Guided by the frameworks of uncertainty management and sensemaking during crises, this study examined how young adults in Singapore managed uncertainty around the COVID-19 outbreak. Through a series of eight focus group discussions involving 89 young adults, we found that participants experienced uncertainty about the outbreak, especially when it comes to how they should protect themselves. They managed this uncertainty in two ways: while some engaged in information seeking, others engaged in information scanning. Those who did not actively seek information did not avoid it either, with some of them finding it impossible to avoid information about COVID-19, as it comes up in their routine social media use and offline conversations. Understanding COVID-19 as an illness that does not threaten young people, our participants noted only minimal disruptions to them. Instead, they were more concerned about their parents and older family members, whom they considered as more vulnerable.
Background
The risk of development of chronic diseases related to poor nutrition increases with age. In the face of an aging population, it is important for health care sectors to find solutions in delivering health services efficiently and effectively to middle-aged and older adults.
Objective
The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to consolidate the literature that reported the effectiveness of eHealth apps in delivering nutritional interventions for middle-aged and older adults.
Methods
A literature search from five databases (PubMed, CINAHL, Cochrane, Web of Science, and Global Health) from the past 5 years was performed. Studies were selected for inclusion that used eHealth to deliver nutritional interventions to adults aged 40 years and above, and reported health and behavioral outcomes. Two independent reviewers searched for research articles and assessed the eligibility of studies to be included in the review. A third reviewer resolved disagreements on study inclusion. We also assessed the quality of the included studies using the CONSORT 2010 checklist.
Results
A total of 70 studies were included for analysis. The study quality ranged from 44% to 85%. The most commonly used eHealth intervention type was mobile apps (22/70, 31%). The majority of studies (62/70, 89%) provided multicomponent health interventions, which aimed to improve nutrition and other health behaviors (eg, exercise, smoking cessation, medication adherence). Meta-analysis results indicated high and significant heterogeneity; hence, conclusions based on these results should be considered with caution. Nonetheless, the results generally showed that eHealth interventions improved anthropometric and clinical outcomes, but not behavioral outcomes such as fruit and vegetable consumption.
Conclusions
The use of eHealth apps to deliver health interventions has been increasing in recent years, and these apps have the potential to deliver health services to a larger group of people. Our findings showed that the effectiveness of eHealth apps to deliver health interventions for middle-aged to older adults was supported by the improvement of anthropometric and clinical outcomes. Future work could aim to develop research frameworks in administering eHealth interventions to address heterogeneity in this field of research.
Exergames is one of the new innovative approaches used in primary healthcare programmes. The current study introduces a fitness game system, HOCAMOSE-VETS, which includes digital rehabilitation exercises and exergames designed with a particular focus on older adults. Besides the new exergames, the system also allows care staff to actively schedule, monitor and assess the progress of older adults' exercise activities. A survey-based study was conducted to investigate the overall user acceptance of the digital fitness game system. We found that users' perceived ease of use and usefulness have a significant impact on their actual intention of using the game system. However, the output quality of the system is not significantly associated with users' perception of the usefulness and ease of use of the system. The findings from this research have provided new insights into designing elderly fitness games.
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