What hepatology clinicians and their patients with alcohol-related liver disease think of wearable alcohol biosensors to aid abstinence from alcohol: A qualitative study.

Introduction: We aimed to determine acceptability and feasibility of innovative wearable alcohol biosensor monitors (ABM) for patients with alcohol-related liver disease (ALD) and their clinicians.

Methods: Patients and clinicians at a tertiary care centre participated in qualitative interviews on usability, acceptability, feasibility, efficiency/effectiveness, impact of device on behaviour/clinical practice and preferences/barriers. Interviews were audiotaped, transcribed and coded using a constant comparison method for category themes.

Challenges and Solutions for Monitoring Alcohol Use in Patients With Alcohol-Related Liver Disease: Pilot Study of a Wearable Alcohol Biosensor.

Objectives: Early alcohol use identification can prevent morbidity/mortality for alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD). Innovative wearable alcohol biosensors (biosensors) that identify alcohol use through perspiration are an emerging technology with potential application for patients with ALD. Our primary aim was to determine biosensor acceptability and feasibility for patients with ALD.

The impact of a yoga-based physical therapy group for individuals with traumatic brain injury: results from a pilot study.

Objective: To compare the impacts of yoga-based physical therapy versus a seated rest within the context of standard rehabilitation practice on sleep, heart rate variability (HRV), anxiety, and fatigue during acute traumatic brain injury (TBI) rehabilitation.

Methods: Eleven individuals participated in this crossover study involving the following interventions in a randomized order: group yoga-based physical therapy (YPT), conventional physical therapy (CPT), and group seated rest in a relaxing environment (SR). HRV and self-reported anxiety and fatigue were measured immediately before and after each group, and sleep after each condition and at baseline.

Promoting medication adherence from the perspective of adolescent and young adult kidney transplant recipients, parents, and health care professionals: A TAKE-IT TOO study.

Medication non-adherence is an important factor limiting allograft survival after kidney transplantation in AYA. Some interventions, including the TAKE-IT, showed some success in promoting adherence but the potential for scalability and use in routine clinical practice is limited. We applied user-centered design to gather the perspectives of recipients, parents, and health professionals concerning their needs, challenges, and potential intervention strategies to design an optimal, multi-component medication adherence intervention.

Providing Level-of-Match Information to Perfectly Matched Unrelated Stem Cell Donors: Evaluating Acceptability and Potential Changes in Donor Availability.

Patients with blood-related diseases often cannot identify a matched related donor and must seek donors in unrelated donor registries. These registries face the challenge of ensuring that potential donors are available when contacted. Donor attrition is especially problematic when there is only a single perfectly matched potential donor.

Implementing Huddles Improves Care Coordination in an Academic Health Center.

Purpose Of The Study: To determine whether routinely scheduled, organized interdisciplinary huddles result in decreased length of stay and readmissions.

Primary Practice Setting: The study was conducted in an academic health center (AHC) that also fills a community hospital need for a diverse inner-city population. Results are applicable in other care settings.

Knowledge, barriers and facilitators of exercise in dialysis patients: a qualitative study of patients, staff and nephrologists.

Background: Despite growing evidence on benefits of increased physical activity in hemodialysis (HD) patients and safety of intra-dialytic exercise, it is not part of standard clinical care, resulting in a missed opportunity to improve clinical outcomes in these patients. To develop a successful exercise program for HD patients, it is critical to understand patients', staff and nephrologists' knowledge, barriers, motivators and preferences for patient exercise.

Methods: In-depth interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of HD patients, staff and nephrologists from 4 dialysis units.

Reliability and construct validity of PROMIS® measures for patients with heart failure who undergo heart transplant.

Purpose: To evaluate the reliability and construct validity of measures from the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System(®) (PROMIS(®)) for patients with heart failure before and after heart transplantation.

Methods: We assessed reliability of the PROMIS short forms using Cronbach's alpha and the average marginal reliability. To assess the construct validity of PROMIS computerized adaptive tests and short-form measures, we calculated Pearson product moment correlations between PROMIS measures of physical function, fatigue, depression, and social function and existing PRO measures of similar domains (i.

Prevention of poor psychosocial outcomes in living organ donors: from description to theory-driven intervention development and initial feasibility testing.

Context: Although some living donors experience psychological, somatic, and interpersonal difficulties after donation, interventions to prevent such outcomes have not been developed or evaluated.

Objective: To (1) summarize empirical evidence on psychosocial outcomes after donation, (2) describe a theoretical framework to guide development of an intervention to prevent poor outcomes, and (3) describe development and initial evaluation of feasibility and acceptability of the intervention.

Methods: Based on a narrative literature review suggesting that individuals ambivalent about donation are at risk for poor psychosocial outcomes after donation, the intervention targeted this risk factor.

An intervention fidelity framework for technology-based behavioral interventions.

Background: Despite the proliferation of health technologies, descriptions of the unique considerations and practical guidance for evaluating the intervention fidelity of technology-based behavioral interventions are lacking.

Objectives: The aims of this study were to (a) discuss how technology-based behavioral interventions challenge conventions about how intervention fidelity is conceptualized and evaluated, (b) propose an intervention fidelity framework that may be more appropriate for technology-based behavioral interventions, and (c) present a plan for operationalizing each concept in the framework using the intervention fidelity monitoring plan for Pocket PATH (Personal Assistant for Tracking Health), a mobile health technology designed to promote self-care behaviors after lung transplantation, as an exemplar.

Method: The literature related to intervention fidelity and technology acceptance was used to identify the issues that are unique to the fidelity of technology-based behavioral interventions and thus important to include in a proposed intervention fidelity framework.

Participant satisfaction methods and outcomes in Medicaid managed care.

Participant satisfaction is an important outcome in evaluating the effectiveness of healthcare programs and benefits. With vulnerable populations, such as Medicaid beneficiaries, determining participant satisfaction poses unique challenges. The purpose of this article is to discuss participant satisfaction methods and outcomes from a multi-year experience of surveying Medicaid Managed Care (MMC) participants in Nebraska (2000-2005).

Personality characteristics among cardiothoracic transplant recipients.

Personality characteristics are clinically believed to predict posttransplant adherence and outcome; however, data, as to the prevalence and type of personality disorders (PDs) and distribution of personality traits among transplant (txp) populations, are sparse and inconclusive. This paper reports on the prevalence and type of PD and range of personality traits, according to the Five-Factor model, among 73 adult cardiothoracic txp recipients. It represents the first systematic assessment of PDs and traits in a sample of txp recipients.

Quality of life and coping strategies among lung transplant candidates and their family caregivers.

Although numerous studies have examined coping strategies and quality of life (QOL) among patients with chronic diseases and their family caregivers, no studies have examined the reciprocal effects of patient and caregiver coping strategies on their dyad partner's QOL. Because most people who cope with stressful health experiences do so within the context of interpersonal relationships, it is important to understand the ways in which the two partners' coping strategies may reciprocally affect each other's QOL. Adult lung transplant candidates and their caregivers (N=114 pairs) participated in semi-structured interviews that included measures of QOL and coping with patients' health-related problems.