Involving End Users in the Development and Usability Testing of a Smartphone App Designed for Individuals With Prediabetes: Mixed-Methods Focus Group Study.

Background: Technology is more likely to be used when it is designed to meet the needs of end users. To supplement the Small Steps for Big Changes diabetes prevention program, a smartphone app was developed in partnership with past Small Steps for Big Changes clientele. Usability testing is critical for the ongoing use and adoption of mobile health apps by providing insight on where appropriate adjustments and improvements need to be made to ensure user satisfaction.

Are Diabetes Prevention Programs Reaching Those Most at Risk? A Scoping Review.

Objectives: Previous reviews have highlighted the efficacy of lifestyle diabetes prevention programs (DPPs) in decreasing type 2 diabetes (T2D) risk, but the participating populations were predominantly white. This is concerning as ethnically diverse populations are disproportionately affected by T2D. The objective of this scoping review was to: 1) summarize existing tailored DPPs and 2) provide recommendations for future program implementation to improve access and reach for diverse populations.

An Exercise-Based Precision Medicine Tool and Smartphone App for Managing Achilles Tendinopathy (the 'PhysViz' System): User-Centered Development Study.

Background: People with Achilles tendinopathy (AT) experience persistent pain that can limit engagement with daily occupations and negatively impact mental health. Current therapeutic exercise approaches vary in success, with many people experiencing reinjury, leading to a cycle of chronic tendinopathy often lasting years. High-magnitude precision loading may help people exit this feedback cycle, but applying these principles clinically is challenging.

The Power of Rapid Reviews for Bridging the Knowledge-to-Action Gap in Evidence-Based Virtual Health Care.

Despite the surge in popularity of virtual health care services as a means of delivering health care through technology, the integration of research evidence into practice remains a challenge. Rapid reviews, a type of time-efficient evidence synthesis, offer a potential solution to bridge the gap between knowledge and action. This paper aims to highlight the experiences of the Fraser Health Authority's Virtual Health team in conducting rapid reviews.

Trustworthy Evidence to Support Quality Digital Healthcare Policy for Underserved Communities: What Needs to Happen to Translate Evidence into Policy?

In this paper, we explore what is needed to generate quality research to guide evidence-informed digital health policy and call the Canadian community of patients, clinicians, policy (decision) makers and researchers to action in setting digital health research priorities for supporting underserved communities. Using specific examples, we describe how evidence is produced and implemented to guide digital health policy. We study how research environments must change to reflect and include the communities for whom the policy is intended.

Identification of Intervention Characteristics Within Diabetes Prevention Programs Using the Template for Intervention Description and Replication: A Scoping Review.

Objectives: Diabetes prevention programs (DPPs) targeting dietary and physical activity behaviour change have been shown to decrease the incidence of type 2 diabetes; however, a more thorough reporting of intervention characteristics is needed to expedite the translation of such programs into different communities. In this scoping review, we aim to synthesize how DPPs are being reported and implemented.

Methods: A scoping review using Arkey and O'Malley methods was conducted in accordance with the guidelines of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis.

Current practice, guideline adherence, and barriers to implementation for Achilles tendinopathy rehabilitation: a survey of physical therapists and people with Achilles tendinopathy.

Objective: To explore clinical practice patterns of physical therapists (PTs) who treat people with Achilles tendinopathy (AT), and identify perceived barriers and facilitators for prescribing and engaging with therapeutic exercise among PTs and people with AT.

Methods: Two cross-sectional surveys were electronically distributed between November 2021 and May 2022; one survey was designed for PTs while the second was for people with AT. Survey respondents answered questions regarding their physical therapy training and current practice (PTs), injury history and management (people with AT), and perceived barriers and facilitators (PTs and people with AT).

Rates of compliance and adherence to high-intensity interval training: a systematic review and Meta-analyses.

Background: To determine rates of compliance (i.e., supervised intervention attendance) and adherence (i.

Immigrant, Refugee, and Indigenous Canadians' Experiences With Virtual Health Care Services: Rapid Review.

Background: The remote, dispersed, and multicultural population of Canada presents unique challenges for health care services. Currently, virtual care solutions are being offered as an innovative solution to improve access to care.

Objective: Given the inequities in health care access faced by immigrant, refugee, and Indigenous Canadians, this review aimed to summarize information obtained from original research regarding these people's experiences with virtual care services in Canada.

Identifying characteristics of resistance-based therapeutic exercise interventions for Achilles tendinopathy: A scoping review.

Objective: This scoping review describes resistance-based therapeutic exercise intervention characteristics for Achilles tendinopathy (AT) treatment (e.g., therapeutic dose, underlying mechanisms targeted by exercise) and assesses participant reporting characteristics.

Small Steps Towards an Inclusive Diabetes Prevention Program: How Small Steps for Big Changes is Improving Program Equity and Inclusion.

Social determinants of health, the effects of colonialism, and systemic injustices result in some groups being at disproportionately higher risk for developing type 2 diabetes (T2D). Many T2D prevention programs have not been designed to provide equitable and inclusive care to everyone. This paper presents an example of the steps taken in an evidence-based community T2D prevention program, Small Steps for Big Changes (SSBC), to improve equitable access and inclusivity based on input from a stakeholder advisory group and the ConNECT Framework.

The Effects of Speech Task on Lexical Stress in Parkinson's Disease.

Purpose: Hypokinetic dysarthria associated with Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by dysprosody, yet the literature is mixed with respect to how dysprosody affects the ability to mark lexical stress, possibly due to differences in speech tasks used to assess lexical stress. The purpose of this study was to compare how people with and without PD modulate acoustic dimensions of lexical stress-fundamental frequency, intensity, and duration-to mark lexical stress across three different speech tasks.

Method: Twelve individuals with mild-to-moderate idiopathic PD and 12 age- and sex-matched older adult controls completed three speech tasks: picture description, word production in isolation, and word production in lists.

Rapid Reviews to Support Practice: A Guide for Professional Organization Practice Networks.

Occupational Therapists, among other healthcare decision makers, often need to make decisions within limited timeframes and cannot wait for the completion of large rigorous systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Rapid reviews are one method to increase the integration of research evidence into clinical decision making. Rapid reviews streamline the systematic review process to allow for the timely synthesis of evidence; however, there does not exist a single agreed upon guide for the methodology and reporting of rapid reviews.

Do pain management apps use evidence-based psychological components? A systematic review of app content and quality.

Background: With hundreds of pain management apps on the Canadian marketplace, it can be challenging for patients and clinicians to select effective and evidence-based mobile health (mHealth) apps that address pain from a biopsychosocial perspective.

Aims: The aim of this study is to identify pain management apps within the Canadian app marketplaces to aid clinicians in recommending apps.

Methods: The iOS and Android marketplaces were systematically searched to identify pain management apps that included at least one core component of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or mindfulness- and acceptance-based therapies.

Developing Mobile Health Interventions With Implementation in Mind: Application of the Multiphase Optimization Strategy (MOST) Preparation Phase to Diabetes Prevention Programming.

With thousands of mobile health (mHealth) solutions on the market, patients and health care providers struggle to identify which solution to use and prescribe. The lack of evidence-based mHealth solutions may be because of limited research on intervention development and the continued use of traditional research methods for mHealth evaluation. The Multiphase Optimization Strategy (MOST) is a framework that aids in developing interventions that produce the best-expected outcomes (ie, effectiveness), given constraints imposed on affordability, scalability, and efficiency (also known as achieving intervention EASE).

mHealth prompts within diabetes prevention programs: a scoping review.

Background: Mobile health (mHealth) prompts (e.g., text messaging, push notifications) are a commonly used technique within behaviour change interventions to prompt or cue a specific behaviour.

The Validity and Reliability of Two Commercially Available Load Sensors for Clinical Strength Assessment.

Objective: Handheld dynamometers are common tools for assessing/monitoring muscular strength and endurance. Health/fitness Bluetooth load sensors may provide a cost-effective alternative; however, research is needed to evaluate the validity and reliability of such devices. This study assessed the validity and reliability of two commercially available Bluetooth load sensors (Activ5 by Activbody and Progressor by Tindeq).

Fitness Facility Staff Can Be Trained to Deliver a Motivational Interviewing-Informed Diabetes Prevention Program.

Training programs must be evaluated to understand whether the training was successful at enabling staff to implement a program with fidelity. This is especially important when the training has been translated to a new context. The aim of this community case study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the in-person Small Steps for Big Changes training for fitness facility staff using the 4-level Kirkpatrick training evaluation model.

Evaluation and Refinement of a Bank of SMS Text Messages to Promote Behavior Change Adherence Following a Diabetes Prevention Program: Survey Study.

Background: SMS text messaging is a low-cost and far-reaching modality that can be used to augment existing diabetes prevention programs and improve long-term diet and exercise behavior change adherence. To date, little research has been published regarding the process of SMS text message content development. Understanding how interventions are developed is necessary to evaluate their evidence base and to guide the implementation of effective and scalable mobile health interventions in public health initiatives and in future research.

Using the behavior change wheel to develop text messages to promote diet and physical activity adherence following a diabetes prevention program.

Improving diet and physical activity (PA) can reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes (T2D); however, long-term diet and PA adherence is poor. To impact population-level T2D risk, scalable interventions facilitating behavior change adherence are needed. Text messaging interventions supplementing behavior change interventions can positively influence health behaviors including diet and PA.

Acoustic Measures of Voice and Physiologic Measures of Autonomic Arousal During Speech as a Function of Cognitive Load in Older Adults.

Objectives/hypothesis: The purpose of this study was to determine the relationships among cognitive loading, autonomic arousal, and acoustic measures of voice in healthy older adults.

Study Design: Prospective and observational.

Methods: Twelve healthy older adults (six females) produced a sentence containing an embedded Stroop task in each of two cognitive load conditions: congruent and incongruent.

Positive Changes in Certified Nursing Assistants' Communication Behaviors With People With Dementia: Feasibility of a Coaching Strategy.

Purpose This study investigated whether a 6-week coaching strategy resulted in positive changes in self-perceived knowledge and efficacy (SPKE) and positive communication behaviors in certified nursing assistants (CNAs) working with people with dementia in a skilled nursing facility. It also assessed the impact of the coaching strategy on negative responsive behaviors of people with dementia, such as yelling out, hitting, or spitting. Method Seven CNAs and seven people with dementia completed this study.

Classifying sitting, standing, and walking using plantar force data.

Prolonged static weight-bearing at work may increase the risk of developing plantar fasciitis (PF). However, to establish a causal relationship between weight-bearing and PF, a low-cost objective measure of workplace behaviors is needed. This proof-of-concept study assesses the classification accuracy and sensitivity of low-resolution plantar pressure measurements in distinguishing workplace postures.

Identifying Behaviour Change Techniques and Motivational Interviewing Techniques in Small Steps for Big Changes: A Community-Based Program for Adults at Risk for Type 2 Diabetes.

Background: The risk of developing type 2 diabetes (T2D) can be reduced through diet and exercise changes. Given the rapidly increasing prevalence of T2D and the associated burden on the health-care system, there is a need for affordable and scalable diet and exercise programs to be delivered in communities. Small Steps for Big Changes (SSBC) is an evidence-based diabetes prevention program for improving diet and exercise adherence in individuals at risk for developing T2D.