Journal of medical Internet research
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J. Med. Internet Res. · Jun 2014
Randomized Controlled TrialClick "like" to change your behavior: a mixed methods study of college students' exposure to and engagement with Facebook content designed for weight loss.
Overweight or obesity is prevalent among college students and many gain weight during this time. Traditional face-to-face weight loss interventions have not worked well in this population. Facebook is an attractive tool for delivering weight loss interventions for college students because of its popularity, potential to deliver strategies found in successful weight loss interventions, and ability to support ongoing adaptation of intervention content. ⋯ Facebook can be used to remotely deliver weight loss intervention content to college students with the help of a health coach who can iteratively tailor content and interact with participants. However, visible engagement with the study's Facebook page was highly variable and declined over time. Whether the level of observed engagement is meaningful in terms of influencing changes in weight behaviors and outcomes will be evaluated at the completion of the overall study.
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J. Med. Internet Res. · Jun 2014
Exploring design requirements for repurposing dental virtual patients from the web to second life: a focus group study.
Since their inception, virtual patients have provided health care educators with a way to engage learners in an experience simulating the clinician's environment without danger to learners and patients. This has led this learning modality to be accepted as an essential component of medical education. With the advent of the visually and audio-rich 3-dimensional multi-user virtual environment (MUVE), a new deployment platform has emerged for educational content. Immersive, highly interactive, multimedia-rich, MUVEs that seamlessly foster collaboration provide a new hotbed for the deployment of medical education content. ⋯ For a successful systematic repurposing effort of virtual patients to MUVEs such as Second Life, the best practices of experiential and immersive game design should be organically incorporated in the repurposing workflow (automated or not). These findings are pivotal in an era in which open educational content is transferred to and shared among users, learners, and educators of various open repositories/environments.
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J. Med. Internet Res. · Jun 2014
Assessment of the cost-effectiveness and clinical outcomes of a fourth-generation synchronous telehealth program for the management of chronic cardiovascular disease.
Telehealth programs are a growing field in the care of patients. The evolution of information technology has resulted in telehealth becoming a fourth-generation synchronous program. However, long-term outcomes and cost-effectiveness analysis of fourth-generation telehealth programs have not been reported in patients with chronic cardiovascular diseases. ⋯ Better cost-effectiveness and clinical outcomes were noted with the use of a fourth-generation synchronous telehealth program in patients with chronic cardiovascular diseases. The intervention costs of this new generation of telehealth program do not increase the total costs for patient care.
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J. Med. Internet Res. · Jun 2014
Randomized Controlled TrialFeasibility and effectiveness of a web-based positive psychology program for youth mental health: randomized controlled trial.
Youth mental health is a significant public health concern due to the high prevalence of mental health problems in this population and the low rate of those affected seeking help. While it is increasingly recognized that prevention is better than cure, most youth prevention programs have utilized interventions based on clinical treatments (eg, cognitive behavioral therapy) with inconsistent results. ⋯ Results suggest that using an online positive psychology program can decrease symptoms of psychopathology and increase well-being in young people, especially for those who use the website for 30 minutes or longer per week or more frequently (≥3 times per week). Acceptability of the Bite Back website was high. These findings are encouraging and suggest that the online delivery of positive psychology programs may be an alternate way to address mental health issues and improve youth well-being nationally.