Article Excerpt: Adoption of health-related smartphone applications continues to lag despite the potential to improve patient-physician communication. The most prominent barriers to adoption include misinterpretations of HIPAA regulations, lack of awareness that the health apps are available, and lack of innovation in the health app marketplace.
Full Article: http://tinyurl.com/cl8pyvy
Article Source: iHealthBeat
Article Excerpt: On Monday, Rep. Mike Honda of California introduced legislation — the Healthcare Innovation and Marketplace Technologies Act — aiming to advance innovation in mobile health and other health care technologies. The bill would require would require FDA to establish a new office of wireless health technology, which is expected to bring new expertise to FDA and help mobile health technologies get to market faster.
Full Article: http://tinyurl.com/afk882u
Article Source: iHealthBeat
Article Excerpt: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has launched http://www.BeTobaccoFree.gov, a comprehensive website providing access to available cessation and education tools. BeTobaccoFree.gov makes information accessible anywhere, anytime on any platform, from smartphone to tablet to desktop. The website’s unique social media dashboard, “Say it – Share it,” constantly provides real time updates from HHS tobacco-related social media accounts, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Infographics, Podcasts and Tumblr.
Full Article: http://tinyurl.com/cpugl9c
Article Source: Niagara Frontier Publications
Kreps, G. L. (2012). Translating health communication research into practice: The importance of implementing and sustaining evidence-based health communication interventions. Atlantic Journal of Communication, 20, 5-15.
Many health care and health promotion practitioners have been slow to use research to help them accomplish their complex health communication goals. The result is that many complex health communication efforts that might benefit from research are not guided by strong evidence. This article examines strategies for promoting the application of the best health communication research to guide development, implementation, and institutionalization of evidence-based health communication programs, policies, and practices.
Article Excerpt: Researchers at the Imperial College in London have developed a new technology to predict a baby’s obesity risk from the moment of birth. The algorithm calculates the parents’ Body Mass Index, the child’s birth weight, the number of people in the household, whether the mother smoked, and the mother’s profession. A non-smoking mother with a BMI of 30, which is borderline obese, has a 35% probability for obesity. However, if the mother smoked during pregnancy, that probability rises to 50%.
Full Article: http://tinyurl.com/ctpvbqn
Article Source: Health Matters
Article Excerpt: The mHealth Alliance and humanitarian organization CARE have announced a partnership that will leverage mobile health technologies to improve maternal, newborn and child health in developing countries. The mHealth Alliance will explore opportunities to strengthen CARE’s operational strategies for mHealth in sectors like water, agriculture, and livelihoods. CARE will contribute by leading the development of capacity building tools and measurement methods.
Full Article: http://tinyurl.com/cz8oztg
Article Source: iHealth Beat
Article Excerpt: Support for quitting smoking via text and video messages can help smokers kick the habit according to a new Cochrane systematic review. The authors of the review found that people were more likely to stay away from cigarettes over a six month period if they received motivational messages and advice to their mobile phones. Those in intervention groups received quitting advice messages, short video diary clips, and interactive polls, while those in comparison groups received text messages less frequently, or were given online information or support over the phone. Overall, the researchers estimated that mobile phone programs could nearly double the chance of quitting for at least six months from 4-5% in comparison groups to between 6-10% in intervention groups.
Full Article: http://tinyurl.com/am9p4sr
Article Source: Medical News Today
Article Excerpt: With funding from a National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) grant, Hazelden and Inflexxion are creating a new intervention program, “Staying Off Substances: A Tailored Early Recovery Program for Teens,” for adolescents in substance abuse treatment that will reinforce the skills and philosophies they learn in treatment through online interactive exercises, writing activities, and access to a supportive, online community. The program will be available to adolescents during and after treatment to help them navigate challenges during early recovery.
Full Article: http://tinyurl.com/b4n4mk9
Article Source: The Sacramento Bee
Oshima, N., Nishida, A., Shimodera, S, et al. (2012). The suicidal feelings, self-injury, and mobile phone use after lights out in adolescents. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 37(9): 1023-1030.
Associations of mobile phone use after lights out with mental health, suicidal feelings, and self-injury were cross-sectionally examined in 17,920 adolescents. A series of logistic regression analyses were separately conducted for early (grades 7–9) and late (grades 10–12) adolescents. Results suggest that mobile phone use after lights out may be associated with poor mental health, suicidal feelings, and self-injury in both early and late adolescents. The association between reduced sleep and the mobile phone use appears to be confined to early adolescents.