Hybrid journal (It can contain Open Access articles) ISSN (Print) 2052-8434 - ISSN (Online) 2052-8442 Published by Inderscience Publishers[450 journals]
Authors:Boby John, Pooja Mansharamani Pages: 179 - 191 Abstract: Lower socio-economic groups of populations are sadly over represented with respect to diabetes and obesity. Moreover, current attempts to stem such increases have not proved to be successful which leads to the onset of a further set of co-morbidities, poor health and often early death. This paper proffers the potential of serious games that invoke social influence dynamics and are developed around culturally and socially relevant contexts as a way to address this growing problem. This paper begins with a brief review of how serious games can be used as an effective learning and communication medium as well as outlining the benefits of social influence before applying the constructs to an urban health (Chicago) context. The paper demonstrates how, in this context, games can be used as a pedagogical tool to foster superior learning and understanding. Playing games or using other simulation-oriented applications can offer a visual portrayal of situations, from which this population can garner understanding and applicability to clinical constructs and knowledge. Keywords: diabetes; obesity; serious games; health inequality; urban health; gaming Citation: International Journal of Telemedicine and Clinical Practices, Vol. 3, No. 3 (2020) pp. 179 - 191 PubDate: 2020-02-05T23:20:50-05:00 DOI: 10.1504/IJTMCP.2020.104892 Issue No:Vol. 3, No. 3 (2020)
Authors:Kristina Eriksson-Backa, Hai Nguyen Pages: 192 - 208 Abstract: The paper presents results from a survey of users of an online diabetes risk test. We studied relationships between information-seeking styles and everyday health information literacy, as well as anticipated behaviours in case of risk for type 2 diabetes for 184 respondents who had taken the risk test prior to responding to the survey. We assessed active, moderate and passive health information-seeking styles, as well as low, basic and high everyday health information literacy and tested them against health-promoting information-related activities and health behaviour. Significant relationships occurred between information-seeking styles and four activities: 'check further information', 'make an appointment', 'increase the amount of physical activities' and 'do nothing'. Education level was significantly related to two health-promoting behaviours, whereas level of everyday health information literacy was related to only one. Despite limitations, the results of this exploratory study open up for further research about the role of information-seeking styles and health-promoting behaviour. Keywords: diabetes risk test; e-health services; Finland; health information literacy; health-promoting behaviour; information-seeking styles; online self-assessments Citation: International Journal of Telemedicine and Clinical Practices, Vol. 3, No. 3 (2020) pp. 192 - 208 PubDate: 2020-02-05T23:20:50-05:00 DOI: 10.1504/IJTMCP.2020.104893 Issue No:Vol. 3, No. 3 (2020)
Authors:Kristina Eriksson-Backa, Hai Nguyen Pages: 209 - 222 Abstract: Safety and security is a multi-faced phenomenon that is an essential part of students' and staff's well-being at school, which is well documented as the main issue in a good learning environment. However, very little is known about incidents that happen at schools, but a catalogue of these incidents could serve as a learning tool for proactive management of the safety culture. Incidents occur in relation to physical, social, psychological and pedagogical factors. To develop a safety culture, there is need to record, monitor and analyse incidents (near-misses, accidents and injuries). There are no systematic procedures in regular use that would allow schools as organisations to learn from incidents and implement alterations to develop their safety culture. In the study of 168 incidents from three comprehensive schools in Finland, data were collected and monitored in a digital system. The incidents were categorised into physical, social, psychological and pedagogical categories. This paper gives prior knowledge of incidents in pedagogical category regarding what happened, where and to whom. Keywords: incident analysis; near-miss case; injury; accident; safety management; school safety; proactive learning; safety culture; learning environment; Finland Citation: International Journal of Telemedicine and Clinical Practices, Vol. 3, No. 3 (2020) pp. 209 - 222 PubDate: 2020-02-05T23:20:50-05:00 DOI: 10.1504/IJTMCP.2020.104895 Issue No:Vol. 3, No. 3 (2020)
Authors:Marina Weck, Nina Helander, Tarja Meristö Pages: 223 - 242 Abstract: The ageing of society is a worldwide phenomenon, particularly in industrialised countries, like Finland. To tackle the challenges of swiftly rising healthcare and social welfare costs and a new type of demand for related services, digital assistive technology solutions have emerged in recent years. Through qualitative semi-structured interviews conducted in South Finland, this empirically driven study contributes to the understanding of the attitudes of ageing people toward digital assistive technology that maintains their activities of daily living. Empirical investigations demonstrated that ageing people cannot be treated as one homogeneous group when developing technology for them. The findings have revealed that the major moderating factors that may significantly influence older adults' acceptance and willingness to use the digital assistive technology include functional capacity, socio-demographic characteristics, digital literacy and educational background as well as the social environment supporting their ability to maintain an independent life in their own homes. Keywords: digital assistive technology; ageing people; technology acceptance; functional capacity; socio-demographic factors; digital literacy Citation: International Journal of Telemedicine and Clinical Practices, Vol. 3, No. 3 (2020) pp. 223 - 242 PubDate: 2020-02-05T23:20:50-05:00 DOI: 10.1504/IJTMCP.2020.104894 Issue No:Vol. 3, No. 3 (2020)
Authors:Chidozie Emmanuel Mbada, Ayomide Johnson Salami, Olumide O. Dada, Ishaya Peni Gambo, Adesola C. Odole, Adeyemi Sunday Adejumobi, Funminiyi Sunday Olatoye, Moses Oluwatosin Makinde, Olukemi Bateye, Francis A. Fatoye Pages: 243 - 256 Abstract: Development and feasibility testing of a Kinect Xbox operated non-immersive back extension-glide virtual reality game (BE-G VRG) was carried out among 42 patients with chronic low-back pain. Feasibility of the BE-G VRG was explored using system usability scale and gaming experience questionnaire and game user experience satisfaction scale (GUESS). The visual analogue scale (VAS) was used to assess pain intensity. Participants' VAS score was 5.02 ± 1.94. The GUESS' game user experience of the BE-G VRG on a scale of 0 to 7, was 5.66 ± 0.86, 5.41 ± 1.03, 5.40 ± 0.957 and 5.37 ± 0.970 for game audio aesthetics, engrossment, game usability, personal gratification and visual aesthetics respectively. Audio level (77.5%) and visual aesthetics (62.5%) were the top rated game usability experience; and system usability and enjoyment scores were 54.9 ± 7.76 (out of 100) and 4.23 ± 0.53 (out of 5). The BE-G VRG has moderate to high usability, satisfaction and game experience among patients with moderate intensity chronic low-back pain. Keywords: virtual reality games; VRG; low-back pain; LBP; rehabilitation Citation: International Journal of Telemedicine and Clinical Practices, Vol. 3, No. 3 (2020) pp. 243 - 256 PubDate: 2020-02-05T23:20:50-05:00 DOI: 10.1504/IJTMCP.2020.104896 Issue No:Vol. 3, No. 3 (2020)