Between cultures and traditions: a qualitative investigation of sexual and reproductive health experiences of immigrant adolescents in Canada.

Immigrant adolescents in Canada face challenges accessing accurate sexual and reproductive health (SRH) information and services. Many challenges stem from taboos associated with SRH, cultural and religious restrictions, and social beliefs regarding the unnecessity of SRH education for adolescents. We explored the SRH experiences of immigrant adolescents in the context of their cultural and religious perspectives.

Intersectionality in Developing a Virtual Community of Practice Platform on Abortion.

Abortion is an essential healthcare service in many countries including Canada. The number of people who seek abortion is disproportionately higher among equity-deserving populations. Yet the knowledge needed to provide evidence-based, culturally safe, and gender-affirming abortion services remain limited among healthcare professionals.

Using Wearable Devices and Speech Data for Personalized Machine Learning in Early Detection of Mental Disorders: Protocol for a Participatory Research Study.

Background: Early identification of mental disorder symptoms is crucial for timely treatment and reduction of recurring symptoms and disabilities. A tool to help individuals recognize warning signs is important. We posit that such a tool would have to rely on longitudinal analysis of patterns and trends in the individual's daily activities and mood, which can now be captured through data from wearable activity trackers, speech recordings from mobile devices, and the individual's own description of their mental state.

Associations between Differential Aging and Lifestyle, Environment, Current, and Future Health Conditions: Findings from Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging.

Introduction: An aging population will bring a pressing challenge for the healthcare system. Insights into promoting healthy longevity can be gained by quantifying the biological aging process and understanding the roles of modifiable lifestyle and environmental factors, and chronic disease conditions.

Methods: We developed a biological age (BioAge) index by applying multiple state-of-art machine learning models based on easily accessible blood test data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study of Aging (CLSA).

Examining Patient Engagement in Chatbot Development Approaches for Healthy Lifestyle and Mental Wellness Interventions: Scoping Review.

Background: Chatbots are growing in popularity as they offer a range of potential benefits to end users and service providers.

Objective: Our scoping review aimed to explore studies that used 2-way chatbots to support healthy eating, physical activity, and mental wellness interventions. Our objectives were to report the nontechnical (eg, unrelated to software development) approaches for chatbot development and to examine the level of patient engagement in these reported approaches.

Co-designing a Sexual Health App With Immigrant Adolescents: Protocol for a Qualitative Community-Based Participatory Action Research Study.

Background: Canada is one of the world's most ethnically diverse countries, with over 7 million individuals out of a population of 38 million being born in a foreign country. Immigrant adolescents (aged 10 to 19 years) make up a substantial proportion of newcomers to Canada. Religious and cultural practices can influence adolescents' sexual attitudes and behaviors, as well as the uptake of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services among this population.

Implementation and evaluation of a pain assessment app and novel community platform for long-term care health professionals.

Objective: A tablet app, based on the Pain Assessment Checklist for Seniors with Limited Ability to Communicate-II (PACSLAC-II), has been shown to have clinical utility and unique advantages. We aimed to replicate and extend the previous validation of the app through the implementation and evaluation of a new community platform involving a quality indicator (QI) monitoring feature and a resource community portal (CP) that work in conjunction with an updated version of the app.

Methods: We employed a mixed-methods multiple-baseline design across 11 long-term care (LTC) units.

Developing, Implementing, and Evaluating an Artificial Intelligence-Guided Mental Health Resource Navigation Chatbot for Health Care Workers and Their Families During and Following the COVID-19 Pandemic: Protocol for a Cross-sectional Study.

Background: Approximately 1 in 3 Canadians will experience an addiction or mental health challenge at some point in their lifetime. Unfortunately, there are multiple barriers to accessing mental health care, including system fragmentation, episodic care, long wait times, and insufficient support for health system navigation. In addition, stigma may further reduce an individual's likelihood of seeking support.

A Virtual Community of Practice to Support Physician Uptake of a Novel Abortion Practice: Mixed Methods Case Study.

Background: Virtual communities of practice (VCoPs) have been used to support innovation and quality in clinical care. The drug mifepristone was introduced in Canada in 2017 for medical abortion. We created a VCoP to support implementation of mifepristone abortion practice across Canada.

Social Media and the Transformation of the Physician-Patient Relationship: Viewpoint.

As many as 80% of internet users seek health information online. The social determinants of health (SDoH) are intimately related to who has access to the internet and health care as a whole. Those who face more barriers to care are more likely to benefit from accessing health information online, assuming the information they are retrieving is accurate.

Towards a Simulation Framework for Smart Indoor Spaces.

The effectiveness of sensor-based applications for smart homes and smart buildings is conditioned upon the deployment configuration of their underlying sensors. Real-world evaluation of alternative possible sensor-deployment configurations is labor-intensive, costly, and time-consuming, which implies the need for a simulation-based methodology. In this work, we report on such a methodology that supports the modeling of indoor spaces, the activities of their occupants, and the behaviors of different types of sensors.

Behavioral Pain Assessment Implementation in Long-Term Care Using a Tablet App: Case Series and Quasi-Experimental Design.

Background: Pain is often underassessed and undertreated among long-term care (LTC) residents living with dementia. When used regularly, the Pain Assessment Checklist for Seniors With Limited Ability to Communicate (PACSLAC) scales have been shown to have beneficial effects on pain assessment and management practices and stress and burnout levels in frontline staff in LTC facilities. Such scales, however, are not utilized as often as recommended, which is likely to be related to additional record-keeping and tracking over time involved with their paper-and-pencil administration.

Sensor-Data Fusion for Multi-Person Indoor Location Estimation.

We consider the problem of estimating the location of people as they move and work in indoor environments. More specifically, we focus on the scenario where one of the persons of interest is unable or unwilling to carry a smartphone, or any other "wearable" device, which frequently arises in caregiver/cared-for situations. We consider the case of indoor spaces populated with anonymous binary sensors (Passive Infrared motion sensors) and eponymous wearable sensors (smartphones interacting with Estimote beacons), and we propose a solution to the resulting sensor-fusion problem.

Improved A1C Levels in Type 1 Diabetes with Smartphone App Use.

Objectives: Smartphones are a potentially useful tool in diabetes care. We have developed an application (app) linked to a website, Intelligent Diabetes Management (IDM), which serves as both an insulin bolus calculator and an electronic diabetes diary. We have prospectively studied whether patients using this app improved control of their glucose levels.

Users' Attitudes Towards Personal Health Records: A Cross-Sectional Pilot Study.

Background: Prevention and management of chronic conditions is a priority for many healthcare systems. Personal health records have been suggested to facilitate implementation of chronic care programs. However, patients' attitude towards personal health records (PHRs) can significantly affect the adoption rates and use of PHRs.

Smart homes and home health monitoring technologies for older adults: A systematic review.

Background: Around the world, populations are aging and there is a growing concern about ways that older adults can maintain their health and well-being while living in their homes.

Objectives: The aim of this paper was to conduct a systematic literature review to determine: (1) the levels of technology readiness among older adults and, (2) evidence for smart homes and home-based health-monitoring technologies that support aging in place for older adults who have complex needs.

Results: We identified and analyzed 48 of 1863 relevant papers.

Developing interprofessional health competencies in a virtual world.

Background: Virtual worlds provide a promising means of delivering simulations for developing interprofessional health skills. However, developing and implementing a virtual world simulation is a challenging process, in part because of the novelty of virtual worlds as a simulation platform and also because of the degree of collaboration required among technical and subject experts. Thus, it can be difficult to ensure that the simulation is both technically satisfactory and educationally appropriate.

Home care and technology: a case study.

Health care aides (HCAs) are the backbone of the home care system and provide a range of services to people who, for various reasons related to chronic conditions and aging, are not able to take care of themselves independently. The demand for HCA services will increase and the current HCA supply will likely not keep up with this increasing demand without fundamental changes in the current environment. Information and communication technology (ICT) can address some of the workflow challenges HCAs face.

Medical education through virtual worlds: the HLTHSIM project.

Training tools using virtual reality (VR) are becoming more popular and cost-effective to develop and are increasingly adopted; yet there is no systematic means for evaluating their usability and pedagogical effectiveness. There are a wide range of training scenarios that can be scripted, from high level simulations of emergency response systems where participants using their avatars have to make complex decisions and communicate with each other, to low-level sensor-motor skills-based trainers where surgeons can practice suturing and cutting. We propose a classification framework for simulator-based training, associating each type of simulation with a specification of the types of skills it is designed to exercise and a corresponding evaluation plan.

MeRiTS: simulation-based training for healthcare professionals.

Simulation-based training has been used in numerous settings for procedural training. In this research, we focus on a method of simulation-based procedural skills training that uses virtual worlds. This method, implemented in our MeRiTS software system, models procedures using executable workflows, which are enacted by the trainee in a virtual world.