One of our staff members, Professor Daniel Freeman, is leading a landmark £4 million National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) award to enable state-of-the-art psychological therapy to be delivered via virtual reality (VR) in the NHS.
The ground-breaking project brings together a unique team of NHS trusts (including Oxford Health), universities, a mental health charity, the Royal College of Art, and a University of Oxford spinout company.
The Automated Sensing and Predictive Inference for Respiratory Exacerbation (ASPIRE) programme, which aims to help patients monitor chronic pulmonary disorder (COPD) , will receive a £1.5 million grant from the government’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
The ASPIRE programme aims to develop ‘intelligent’ systems for people to use in their own homes, by wearing lightweight healthcare sensors that can track vital signs. These systems can then monitor COPD signs and symptoms in their own homes, spotting when the condition is worsening early on: delays in spotting changes in long-term conditions like COPD are bad for patients, and increase the cost of their healthcare.
"An innovative new app might provide a more effective form of birth control than the contraceptive pill," The Sun reports.
The Natural Cycles fertility app combines the use of a thermometer to measure body temperature with calendar calculating methods – often referred to as the rhythm method – to work out the days when a woman would be at high or low risk of pregnancy.
More than 4,000 women were included in this Swedish study looking at how effective the app is at preventing pregnancy.
Two £25 vouchers are up for grabs in the library’s ‘Making the Most of Information’ survey.
To take part, just visit http://goo.gl/AdN4ok by Friday 19th February.
There are well over 150 000 health apps available in Europe1—from those designed to improve general wellness to apps that monitor medical conditions, apps for clinicians, and apps that function as medical devices. There have been more than 102 billion down-loads of health apps worldwide yet there is little regulation or guidance available for doctors or patients on quality, safety, or efficacy.
To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details.
The majority of content in an Internet Support Group (ISG) is contributed by 1 % of the users (‘super users’). Computational methods, such as topic modelling, can provide a large-scale quantitative objective description of this content. Such methods may provide a new perspective on the nature of engagement on ISGs including the role of super users and their possible effect on other users.
Results: We found 15 robotic systems reported in 34 studies that provided a low level of evidence. The outcomes were mainly for children with ASD interaction and who had a reduction in autistic behaviour, and for CP cognitive development, learning, and play. SSSSFT - Please contact the library to receive a copy of this article - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
Purpose: The purpose of this study is to answer two research questions: (1) What is the clinical evidence for the reported outcomes in studies on electronic pillboxes for older adults? and (2) What is the technology readiness level (TRL) of the electronic pillboxes used, or intended to be used, for older adults? You can request a copy of this article by replying to this email. Please be clear which article you are requesting.
What are the fundamental challenges facing policy-makers who want to see the widescale adoption of effective digital technology in the health and care system?
Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy9.Suppl 1 (Aug 2017): 42-50.
Objective: PTSD and depression are related to perceived physical health impairment in veterans, but little is known about the effects of psychological treatment on impairment. We examined the impact of an interactive online treatment for veterans with trauma-related distress, including (a) whether treatment effects include reduced perceived physical impairment, and (b) how these treatment effects are related to symptoms of PTSD and depression. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details.
Given the high prevalence and considerable disease burden associated with depression, attention has been shifting more and more to its prevention, with recent meta-analyses suggesting that a potentially fruitful avenue to explore might involve targeting individuals with sub-threshold symptomatology (van Zoonen et al., 2014).
In a new large randomised controlled trial (RCT) published yesterday in JAMA, Buntrock and co-authors investigated whether a web-based guided self-help intervention could help prevent the onset of major depressive disorder (MDD) in a German adult population with sub-threshold depression.
Commentary on: Ritterband LM, Thorndike FP, Ingersoll KS, et al. Effect of a web-based cognitive behavior therapy for insomnia intervention with 1-year follow-up: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA Psychiatry 2017;74:68–75.. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details.
Dave Steele explores a literature review that focuses on how wearable technology can be used to measure and support social functioning in older adults.