Search Results (16)

Background: In today’s society, low levels of physical activity are observed in the child and adolescent population, which can cause numerous pathologies, such as obesity and mental health problems. Objective: This article aims to compile all the contexts and scenarios where it is possible to increase the levels of daily physical activity of children and young people, and which have significant scientific support. Method. To do so, a literature review was carried out examining four key contexts for intervention: school, extracurricular, family, and socio-community. Results: The results indicate that the school context, with strategies such as physical education classes and active breaks, is crucial but insufficient on its own, so it is essential to complement it with interventions in extracurricular, family, and socio-community environments. The involvement of families, access to adequate infrastructure such as parks and green areas, and the responsible use of technology, including active video games and the role of influencers on social networks, are presented as key elements to combat a sedentary lifestyle. Conclusions: It is important to highlight the importance of establishing socio-educational programs that adopt a comprehensive approach to promote physical activity in children and youth, highlighting the scientific evidence that supports the effectiveness of intervening in multiple scenarios. This review concludes that a coordinated approach between different actors (schools, families, communities) is necessary to ensure that children and youth reach adequate levels of physical activity, which not only improves their physical health, but also their mental well-being and cognitive development. Full article

(1) Background: Stress is a major public health problem due to its relevant health, social and economic repercussions. Moreover, stress can be associated with work; when stress increases over time, burnout can occur, an occupational phenomenon recognized by the WHO in 2019. There is interest in the use of wearable devices to monitor and control stressors and their influence on the condition of workers. This study aims to identify the level of job stress and its influence on the quality of life of workers. (2) Methods:This longitudinal study was carried out between the end of May and mid-July 2021. Three assessment tools along with a daily and a weekly questionnaire were computerized through the RedCap platform. The participants had to fill out the diary and weekly questionnaires and wear a Xiaomi Mi Band 5 during the project. (3) Results and discussion: Thirty-six workers from the University of Coruña and from the University of Porto participated in the project. This study promotes the awareness of workers regarding their work stress and the influence of this factor on their quality of life using physiological (e.g., activity, sleep, and heart rate) and psychological indicators (self-report questionnaires in different moments). Full article

Advances achieved in recent decades regarding cardiac surgery have revealed a new risk that goes beyond surgeons’ dexterity; post-operative hours are crucial in these patients and are usually spent at intensive care units (ICUs), where they need to be continuously monitored to adjust the treatments. Clinical decision support systems (CDSS) have been developed to take this real-time information and provide clinical suggestions to physicians, so as to reduce medical errors and increase patient recovery ratio. In this review, an initial total of 666 papers were considered, finishing with 23 of them after the researchers’ filter, which included the deletion of duplications and exclusion if the title and abstract were not of real interest. The review of these papers concludes the applicability and extends the CDSS offer to both doctors and patients. Better prognosis and recovery rate are achieved by using this technology, which also has high acceptance among most physicians. However, despite the evidence that well-designed CDSS are effective, they still need to be refined to offer the best assistance as possible, which may still take time, despite the promising models that have already been applied in real ICUs. Full article

Background: Presently the use of technological devices such as wearable devices has emerged. Physical activity monitoring with wearable sensors is an easy and non-intrusive approach to encourage preventive care for older adults. It may be useful to follow a continuous assessment of the risk of falling. The objective is to explore the relationship between the daily activity measured by Xiaomi Mi Band 2 and the risk of falling of older adults residing in or attending care facilities. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on three different institutions located in Galicia (autonomous community) (Spain). Results: A total of 31 older adults were included in the study, with a mean age of 84 ± 8.71 years old. The main findings obtained were that a greater number of steps and distance could be related to a lower probability of falling, of dependency in basic activities of daily living, or of mobility problems. Conclusions: The importance of focusing on daily steps, intrinsically related to the objective assessment of daily physical activity, is that it is a modifiable factor that impacts different aspects of health and quality of life. Full article

The development of digital supports for people with autism has increased considerably in recent years. Technology designers and developers have interpreted the needs and learning styles of people with autism in different ways. As a result, there are generic, non-specific or heterogeneous guidelines for the design and development of technology for people with autism. This study aims to identify and describe the recommended elements to support graphical user interface design for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), considering the stakeholders’ perspective, engaged in a computer application development. A qualitative, longitudinal, multicentre study was carried out. A sample of 39 participants belonging to four groups of stakeholders participated: children with autism, family members, professionals with experience in the intervention with children with autism, and professionals with expertise in the design and development of assistive technology. The techniques used to formalise the collection of information from participants were semi-structured interviews and observation. MAXQDA 2020 software (Verbi Software, Berlin, Germany) was used to analyse the data. The result is a guide with suggestions to support an interface design that emerges from the stakeholder perspectives. This study provides useful information to offer alternatives for children with ASD and facilitate the understanding of daily life. Full article

The advances achieved in recent decades regarding cardiac surgery have led to a new risk that goes beyond surgeons’ dexterity; postoperative hours are crucial for cardiac surgery patients and are usually spent in intensive care units (ICUs), where the patients need to be continuously monitored to adjust their treatment. Clinical decision support systems (CDSSs) have been developed to take this real-time information and provide clinical suggestions to physicians in order to reduce medical errors and to improve patient recovery. In this review, an initial total of 499 papers were considered after identification using PubMed, Web of Science, and CINAHL. Twenty-two studies were included after filtering, which included the deletion of duplications and the exclusion of titles or abstracts that were not of real interest. A review of these papers concluded the applicability and advances that CDSSs offer for both doctors and patients. Better prognosis and recovery rates are achieved by using this technology, which has also received high acceptance among most physicians. However, despite the evidence that well-designed CDSSs are effective, they still need to be refined to offer the best assistance possible, which may still take time, despite the promising models that have already been applied in real ICUs. Full article

(1) Background: Work stress is one of the most relevant issues in public health. It has a significant impact on health, especially the development of mental disorders, causing occupational imbalance. There is a growing interest in the development of tools with a positive effect on workers. To this end, wearable technology is becoming increasingly popular, as it measures biometric variables like heartbeat, activity, and sleep. This information may be used to assess the stress a person is suffering, which could allow the development of stress coping strategies, both at a professional and personal level. (2) Methods: This paper describes an observational, analytical, and longitudinal study which will be set at a research center in A Coruña, Spain. Various scales and questionnaires will be filled in by the participants throughout the study. For the statistical analysis, specific methods will be used to evaluate the association between numerical and categorical variables. (3) Discussion: This study will lay the foundation for a bigger, more complete study to assess occupational stress in different work environments. This will allow us to begin to understand how occupational stress influences daily life activity and occupational balance, which could directly enhance the quality of life of workers if the necessary measures are taken. Full article

(1) Background: Sleep disorders are a common problem for public health since they are considered potential triggers and predictors of some mental and physical diseases. Evaluating the sleep quality of a person may be a first step to prevent further health issues that diminish their independence and quality of life. Polysomnography (PSG) is the “gold standard” for sleep studies, but this technique presents some drawbacks. Thus, this study intends to assess the capability of the new Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 5 to be used as a tool for sleep self-assessment. (2) Methods: This study will be an observational and prospective study set at the sleep unit of a hospital in A Coruña, Spain. Forty-three participants who meet the inclusion criteria will be asked to participate. Specific statistical methods will be used to analyze the data collected using the Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 5 and PSG. (3) Discussion: This study offers a promising approach to assess whether the Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 5 correctly records our sleep. Even though these devices are not expected to replace PSG, they may be used as an initial evaluation tool for users to manage their own sleep quality and, if necessary, consult a health professional. Further, the device may help users make simple changes to their habits to improve other health issues as well. Trial registration: NCT04568408 (Registered 23 September 2020). Full article

Introduction: Falls are the second leading cause of accidental or non-intentional deaths worldwide and are the most common problem as people age. The primary purpose of addressing falls is to detect, prevent, treat, and reduce their incidence and consequences. Previous studies identified that multifactorial programs, an interprofessional team, and assistive technology are required to address falls in older adults effectively. Accordingly, the research question is as follows: what are the scope, type of studies, and approaches and strategies to fall risk using technology in the existing occupational therapy literature regarding interventions to address the effects of falls in older adults on daily living? Methods: This scoping review was carried out in January 2020 through Biblioteca Virtual de Salud España, C.I.N.A.H.L., Cochrane Plus, OTSeeker, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. Results: Twelve papers were included. We analyzed the year and journal of publication, authors’ affiliation, and design of the study, and thematic categories. There were three themes: participants’ characteristics, type of intervention, and fall approach and type of technology used. Discussion and Conclusions: The literature obtained is scarce. It is considered to still be an emerging theme, especially when considering the use of technology for occupational therapy. Full article

Polysomnography (PSG) is currently the accepted gold standard for sleep studies, as it measures multiple variables that lead to a clear diagnosis of any sleep disorder. However, it has some clear drawbacks, since it can only be performed by qualified technicians, has a high cost and complexity and is very invasive. In the last years, actigraphy has been used along PSG for sleep studies. In this study, we intend to assess the capability of the new Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 5 to be used as an actigraphy tool. Sleep measures from PSG and Xiaomi Mi Smart Band 5 recorded in the same night will be obtained and further analysed to assess their concordance. For this analysis, we perform a paired sample t-test to compare the different measures, Bland–Altman plots to evaluate the level of agreement between the Mi Band and PSG and Epoch by Epoch analysis to study the ability of the Mi Band to correctly identify PSG-defined sleep stages. This study belongs to the research field known as participatory health, which aims to offer an innovative healthcare model driven by the patients themselves, leading to civic empowerment and self-management of health. Full article

Virtual reality (VR) allows us to simulate everyday life environments with realism and in an immersive environment, with the use of the appropriate hardware. People with functional diversity, either because of environmental barriers or because of their reduced mobility, have fewer opportunities to participate in different daily activities or risk situations outdoors. Therefore, VR can be a technological resource for these people to access, try out, and experience different environments and scenarios, offering new participation experiences. Therefore, the aim of this proposal is to analyze the properties and determine the possibilities of the virtual reality applications available on commercial platforms for use in the practice of rehabilitation and intervention aimed at people with functional diversity. This is a transversal, descriptive study that has focused on the analysis of the 40 applications from the STEAM Virtual Reality and VIVE platforms for High Tech Computer Corporation (HTC). After analysis, it has been observed that there are no applications available that are fully accessible and with a minimum degree of usability for use by people with functional diversity. Full article

Introduction: Stress at work is a factor that has repercussions on both a personal and health level, as well as on productivity at work. Objective: To establish if the wearables are devices capable of determining the level of labor stress of working people in a research center. Methodology: This pilot study followed up different variables during 6 months on 11 participants of a research center. In the study, wearables Xiaomi MiB and 3 were used, which recorded and continuously monitored the physical activity and sleep of the participants. On the other hand, different specific evaluation tests were used to measure work stress, quality of life and sleep quality. Results: The data obtained from the tests and the wearables show that men feel slightly more stressed and sleep worse than women; however, men spend more time sitting and walking than women. Conclusions: It is considered important to replicate the study in larger and more heterogeneous cohorts. Full article

This adaptation consists of the translation from Spanish into Portuguese of the different contents offered by the ClepiTO web platform to be able to carry out a pilot test with a larger population in Portugal and thus be able to compare the results obtained among the Spanish and Portuguese population Full article

The current study sought to determine the association of sleep with HRQOL and physical function among older nursing home residents. Participants were 37 older adults attending or residing in a semi-urban nursing-home facility in Galicia, Spain (70.3% cognitively normal, 29.7% cognitively impaired, aged 84.1±8.0, 81.1% women) who completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the 5-level EuroQol-5D, a measure of HRQOL, and the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) Core Sets for Sleep, a measure of physical functional. After adjustment for age, poor (PSQI score ≤ 14) and/or worse sleep quality (continuous PSQI score) was associated with several indices of lower HRQOL, including greater immobility (b = 0.19, p = 0.012) difficulty completing self-care (b = 0.23, p < 0.001) and daily activities (b = 0.18, p = 0.004), more severe anxiety/depression (b = 0.10, p = 0.042), and a lower overall health index (b = 0.06, p = 0.001). Further, poor/worse sleep quality was associated with several indices of functional impairment, including greater difficulty maintaining body position (b = 0.32, p = 0.004), walking (b = 0.17, p = 0.001), and moving around (b = 0.45, p = 0.009). Full article