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09/25/2023

Glucose Data Reveals Seasonal Patterns in Diabetes Care

Article Excerpt: People with diabetes tend to maintain healthier blood sugar levels in the warmer months from April to September, according to a Dartmouth study published on Friday in Science Advances. The researchers accessed data from wearable glucose monitors that showed how 137 people aged 2 to 76 living primarily with type 1, aka juvenile, diabetes managed their blood sugar on a daily basis. By analyzing more than 91,000 days of data, the study provides the most detailed look yet at how diabetes management can vary by month, day, age, and even how experienced a patient is with the condition. “We’re looking for specific patterns that could potentially inform clinical guidelines and set the stage for targeted interventions,” says Temiloluwa Prioleau, assistant professor of computer science, one of the study co-authors.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/2avxt7z2

Article Source: Dartmouth News

Posted in: Emerging Technologies // Tagged: ; ; ; ; ; ;
08/17/2023

Dartmouth’s Latin American Community Explores Innovation

Article Excerpt: Over the past decade, Dartmouth has formed multiple partnerships in Latin America. The center that (Lisa) Marsch directs— the only National Institute on Drug Abuse-designated center of excellence in digital therapeutics—is collaborating with researchers, insurers, and patient advocacy groups in Latin America as well as government organizations, such as the Ministry of Health in Colombia and National Institute of Mental Health in Peru, to create a new mental health service delivery model for Latin America that will provide better evidence-based care.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/r9wpyxzz

Article Source: Dartmouth News

Posted in: Dissemination & Implementation, Regulation & Policy // Tagged: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
08/07/2023

Identifying Desired Features That Would Be Acceptable and Helpful in a Wrist-Worn Biosensor–Based Alcohol Intervention: Interview Study Among Adults Who Drink Heavily

Richards VL, Rajendran S, Cook RL, Leeman RF, Wang Y, Prins C, Cook C. Identifying Desired Features That Would Be Acceptable and Helpful in a Wrist-Worn Biosensor–Based Alcohol Intervention: Interview Study Among Adults Who Drink Heavily. J Med Internet Res 2023;25:e38713. doi: 10.2196/38713

Researchers identified desired features that could help people reduce their drinking in a wrist-worn biosensor-based alcohol intervention for adults who drink heavily. Wearable alcohol biosensors can passively and continuously measure ethanol excreted through the skin. Participants were at least 40 years old, drank at least twice per week, and were interested in reducing their drinking, and were recruited via an alcohol contingency study, a contact registry, and referrals. In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted on Zoom with 20 participants. Interviews included questions about participants’ thoughts about a wrist-worn biosensor, potential helpfulness to reduce drinking, and what information they would want to receive from the biosensor. Participants reported five major desired feature themes: 1) comfort and look of the biosensor, 2) personalized prompts and feedback, 3) time wearing the biosensor, 4) sharing data with friends, family, and providers, and 5) incorporation of mental health support. In general, participants were open to wearing the biosensor, but were only inclined to engage with the biosensor content if had they were motivation to reduce drinking. Findings also indicated that a mobile app that stores and interprets sensor data for participants to track drinking patterns could be beneficial. Engaging potential end-users to identify desire intervention features can inform and optimize development of interventions that use wrist-worn biosensors to reduce alcohol use.

Posted in: Cutting Edge Literature // Tagged: ; ; ; ; ;
07/31/2023

Preliminary Implementation Outcomes of a Free Online Toolkit to Support Exposure Therapy Implementation for Youth

Becker-Haimes EM, Wislocki K, Schriger SH, Kratz HE, Sanchez AL, Clapp D, Frank HE. Preliminary Implementation Outcomes of a Free Online Toolkit to Support Exposure Therapy Implementation for Youth. Child Youth Care Forum (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10566-023-09732-1

Exposure therapy is a cognitive-behavioral treatment tool for youth anxiety but is highly underutilized in routine clinical care. This study assessed usage and clinician perspectives of an online toolkit that supports the use of exposure therapy with anxious youth, called the Resource for Exposure for Anxiety Disordered Youth (READY). READY is hosted on a freely available website and has been disseminated to clinicians. Researchers extracted web analytics from the READY platform and conducted brief, anonymous electronic surveys of site users to assess READY adoption, utility, and the association with exposure therapy use. In its first three years, READY had 13,543 page views across 1731 unique users. READY clinician users (N=49, mean age=34 years, 82.9% female, 71% White) completed the survey. Survey data suggested variability in usage and perceived utility across toolkit components. READY was perceived positively overall by users and was most commonly used to prepare for exposure therapy sessions by reviewing tips or generating exposure ideas. Open-ended responses about perceived challenges in exposure delivery with youth found common barriers to be engagement by patients, difficulties with the family system, and difficulties with generating ideas for exposure practices. Although the study engaged only a small number of READY users (14%) to complete the survey, findings suggest the READY toolkit, a free online implementation resource, could be a promising tool to support clinicians delivering exposure therapy and may augment traditional training and consultation.

Posted in: Cutting Edge Literature // Tagged: ; ; ; ; ;
07/25/2023

Digital Therapeutics Provide Benefits but Require Further Research

Article Excerpt: A Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Advisory report indicated that while digital therapeutics (DTx) can address care barriers, such as limited care access and high costs, development efforts are on the rise, prompting further considerations… Research indicates that DTx are projected to grow in the coming years. A part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) funds a Center for Technology and Behavioral Health (CTBH) that guides the creation and application of digital health resources for various conditions, often providing grants.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/2uk59muy

Article Source: mHealth Intelligence

Posted in: Emerging Technologies, Methodologies & Analytics // Tagged: ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
07/12/2023

Making Digital Interventions Accessible and Affordable

Article Excerpt: As the nation grapples with soaring demand for mental health services amid a provider shortage, more psychologists are considering the benefits of digital therapeutics—evidence-based interventions available to patients on their mobile devices. These tools have the potential to help people struggling with substance use disorders, anxiety, insomnia, and other conditions. But there is a major hurdle blocking widespread access: Using digital therapeutics in practice is not usually covered by health insurance. The costs for the software alone can range from approximately $300 to $1,500 annually—fees that are out of reach for many patients.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/23dws648

Article Source: American Psychological Association

Posted in: Emerging Technologies, Regulation & Policy // Tagged: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
06/20/2023

A Digital Single-Session Intervention Platform for Youth Mental Health: Cultural Adaptation, Evaluation, and Dissemination

Shroff A, Roulston C, Fassler J, Dierschke N, Todd J, Ríos-Herrera Á, Plastino K, Schleider J. A Digital Single-Session Intervention Platform for Youth Mental Health: Cultural Adaptation, Evaluation, and Dissemination. JMIR Ment Health 2023;10:e43062. DOI: 10.2196/43062

An academic-community partnership was created to culturally adapt, disseminate, and gauge the acceptability and utility of an evidence-based digital mental health platform, Project Youth Empowerment and Support (YES), among English and Spanish speaking youth in south Texas. The three digital self-guided single-session interventions (SSIs) in Project YES were culturally adapted and revised in collaboration with youth stakeholders and translated to Spanish. pre-post exploratory study investigated acceptability and efficacy of Project YES on hopelessness, agency, perceived control, and self-hate. Participants aged 11 to 17 years and residing in San Antonio, Texas and the surrounding areas were recruited via social media ads, referrals, schools, and community centers. A total of 1801 youths began and 894 (49.6%) selected and completed one 30-minute SSI within the Project YES website. Data was collected via self-reported surveys before participants started a SSI and following the completion of the SSI. Participants rated the Project YES as enjoyable, easy to understand, easy to use, helpful, and would recommend to others (mean at least 3.5 out of 5.0) for both language versions Youth in Project YES (English version) reported significant improvements in hopelessness (Cohen d=0.33, p<.001), self-hate (Cohen d=0.27, p<.001) and agency (Cohen d=0.25, p<.001) post-intervention, relative to pre-intervention. Youth in Project YES (Spanish version) reported significant improvements in self-hate (Cohen d=0.37, p=.05) from before to after the intervention. Overall, the culturally adapted Project YES demonstrated to be an acceptable, accessible, and effective mental health support for English and Spanish speaking youth. The San Antonio community partnerships fostered broad recruitment and retention rates.

Posted in: Cutting Edge Literature // Tagged: ; ; ; ;

AI Plus Mobile App May Help With Smoking Cessation

Article Excerpt: A new artificial intelligence (AI)-powered mobile app can help individuals quit smoking, according to the results of a recent study published in Nicotine & Tobacco Research. The app uses machine learning to collect information on the location, timing, and triggers of past smoking events to curate messages that assist smokers in managing their urges. Prior to this app, there had been no other ways to provide support to help smokers manage social situations and urges after quitting, Felix Naughton, PhD, MSc, a primary researcher and professor of health psychology at the University of East Anglia School of Health Sciences in England, said in a statement.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/yc56jtx9

Article Source: Pharmacy Times

Posted in: Emerging Technologies // Tagged: ; ; ; ; ; ;

Can Wearables Improve Outcomes Among Hospitalized Patients?

Article Excerpt: New research published in JAMA Network Open found that hospitalized patients using wearable devices had better physical activity levels and physical functioning as opposed to patients receiving standard care. Typically, hospitalized patients engage in limited levels of physical activity. This often leads to adverse health outcomes. However, the capabilities of wearable devices led researchers to examine their efficacy in boosting patient activity levels.

Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/2p9es8v3

Article Source: mHealth Intelligence

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