Modesta Pousada

ICT and Older People: Beyond Usability

This study examined the use that older, regular users of computers make of information and computer technology in their daily lives. Opinions from such users were obtained regarding what they want these technologies to offer them in the future. By means of a discussion group and an online questionnaire, our critical case examined a group of mature senior students from the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (online learning) who have used computers and the Internet in their activities. In general, the participants needed to know the function of the tool beforehand and to have continued support and confidence. In particular, they need the certainty that the future technology will allow them to maintain their independence and autonomy. Older peoples adoption of IT needs to be treated as more than merely a question of usability. Attitudes, experience of use, and perceived benefits are also key aspects that must be taken into account.

ePatients on YouTube: Analysis of Four Experiences From the Patients' Perspective

Background Many patients share their personal experiences and opinions using online video platforms. These videos are watched by millions of health consumers and health care professionals. Although it has become a popular phenomenon, little is known about patients who share videos online and why they do so. Objective We aimed to explore the motivations and challenges faced by patients who share videos about their health and experiences on YouTube. As part of a conference discussion, we asked several patients actively engaged on YouTube to make a video explaining their motivations. This paper discusses these videos. Methods In this qualitative study, we performed an analysis of the videos created by 4 patients about their self-reported motivations and challenges they face as YouTube users. First, two judges compared the transcriptions and decided the exact wording when confusing content was found. Second, two judges categorized the content of the videos to identify the major themes. Results Four main categories emerged: (1) the origin or cause for making the first video, (2) the objectives that they achieve by continuing to make videos, (3) the perception of community, and (4) the negative consequences of the experience. Conclusions The main reason for making videos was to bridge the gap between traditional health information about their diseases and everyday life. The first consequence of sharing their life on YouTube was a loss of privacy. However, they also experienced the positive effects of expressing their feelings, being part of a large community of peers, and helping others to deal with a chronic condition.

Guiametabolica.org: empowerment through internet tools in inherited metabolic diseases

Web-based interventions are effective on the patient empowerment. Guiametabolica.org constitutes an interface for people involved in inherited metabolic diseases, trying to facilitate access to information and contact with professionals and other patients, offering a platform to develop support groups. Guiametabolica.org is widely considered for Spanish-speaking patients and caregivers with inherited metabolic diseases. Preliminary evaluations show changes in their habits, decrease in their senses of isolation and improvement regarding self-efficacy. Specific inherited metabolic diseases websites, especially participative websites, should be considered as a complement to more traditional clinical approaches. Their contribution lies in patient’s general well-being, without interfering with traditional care.

El uso de Facebook en asociaciones españolas de enfermedades raras: ¿cómo y para qué lo utilizan?

OBJECTIVE To study whether the use of Facebook is widespread in the field of patient associations for rare diseases and, if so, the purpose for which the site is being used. METHOD A descriptive study was conducted to determine whether associations within the Spanish Federation for Rare Diseases use Facebook and, if so, the type of use and its objectives. The analysis was performed based on a categorization system that has been used in the field of chronic diseases and has been adapted to the specific characteristics of rare diseases. RESULTS Associations use Facebook to raise awareness of rare diseases in general and particularly to share content related to psychological, medical and social support, the promotion and dissemination of research, and fundraising. CONCLUSIONS The alignment between the interests of associations through their presence on Facebook and policy areas of the national strategy for rare diseases is a reason for optimism about the feasibility of using Facebook as a tool for encounters and collaborative work.

Working women's lifestyles and quality of life in the information society.

We investigate the lifestyles of Spanish women workers engaged in the information and communication society and analyze key indicators of lifestyle as predictors of their quality of life. In this study, 207 women aged between 19 and 54 years responded to questions related to daily activities and to a quality-of-life questionnaire. We concluded that Spanish women in this study show regular and healthy habits in diet and prevention behaviors, and we also identify important quality-of-life predicting factors in issues related to personal time management.

Towards a Web-Based Teaching Tool to Measure and Represent the Emotional Climate of Virtual Classrooms

This paper presents the first results of a teaching innovation project named “Emotional Thermometer for Teaching” (ETT) carried out at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya. The ETT project intersects the scopes of eLearning and Affective Computing with the aim of collecting and managing emotional information of online students during their learning process. Such information allows lecturers to monitor the overall emotional climate of their virtual classrooms whilst detecting critical moments for timely interventions, such as assisting in certain learning tasks that generate negative emotions (anxiety, fear, etc.). To this end, an innovative teaching tool named ETT was developed as a functional indicator to measure and represent the classroom emotional climate, which is dynamically evolving as the course goes by. In this paper, the technical development of the ETT tool is described that meets the challenging requirement of correctly identifying the overall emotional climate of virtual classrooms from the posts sent by students to in-class forums. First, a machine learning approach combined with Natural Language Processing techniques is described to automatically classify posts in terms of positive, neutral and negative emotions. Then, a web-based graphical tool is presented to visualize the calculated emotional climate of the classroom and its evolution over time. Finally, the post classification approach is technically tested and the initial results are discussed.