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Summarizing current news and empirical literature related to digital health technologies
Eye on Innovation

Summarizing current news and empirical literature related to digital health technologies

The field of behavioral health and technology moves at a rapid pace. CTBH follows news and empirical publications and compiles references to and synopses of pieces describing cutting edge applications of technology in behavioral health.
Eye on Innovation
02/28/2023

MHT Delivers New Technology for Measuring and Improving Mental Wellness

Article Excerpt: Mental Health Technologies (MHT) offers a rapidly growing cloud-based platform primary care physicians and mental health professionals use to screen and test for mental health disorders, including depression and substance abuse. MHT helps providers identify areas where their patients are struggling and refers them to the proper behavioral healthcare professional…SmarTest is a tool that uses intelligence and historical data to define when-and how-a patient should be tested for various mental health conditions. It can base its decisions on patient information, such as age, gender, or other demographics.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/6ruxh22t

Article Source: Accesswire

Posted in: Emerging Technologies // Tagged: ; ; ; ; ; ;
02/27/2023

Dementia, Substance Misuse, and Social Determinants of Health: American Indian and Alaska Native Peoples’ Prevention, Service, and Care

Crouch MC, Cheromiah Salazar MBR, Harris SJ, Rosich RM. Dementia, Substance Misuse, and Social Determinants of Health: American Indian and Alaska Native Peoples’ Prevention, Service, and Care. Chronic Stress (Thousand Oaks). 2023 Jan 18;7:24705470221149479. doi: 10.1177/24705470221149479. PMID: 36699807; PMCID: PMC9869198.

A qualitative study was conducted to understand the cultural practices and beliefs among American Indian and Alaskan Native (AI/AN) Elders about Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia (ADRD). Interviews investigated the etiology, course, treatment, and cultural meanings of ADRD as well as the social determinants of health related to ADRD and role of substance use disorder. AI/AN tribal Elders are identified as individuals who are designated culture bearers, wisdom holders, and role models in their respective communities. Twelve AI/AN Elders (mean age=73) who speak English participated in semi-structured interviews. The sample was predominantly female (66.7%), Athabascan Tribal heritage (58.3%) and retired (66.7%). All participants had a family member with ADRD but did not themselves have an ADRD diagnosis. Qualitative analyses identified 6 themes of etiology, barriers to treatment, and social determinants: (1) postcolonial distress; (2) substance misuse; (3) distrust of Western medicine; (4) structural inequities; (5) walking in two worlds; and, (6) decolonizing and indigenizing medicine. Findings highlight potential causal factors in disease development and manifestation as viewed by AI/AN Elders. This study exemplified historical and ongoing discrimination and stress in Western medicine and the importance of adopting a holistic view to address cultural health disparities.

Posted in: Cutting Edge Literature // Tagged: ; ; ; ;
02/21/2023

Women’s Telehealth Program Diminishes Stigma via Technology

Article Excerpt: The Medical University of South Carolina Medical Center in Charleston has a unique telemedicine program in place to help pregnant and postpartum women. The program is called Listening to Women and Pregnant and Postpartum People, or LTWP. The technology vendors are REDCap and Twillio. It’s a mid-maturity program that is responding to behavioral health needs of pregnant women, and has recently expanded to newborn virtual home visitation for all mothers with births in the hospital.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/4hpmzjta

Article Source: Healthcare IT News

Posted in: Emerging Technologies // Tagged: ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
02/15/2023

ChatGPT Gets Dartmouth Talking

Article Excerpt: ChatGPT, OpenAI’s trending chatbot that generates conversational responses to user prompts through advanced artificial intelligence, has been busy since its launch in late November… “ChatGPT and other generative AI technologies have huge potential for—and will have huge effects on—education,” says Provost David Kotz ’86, the Pat and John Rosenwald Professor in the Department of Computer Science. “My hope is to provide immediate support to faculty and instructors to become familiar with the technology and its impacts, and then look further down the road to consider how we can leverage it as a pedagogical tool, recognizing that it will be part of the future of teaching, learning, scholarship, and work.”

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/59hbkfzm

Article Source: Dartmouth News

Posted in: Emerging Technologies, Methodologies & Analytics // Tagged: ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
02/13/2023

Telehealth Is Here to Stay: How Technology Has Become a Staple for Physicians and Is Serving Unmet Health Care Needs

Article Excerpt: While the pandemic was the impetus for greater utilization of telehealth across the health care continuum, it’s safe to say that due to the convenience and benefits it offers to patients and providers, telehealth is here to stay. Before COVID-19, telehealth visits only accounted for 4% of total appointments, according to our recent research, which evaluated telehealth usage across 93.7 million patients in our athenaOne network. In the first half of 2022 when many patients returned to receiving in-person care, virtual visits still accounted for 8.9% of total appointments – a relatively minor decrease from the 12.1% we saw at the pandemic’s height. In addition to large-scale utilization, it is also evident that telehealth is being leveraged for a wide range of use cases. The network research, in addition to a survey we commissioned through Dynata of 2,000 U.S. patients, both found interesting patterns in usage for behavioral health, chronic care, as well as differences in adoption across race and gender. Despite differences in adoption and utilization, one thing is clear: Telehealth will remain a pivotal component of health care delivery now and in the years to come.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/yhm65kvr

Article Source: Medical Economics

Posted in: Emerging Technologies, Methodologies & Analytics // Tagged: ; ; ; ; ;
02/10/2023

CBT Smartphone App Aims to Address Depression in Teens

Article Excerpt: Researchers recently created a brand new CBT smartphone app that will provide young people with multiple ways to address and handle their mental health problems. A study group will now be assembled to assess the effectiveness of the smartphone application in relation to its ability to combat depression. Adolescents are struggling with depression at higher rates today than ever before. Researchers believe that the stress of the coronavirus pandemic and the resulting peer isolation and disruption to school life is to blame. Other factors cited include an ever-growing presence on social media and pressure to conform to impossible celebrity standards. Thus, any way in which technology can help depressed teens minimize symptoms is much-needed. Through the use of interactive and self-guided therapy, the ClearlyMe app will use the power of cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, on teenagers from all over the country. The technology contains 37 “short lessons” that will touch upon the basics of CBT and the power it has to change thinking and alter core beliefs in those who use it.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/326u5s8v

Article Source: Legal Reader

Posted in: Emerging Technologies // Tagged: ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
02/07/2023

AI and Genetics Could Help Doctors Treat Alcohol Addiction, Research Shows

Article Excerpt: Imagine a patient has been diagnosed with alcohol use disorder, and their health care provider is reviewing medication options to help them curb their drinking. The provider asks the patient some basic questions, like alcohol cravings and stress levels, and collects a blood sample for genetic testing. A computer model uses this information to determine which medication would most likely support the patient with managing their alcohol use. With the help of the model, the provider gives a medication recommendation that is the best fit for their patient.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/58msbx3c

Article Source: Medical Xpress

Posted in: Emerging Technologies // Tagged: ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
02/06/2023

How Technology Can Help Solve Mental Health Care’s Biggest Barrier

Article Excerpt: From telehealth and TikTok to artificial intelligence and virtual reality, the mental health care industry is embracing technology — but it’s making many clinicians uneasy. From concerns about the ethics of mental health influencers to the inaccuracy of mental health advice on TikTok and to complaints about teens misdiagnosing themselves, many experts are uncomfortable about the role technology is playing in mental health support. But technology can also help solve what’s arguably the industry’s biggest issue: access. Given the ongoing mental health crisis and the fact that many people lack adequate access to quality mental health care, it’s essential to strike a balance between technological innovation, the pace of clinical validation, and high ethical and safety standards to ensure that rigorous, culturally centered mental health support is widely available at a time when it’s so desperately needed.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/4d4vk7pr

Article Source: STAT News

Posted in: Emerging Technologies // Tagged: ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
02/01/2023

‘There’s a Sense of Urgency’: How Wearables Could Reshape Addiction Treatment

Article Excerpt: Wearables offer addiction treatment providers tantalizing opportunities to improve care outcomes. Increasingly sophisticated devices are now available at affordable price points. Effortless data collection opens the door to more objectivity in a highly subjective field. But there’s a serious problem. Researchers and practitioners still need to figure out what to do with the mountains of data that wearables could produce.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/5n968229

Article Source: Behavioral Health Business

Posted in: Emerging Technologies, Methodologies & Analytics // Tagged: ; ; ; ; ; ; ;