Journal of medical Internet research
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J. Med. Internet Res. · Jul 2014
The role of Facebook in Crush the Crave, a mobile- and social media-based smoking cessation intervention: qualitative framework analysis of posts.
Social networking sites, particularly Facebook, are increasingly included in contemporary smoking cessation interventions directed toward young adults. Little is known about the role of Facebook in smoking cessation interventions directed toward this age demographic. ⋯ The CTC Facebook page presents as a unique platform for supporting young adult smoking cessation at all stages of the cessation process. The findings of this study indicate that social networking sites, especially Facebook, warrant inclusion in tobacco control efforts directed towards young adults. Research on effectiveness of the Facebook page for quitting smoking is needed.
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J. Med. Internet Res. · Jul 2014
Randomized Controlled TrialLong-term results of a web-based guided self-help intervention for employees with depressive symptoms: randomized controlled trial.
Depressive disorders are highly prevalent in the working population and are associated with excessive costs. The evidence for effective worker-directed interventions for employees with depressive symptoms is limited. Treating employees with depressive symptoms via the Internet before they report sick from work could be beneficial and cost saving. ⋯ This study showed that a worker-directed, Web-based, guided self-help intervention was not more effective than CAU in reducing depressive symptoms among employees with depressive symptoms who were not on sick leave over the period of 1 year. An intervention for this specific target group might not be necessary because the recovery in the CAU group was comparable to the intervention group and sustained over a 12-month period.
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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.