Mind Your Heart: A Mindful Eating and Diet Education eHealth Program.

Objective: Examine user perceptions of the Mind Your Heart (MYH) program, a mindful eating and nutrition education program delivered via an eHealth system.

Methods: Sixteen participants (41.5 ± 13.

"At First It Wasn't so Bad": How Adults Aged 60 and Older Feel About Social Distancing During COVID-19.

We conducted an exploratory study to describe the emotional experience of adults aged 60 and older in the United States practicing social distancing during COVID-19. The survey asked respondents how they were feeling during social distancing. Responses (n=673) were coded into segments by affect and then specific emotional states.

Gender differences in coping with long-term COVID-19 impacts among older adults.

Initial COVID-19 pandemic research suggests that during the first few weeks of the pandemic women were disproportionately impacted by restrictions compared to men. This study explored whether these gender differences in coping with pandemic restrictions were present among older adults 8-9 months into the COVID-19 pandemic. Data are based on online survey responses ( = 781) from respondents aged 60 and older.

Robot-Led Piano Lessons May Improve Cognitive Function: A Feasibility Study in a Sample with Mild Cognitive Impairment.

Cognitive training has been shown to increase neural plasticity and cognitive reserve, potentially reducing the risk of developing dementia. Music learning, specifically piano playing, has been shown to be an effective form of multimodal cognitive training. This pilot study explored the feasibility and efficacy of using a socially assistive robot to provide a piano learning cognitive training intervention to older adults with mild cognitive impairment.

Socially Assistive Robots for Dementia Care: Exploring Caregiver Perceptions of Use Cases and Acceptance.

As the older population increases, the number of persons living with dementia (PWD) will increase as well. Yet, at the same time, there are fewer health care professionals per care recipient. To address the rising demand on healthcare professionals and informal care partners of PWD, socially assistive robots (SARs) can potentially facilitate care provision.

Harnessing technology to prevent sexual assault on college campuses.

The current global pandemic has presented an opportunity to rethink how universities implement sexual assault prevention programs. The advantages and capabilities presented by technology such as digital gaming have not been fully utilized in sexual assault prevention programming. A user-centered design approach gives developers the opportunity to truly engage students in a learning process; a critical thinking required to explore sexual assault and contributing factors in a meaningful way.

A Prospective Pilot Study Evaluating Feasibility and Preliminary Effects of : A Mindfulness-based Intervention for Survivors of Lung Cancer and Their Family Members (Dyads).

Unlabelled: Symptom burden remains a distressing problem for survivors with non-small-cell lung cancer (stages I-IIIa). This pilot study evaluated feasibility and preliminary effects of a tailored mindfulness-based intervention, Breathe Easier, which encompasses meditation, 2 levels of mindful hatha yoga, breathing exercises, and participant interaction.

Methods: Participants were recruited from 2 cancer programs in the US Southeast.

The Role of Healthcare Robotics in Providing Support to Older Adults: a Socio-ecological Perspective.

Purpose Of Review: In this review, we provide an overview of how healthcare robotics can facilitate healthy aging, with an emphasis on physical, cognitive, and social supports. We next provide a synthesis of future challenges and considerations in the development and application of healthcare robots. We organize these considerations using a socio-ecological perspective and discuss considerations at the individual, care partner, community healthcare, and healthcare policy levels.

A Focus Group Evaluation of Breathe Easier: A Mindfulness-Based mHealth App for Survivors of Lung Cancer and Their Family Members.

Purpose: To explore attitudes and acceptance (i.e., intent for future adoption) of survivors of lung cancer and their family members toward a dyad-focused mHealth mindfulness-based intervention (MBI).

A Qualitative Cultural Sensitivity Assessment of the Breathe Easier Mobile Application for Lung Cancer Survivors and Their Families.

Purpose: To evaluate the cultural sensitivity of the Breathe Easier mobile health application for African American lung cancer survivors and their families. Breathe Easier is an intervention designed to teach strategies to combat symptoms related to lung cancer.

Participants & Setting: 12 African American lung cancer survivors and their family members were recruited from an American College of Surgeons-approved cancer program in South Carolina.

Systematic Review of Commercially Available Mobile Phone Applications for Prostate Cancer Education.

Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed non-skin cancer among all men and the second most common cause of death. To ameliorate the burden of prostate cancer, there is a critical need to identify strategies for providing men with information about prostate cancer screening and the importance of informed decision making. With mobile phones becoming more ubiquitous, many individuals are adopting their phones as sources for health information.

Mindfulness-Based Symptom and Stress Management Apps for Adults With Chronic Lung Disease: Systematic Search in App Stores.

Background: Up to 70% of lung cancer survivors are affected by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a common, debilitating, comorbid disease. Lung cancer and COPD are both characterized by symptoms such as breathlessness, fatigue, and psychological distress. These distressing chronic symptoms are exacerbated by stress and detract from an individual's quality of life.

Older adults' acceptance of a robot for partner dance-based exercise.

Partner dance has been shown to be beneficial for the health of older adults. Robots could potentially facilitate healthy aging by engaging older adults in partner dance-based exercise. However, partner dance involves physical contact between the dancers, and older adults would need to be accepting of partner dancing with a robot.

Older Users' Acceptance of an Assistive Robot: Attitudinal Changes Following Brief Exposure.

Introduction: Many older adults wish to age-in-place. Robot assistance at home may be beneficial for older adults who are experiencing limitations in performing home activities. In this study we investigate older Americans' robot acceptance before and after exposure to a domestic mobile manipulator, with an emphasis on understanding trialability (i.

Acceptance of televideo technology by adults aging with a mobility impairment for health and wellness interventions.

Televideo technology (e.g., Skype) has potential to support adults as they age by facilitating their interactions with people remotely; this potential may be even greater for adults aging with pre-existing mobility impairments, who face challenges interacting with others in person due to lack of transportation or accessibility.

Younger and Older Users' Recognition of Virtual Agent Facial Expressions.

As technology advances, robots and virtual agents will be introduced into the home and healthcare settings to assist individuals, both young and old, with everyday living tasks. Understanding how users recognize an agent's social cues is therefore imperative, especially in social interactions. Facial expression, in particular, is one of the most common non-verbal cues used to display and communicate emotion in on-screen agents (Cassell, Sullivan, Prevost, & Churchill, 2000).

Domestic Robots for Older Adults: Attitudes, Preferences, and Potential.

The population of older adults in America is expected to reach an unprecedented level in the near future. Some of them have difficulties with performing daily tasks and caregivers may not be able to match pace with the increasing need for assistance. Robots, especially mobile manipulators, have the potential for assisting older adults with daily tasks enabling them to live independently in their homes.

Toward a framework for levels of robot autonomy in human-robot interaction.

A critical construct related to human-robot interaction (HRI) is autonomy, which varies widely across robot platforms. Levels of robot autonomy (LORA), ranging from teleoperation to fully autonomous systems, influence the way in which humans and robots may interact with one another. Thus, there is a need to understand HRI by identifying variables that influence - and are influenced by - robot autonomy.

Understanding challenges in the front lines of home health care: a human-systems approach.

A human-systems perspective is a fruitful approach to understanding home health care because it emphasizes major individual components of the system - persons, equipment/technology, tasks, and environments - as well as the interaction between these components. The goal of this research was to apply a human-system perspective to consider the capabilities and limitations of the persons, in relation to the demands of the tasks and equipment/technology in home health care. Identification of challenges and mismatches between the person(s) capabilities and the demands of providing care provide guidance for human factors interventions.

Older Adults' Medication Management in the Home: How can Robots Help?

Successful management of medications is critical to maintaining healthy and independent living for older adults. However, medication non-adherence is a common problem with a high risk for severe consequences [5], which can jeopardize older adults' chances to age in place [1]. Well-designed robots assisting with medication management tasks could support older adults' independence.

"Commanding Your Robot" Older Adults' Preferences for Methods of Robot Control.

Home robots have the potential to assist older adults in maintaining their independence. However, robots deployed in older adults' homes will be required to interact with untrained, novice users. The way untrained users, such as older adults, provide commands or control the robot (i.

CHALLENGES OF TRAINING OLDER ADULTS IN A HOME HEALTH CARE CONTEXT.

The health care domain is experiencing a shift from traditional hospital-based care to care delivered in a patient's home setting. Although home health care provides many benefits, it creates new challenges and difficulties for professional caregivers (e.g.

OLDER ADULTS' PREFERENCES FOR AND ACCEPTANCE OF ROBOT ASSISTANCE FOR EVERYDAY LIVING TASKS.

Many older adults value their independence and prefer to age in place. Robots can be designed to assist older people with performing everyday living tasks and maintaining their independence at home. Yet, there is a scarcity of knowledge regarding older adults' attitudes toward robots and their preferences for robot assistance.

The smooth (tractor) operator: insights of knowledge engineering.

The design of and training for complex systems requires in-depth understanding of task demands imposed on users. In this project, we used the knowledge engineering approach (Bowles et al., 2004) to assess the task of mowing in a citrus grove.

The Domesticated Robot: Design Guidelines for Assisting Older Adults to Age in Place.

Many older adults wish to remain in their own homes as they age [16]. However, challenges in performing home upkeep tasks threaten an older adult's ability to age in place. Even healthy independently living older adults experience challenges in maintaining their home [13].