desk-based research. K4D services are provided by a consortium of leading organisations working in international development, led by the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), with Education Development Trust,

BACKGROUND Pregnant adolescents are an especially vulnerable population at increased risk of adverse pregnancy and postpartum outcomes. With increasing access to technology, many adolescents are turning to social media and other internet sources to address their pregnancy-related concerns. OBJECTIVE By critically appraising relevant quantitative and qualitative studies, our objectives were to (1) understand the influence and utility of Web-based tools used by pregnant adolescents or adolescent mothers on maternal and infant outcomes, and (2) determine if the use of such Web-based tools contributed to improved maternal or infant outcomes compared to conventional approaches. METHODS We systematically searched PubMed, Scopus, CINAHL and PsycINFO from January 2008 to November 2020 for relevant articles written in English, Chinese, Malay or French. Two authors independently reviewed abstracts and full-text articles for inclusion and assessed study quality. Study quality was assessed usin...

BACKGROUND The increasing integration of digital health tools into care may result in a greater flow of personal health information (PHI) between patients and providers. Although privacy legislation governs how entities may collect, use, or share PHI, such legislation has not kept pace with digital health innovations, resulting in a lack of guidance on implementing meaningful consent. Understanding patient perspectives when implementing meaningful consent is critical to ensure that it meets their needs. Consent for research in the context of digital health is limited. OBJECTIVE This state-of-the-art review aimed to understand the current state of research as it relates to patient perspectives on digital health consent. Its objectives were to explore what is known about the patient perspective and experience with digital health consent and provide recommendations on designing and implementing digital health consent based on the findings. METHODS A structured literature search was dev...

Background: Due to pandemic COVID-19, intergrated health services post (Posyandu) was disrupted affecting child growth monitoring. A minimum monitoring approach for the health of children is required. The objective of this study was to design a growth and development children&#39;s monitoring application.  Methods: We applied research and development methods to define and design the app. The Focus Group Discussion (FGD) was conducted to identify user need, including storyboards, content, features, flow, and performance of android application. We also collaborate with technology information expertise to design an app. The research was carried out in Yogyakarta from May to June 2021.Results: The result showed that users needed a comprehensive app based on Android with a minimum data storage space including growth and child development monitoring, considering storyboard design, menu interface, nutritional and developmental children&#39;s milestones, interpretation, and recommendation. ...

This paper analyzes Instagram's content recommendation system to understand how algorithms generate knowledge about social experiences. The findings suggest that Instagram uses its digital interface to analyze and classify relational patterns based on a user's information consumption history on the platform. We argue that the influence of PDIs extends beyond the scope of traditional design research. PDIs function as epistemological agents and methodological devices that co-produce social phenomena and insights into social structures. As a contribution, we introduce the concepts of Algorithmic Interfaces and Methodological Affordances to explore the interplay between digital interfaces, communication, and society.

Tuberculosis (TB) is a chronic disease that requires long-term treatment, generally for at least 6 to 9 months. Patients should follow the recommended treatment scheme regularly and completely. Poor adherence to treatment can cause patients to remain a source of infection for others. Patients with TB need additional support during treatment, in terms of information, motivation, and emotional support. Compliance monitoring helps ensure that patients take drugs according to a predetermined schedule. Comprehensive approach review method, careful selection of relevant data from various sources. This aims to provide overview of modern technology used to optimize the success of TB treatment. This paper aims to provide various methods that have existed in conventional and technology-enhanced approaches to monitoring and evaluating the treatment of TB patients. The existing studies only focus on making tools as a reminder to take medication but do not evaluate whether the drug is consumed. In addition, this paper describes prospective ideas involving advanced technology by using the internet of things (IoT)-based smart medicine bottle to accommodate the problem and become an effective communication solution in TB medication.

Diagnosis of congenital Chagas disease occurs at 9 months of age, making effective treatment challenging due to loss to follow-up. Mobile health (mHealth) has been utilized to improve communication and treatment adherence in many chronic diseases, although no studies of mHealth in Trypanosoma cruzi-infected individuals have been conducted. Text message interventions, a subset of mHealth, has shown to improve appointment attendance and is relatively simple to set up, thus making it an ideal mechanism to facilitate communication with individuals in low-resource settings. The aim of this study is to understand the acceptability, utilization, and barriers of an SMS-based appointment reminder to confirm a post-partum home visit to women in Tucumán, Argentina and whether these factors differ in urban and rural populations. Women that tested positive for Chagas disease were invited to receive SMS reminders of their follow-up 4-week postpartum home visit. Demographic information and SMS con...

Oyunlaştırma, başka bir ifadeyle oyun tasarım unsurlarının oyun dışı bağlamlarda kullanımı, son dönemde birçok alanda olduğu gibi eğitim alanında da sıklıkla adından bahsettirmektedir. Ancak eğitimde, öğrenen katılımını, motivasyonunu ve sürdürülebilir öğrenmeyi geliştirmek için kullanılan oyunlaştırmanın tasarımlanmasında, oyuncu türleri ve oyunlaştırma tasarım çerçeveleri üzerinde de önemle durulması gerekir. Bu bakış açısıyla bu çalışmanın amacı, oyunlaştırma, oyuncu türleri ve oyunlaştırma tasarım çerçevelerini ele alarak ilgili alanyazında var olan dağıtık bilgi ve bulguları bir araya getirmektir. Bu çalışmanın, bu alanda çalışma yapmak isteyen araştırmacılara, öğrenenlere ve sistemlerin oyunlaştırılmasına karar verilmesinde tasarımcılara ve eğitmenlere bir öngörü kazandırması beklenmektedir.

Background Improving treatment success rates among multi drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) patients is critical to reducing its incidence and mortality, but adherence poses an important challenge. Video-based direct observed therapy (vDOT) may provide adherence benefits, while addressing the time and cost burden associated with community treatment supporter (CTS)-DOT. This study explored experiences of patients, family members and healthcare workers with different DOT modalities for adherence support in Eswatini. Between April 2021 and May 2022, thirteen men and five women with MDR-TB, ten healthcare workers, and nine caregivers were purposively sampled to include a range of characteristics and experiences with DOT modalities. Data were generated through individual in-depth interviews and a smartphone messaging application (WhatsApp). Data coding was undertaken iteratively, and thematic analysis undertaken, supported by Nvivo. Four themes emerged that reflected participants' experiences with different DOT modalities, including stigma, efficiency, perceived risks of TB acquisition, and patient autonomy. vDOT was appreciated by patients for providing them with privacy and shielding them from stigmatisation associated with being seen in TB clinics or with community treatment supporters. vDOT was also seen as more efficient than CTS-DOT. Health workers acknowledged that it saved time, allowing them to attend to more patients, while many patients found vDOT more convenient and less expensive by removing the need to travel for in-person consultations. Health workers also appreciated vDOT because it reduced risks of TB acquisition by minimising exposure through virtual patient monitoring. Although many patients appreciated greater autonomy in managing their illness through vDOT, others preferred human contact or struggled with making video recordings. Most family members appreciated vDOT, although some resented feeling removed from the process of supporting loved ones.

The challenge of quality and equitable health services provisioning in Africa is daunting. Advances in e-health technologies hold great potential to revolutionalize health systems in Africa. This paper examines the African health systems challenges and the potential in e-health technologies in enabling the attainment of the African health Millennium Development Goals. An e-health research, innovation and partnership strategy is proposed towards this end. Some implications are posited and conclusion drawn.

Resumen. Objetivos: El objetivo del trabajo es la descripción de las herramientas y algoritmos utilizados para la construcción de un prototipo mobile, con la capacidad de realizar un reconocimiento óptico de caracteres (OCR) de la imagen del empaque del medicamento obtenida mediante el uso de la cámara del dispositivo o su código de barras y obtener información farmacéutica. Metodología: Implementación de un prototipo para la plataforma IOS utilizando el lenguaje de programación Objective C y C. Resultados: Se implementó un prototipo capaz de reconocer texto en una imagen que incluye algoritmos de procesamiento de imágenes, algoritmos de procesamiento de texto y el estudio de técnicas algorítmicas para la manipulación y búsqueda de información en la base de datos. Discusión: Las técnicas utilizadas debieron contemplar aquellas limitaciones propias de la plataforma: tiempo de procesamiento y capacidad de almacenamiento. Se decidió trabajar con aquellos algoritmos y estructuras que presentaron el mejor rendimiento en ambos aspectos, en relación con los resultados obtenidos.

Low adherence rates to tuberculosis (TB) treatment are one of the major barriers to improving TB cure rates. Developing regions such as sub-Saharan Africa are adversely affected for a number of reasons, such as low patient follow-up, limited medical, and treatment resources. The use of mobile graphic-based reminders potentially offers a cost-effective, easy to use and time efficient strategy to increase adherence in order to improve cure rates among patients with TB. This paper shows the results of a study in Zanzibar, Tanzania, which investigated the effectiveness of graphic-based reminders in supporting TB patients with low literacy levels to adhere to treatment. Participants were randomly selected from a group of TB patients and assigned into three groups: control (no reminder) group, graphic-based reminder group and speech-based reminder group. A total of 29 participants were analysed. The treatment adherence rates of the control group, speech-based group and graphic-based group...

The integration of mobile and wearable sensors into healthcare enterprise operations represents a transformative shift toward data-driven, proactive care delivery. This empirical investigation evaluates the clinical, operational, and technological implications of deploying sensor technologies across three large U.S. healthcare systems, encompassing 1,532 patients with chronic conditions. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, the study combined continuous physiological data from medical-grade and consumer devices-including the Apple Watch Series 7, Dexcom G6 CGM, and Zio XT patch-with electronic health records (EHRs) and qualitative insights from 300 clinician and patient interviews. Results demonstrated a 23.7% reduction in 30-day hospital readmissions (p < 0.001), a 41.2% decrease in diabetes-related emergency visits (p = 0.002), and a median 6.2-day acceleration in arrhythmia detection compared to standard care. Machine learning models achieved an AUC-ROC of 0.91 for hypoglycemia prediction, enabling median 6.4-hour early warnings. Operational efficiencies included a 76.6% reduction in time-to-intervention (p < 0.001) and 19.4% fewer redundant diagnostic tests (p = 0.003). However, challenges emerged in interoperability, with 21.6% of sensor alerts deemed non-actionable, and disparities in adoption, as uninsured patients showed 23.4% lower adherence (p = 0.02). Qualitative findings revealed clinician alert fatigue (67%) and patient privacy concerns (34%), underscoring the need for adaptive workflows and equitable implementation strategies. The study validates the potential of sensor-EHR integration to enhance value-based care but highlights critical barriers in data governance, cybersecurity, and health equity. As healthcare enterprises navigate digital transformation, these findings advocate for tiered sensor ecosystems, standardized interoperability protocols, and AI-driven prioritization frameworks to balance clinical utility with operational sustainability.

Mobile health (mHealth) technologies provide many potential benefits to the delivery of health care. Medical decision support tools have shown particular promise in improving quality of care and provider workflow. Frontline health workers such as Community Health Workers (CHWs) have been shown to be effective in extending the reach of care, yet only a few medicine dosing tools are available to them. We developed an mHealth medicine dosing tool tailored to the skill level of CHWs to assist in the delivery of care. The mHealth tool was created for CHWs with primary school education working in rural Mexico and Guatemala. Perceptions and impressions of this tool were collected and compared to an existing paper-based medicine dosing tool. Seventeen Partners In Health CHWs in rural Mexico and Guatemala completed a one-day training in the mHealth medicine dosing tool. Following the training, a prescription dosing test was administered, and CHWs were given the choice to use the mHealth or p...

Even though the effects of mobile phone and internet usage on the health and wellbeing of a population are becoming apparent, few studies have uncovered the nature of this relationship to the equitable provision of healthcare. The contribution is in discovering the relationships between mobility effects and human development where inequities in income play an important role, the relationships to socioeconomic development and in showing how the mobility effect can assist in addressing health inequities.

Access to the internet, often via mobile devices, provides individuals with the ability to access the resources and economic opportunities required to live the lives they choose. Using data drawn from the World Health Organization, United Nations Development Program, and World Bank, two levels of analysis are conducted to answer the research questions: "What is the relationship between social determinants of health and human digital development?" and, "What is the relationship between health equity and mHealth?". First, multiple regression was utilized to test two hypotheses, and second, a k-means cluster analysis was carried out categorize the countries based on these variables. Our results suggest that there is correlation between social determinants of health and human digital development; except in the case of the homelessness variable. Of the health equity variables, only the GINI index correlates with the mobile health index. A four-cluster solution in the cluster analysis illustrates that the majority of countries demonstrate low mHealth, Human Digital Development, GINI and high Education Inequality and Life Expectancy inequality. These findings have implications for how human digital development and mobile health can address social determinants of health. Future research will need to delve deeper into these connections.

Web based shopping is a moderately innovative type of retail trade. In the current era it is the most flourishing type of business throughout Pakistan. In Pakistan, electronic shopping is still not also acknowledged as famous as in many nations, and however the information of internet shopping in Pakistan is presently starting to increment quickly, the variables impacting web based shopping conduct of Pakistani buyers have not been researched. This examination expects to decide the variables influencing understudies purchasing conduct on the web. There is a need to understand if there is a relationship between independent factors like Low Price, Variety, Time Consciousness, Customer Service, Convenience, Promotion, perceived ease of use, Comparison, Trust, Attitude and availability with independent phenomena such as Purchase Intention Online. Descriptive research and a questionnaire are outlined as the information gathering technique and are utilized in the survey on work led at fifteen restaurants, 5 colleges and 5 shopping malls all over Pakistan in June and July, 2020 covering 300 sample respondents. To describe the respondents of the study Frequency measures are used. The other measures which are used to determine the relationship between above mentioned factors and online shopping intentions are; correlation and multiple regression analysis. The analysis of the statistics is performed using SPSS 20 software. The factors influencing purchase intention online are variety, convenience, time saving, and reasonable price, perceived ease of use, shoppers' Trust, customer service, promotions, and attitude. The findings suggests that all of the influencing factors such as; Price, Variety, Time Consciousness, Customer Service, Convenience, Promotion, perceived ease of use, Comparison, Trust, Attitude and availability have positive relation with students' intention to purchase through internet.

While there are many causes of health disparities, the application of Artificial Intelligence tools in healthcare may have mixed results. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of human freedoms and accountability to achieving digital inclusion. It discovers the role of algorithmic bias in mediating the relationship between human freedom and mobile health. The following research questions are investigated: 1) How do human freedoms effect digital inclusion and mobile health? 2) Do human freedoms effect mobile health? And 3) Does AI accountability mediate the relationship between human freedoms and mobile health? The findings suggest that human freedoms are central to digital inclusion and mobile health. Accountability does affect the extent to which digital inclusion can be achieved through human freedoms. AI accountability significantly mediates the relationship between human freedoms and the mobile index. This offers an important contribution in uncovering the role of algorithmic bias in human freedom and mobile health, and of accountability between human freedom and digital inclusion.

Digital innovations affect people's ability to stay healthy in underserved communities as resources are difficult to access. Artificial Intelligence (AI) can support access to socioeconomic resources in mobile health applications. This paper investigates: How can generative AI enable access to socioeconomic resources? Following a theoretical background this paper employs design science research to offer an improvement or new solution to known problems using generative artificial intelligence to support people in underserved communities looking for resources. The contribution of this paper lies in design science research that creates a "build-and-evaluate loop," in which a problem is determined, a solution is designed, the solution is evaluated, and the solution is applied after training the model. The contribution of this paper is in offering a level 1 situated implementation of the artifact based on instantiations on the mhealthhelp.com application, which leads to the level 2 nascent design of the AI architecture.

Data harvested from almost every aspect of people's lives have made them vulnerable to surveillance capitalism and the algorithmic bias. This paper investigates the role of digital rights and freedoms in the context of digital inclusion. The research questions being investigated are 1) How are human freedoms affected by digital inclusion? 2) Do human freedoms effect accountability and mobile health? And 3) Do human freedoms effect accountability and digital inclusion? This paper considers factors relating to human freedoms such as education/literacy, health, location Healthcare Access; Reproductive, Maternal and Child Health; Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Health Inequality. Multidimensional Poverty Index and the HDI can be seen to be mediating human freedoms against a digital inclusion index. The analysis found that digital inclusion has a significant impact on human freedoms and accountability plays a mediating role between the two variables as well as mediating the relation between human freedoms and mobile health.

Gait and balance disorders are among the main predisposing factors of falls in elderly. Clinical scales are widely employed to assess the risk of falling, but they require trained personnel. We investigate the use of objective measures obtained from a wearable accelerometer to evaluate the fall risk, determined by the Tinetti clinical scale. Seventy-nine patients and eleven volunteers were enrolled in two rehabilitation centers and underwent a full Tinetti test, while wearing a triaxial accelerometer at the chest. Tinetti scores were assessed by expert physicians and those subjects with a score ≤18 were considered at high risk. First, we analyzed 21 accelerometer features by means of statistical tests and correlation analysis. Second, one regression and one classification problem were designed and solved using a linear model (LM) and an artificial neural network (ANN) to predict the Tinetti outcome. Pearson's correlation between the Tinetti score and a subset of 9 features (mainly related with standing and walking) was 0.71. The misclassification error of high risk patient was 0.21 and 0.11, for LM and ANN, respectively. The work might foster the development of a new generation of applications meant to monitor the time evolution of the fall risk using low cost devices at home.

IntroductionImproving healthcare for all is one of the global health priorities, particularly in disease burdened settings such as sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Considering the high penetration rate of mobile phones in SSA, mobile health (mHealth) could be used to achieve universal health coverage. The proposed study will map evidence on the availability and use of mHealth for disease diagnosis and treatment support by health workers in SSA.Methods and analysisThis review will be guided by Arksey and O&#39;Malley’s scoping review framework and Levac et al’s recommendations and guidelines from the Joanna Briggs Institute. A scoping review will be conducted to explore what is known about mHealth for disease diagnosis and treatment support by health workers in SSA and to identify areas for future research. In addition to searching the grey literature, the following databases will be explored from PubMed, MEDLINE and CINAHL with full text via EBSCOhost and ScienceDirect databases. A search ...

Les chiffres désaisonnalisés sont la source d'information la plus utilisée par les utilisateurs de statistiques officielles, plus particulièrement par les analystes et les chercheurs. Eurostat fournit des séries économiques désaisonnalisées relatives à l'Union Européenne et à la Zone Euro. Comme il est difficile de faire converger les politiques en matière de désaisonnalisation des États membres et d'Eurostat, il est nécessaire de fournir aux utilisateurs des métadonnées sur le processus de désaisonnalisation. Eurostat a récemment commencé de présenter des rapports internes sur la qualité du processus de désaisonnalisation. Cette communication met en évidence la structure et les mesures de la qualité sélectionnées. Quatre types de mesure de la qualité peuvent être envisagées : a) les mesures de la qualité utilisée à des fins de recherche et d'évaluation comme, par exemple, pour les comparaisons de logiciels; b) les mesures de la qualité pour les praticiens de la désaisonnalisation qui ont besoin d'ensembles d'indicateurs pour ajuster leur désaisonnalisation et décider comment elle devrait être établie pour une série individuelle; c) les mesures de la qualité pour la vérification du processus de désaisonnalisation et la production, les lignes directrices etc.; d) les mesures de la qualité pour les utilisateurs finaux qui étudient les données publiées et ne s'intéressent pas aux diagnostics.

Despite unprecedented spending, US maternal outcomes have worsened drastically over the past decade. In comparison, maternal outcomes of many Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMIC) have improved. Lessons learnt by their success may be applicable to the US. We performed a literature review to identify innovations that had met with success across LMIC, and should be considered for adoption in the US. mHealth and patient facing alerts, Telehealth, patient controlled health records, inclusion of patient relationship data in health information systems and positioning empowered community health workers as catalysts of maternal care delivery were identified as innovations worthy of further evaluation. These innovations were categorized into several themes; knowledge, technology, patient/community empowerment, coordination and process change. Tools that place informed and empowered patients and community members at the center of maternal care has greatly improved maternal outcomes, and are ...

Dans ce travail de thèse, nous nous intéressons à la qualité des informations récoltées par des capteurs sur le web. Ces données forment des séries de données temporelles qui sont incomplètes et imprécises, et sont sur des échelles quantitatives peu comparables. Dans ce contexte, nous nous intéressons plus particulièrement à la variabilité et la stabilité de ces séries temporelles. Nous proposons deux approches pour les quantifier. La première se base sur une représentation à l&#39;aide des quantiles, la seconde est une approche floue. A l&#39;aide de ces indicateurs, nous proposons un outil de visualisation interactive dédié à l&#39;analyse de la qualité des récoltes effectuées par les capteurs. Ce travail s&#39;inscrit dans une collaboration CIFRE avec la société Kantar.This thesis focuses on the quality of the information collected by sensors on the web. These data form time series that are incomplete, imprecise, and are on quantitative scales that are not very comparable. In thi...