Caregivers are receptive and willing to pay for technologies that help them care for their CR, although the amount they are willing to pay is capped at around $70 per month. The combination of private pay and government subsidy may facilitate development and dissemination of caregiver technologies.

ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGIES ARE RELATIVELY novel tools for research and daily care in long-term care (LTC) facilities that are faced with the burgeoning of the older adult population and dwindling staffing resources. The degree to which stakeholders in LTC facilities are receptive to the use of these technologies is poorly understood. Eighteen semi-structured focus groups and one interview were conducted with relevant groups of stakeholders at seven LTC facilities in southwestern Pennsylvania. Common themes identified across all focus groups centered on concerns for privacy, autonomy, cost, and safety associated with implementation of novel technologies. The relative importance of each theme varied by stakeholder group as well as the perceived severity of cognitive and/or physical disability. Our findings suggest that ethical issues are critical to acceptance of novel technologies by their end users, and that stakeholder groups are interdependent and require shared communication about the acceptance of these emerging technologies.

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a quantitative tool used to evaluate the environmental impacts of products or processes. With respect to buildings, LCA can be used to evaluate the environmental impacts of an entire building's life cycle. Currently LCA in the building area is used in a limited capacity, primarily to select building products. In order to determine the causality for the lack of whole-building LCAs, focus groups with members of the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) communities were held. This article investigates the current level of knowledge of LCA in the AEC community and then discusses the benefits and barriers to the practice of LCA. In summary, the goal of the research was to identify why LCA is not used to its fullest potential in a whole-building LCA.In an open forum and moderated setting, focus group participants were asked individually to self-identify their experience with LCA, a brief education session on LCA was held, and then benefits and barriers to LCA were discussed. The focus group sessions were transcribed and systematically coded by social researchers in order to analyze the results. Hybrid flow and radar charts were developed. From the focus group results, the most important benefit to LCA was "provides information about environmental impacts." The results did not identify a prominent barrier; however, building-related metrics were ascertained to be one of the more crucial barriers. The benefits and barriers classified by this analysis will be utilized to develop a subsequent online survey to further understand the LCA and AEC community.

Consumers' willingness to pay out of pocket for technologies to improve their well-being and independence is limited. In order to be widely adopted, QoLTs will have to be highly cost effective so that third party payers such as Medicare and private insurance companies are willing to pay for them.

Efforts to develop novel technologies that address the everyday challenges faced by older adults and persons with disabilities are constrained by limited understanding of their perspectives as potential end-users. We conducted a national, web-based survey with a non-probability sample of 1,610 adults (68% female; 47% age 45-64; 47% age 65+) with and without disability, to learn their views about technologies in development that will be capable of both discerning when and how to accommodate an individual's need and desire for assistance and providing that desired assistance as appropriate. In the survey we described four families of engineered systems that could provide cognitive and physical support for personal and instrumental activities of daily living, including personal care, home management, and driving. Here we summarize respondents' views about quality of life technologies in general and each family of engineered systems in particular. We also describe the recurring themes evident in respondents' answers to our query about technologies that should be developed in the near future.

BackgroundThe majority of Americans now access the Internet, thereby expanding prospects for Web-based health-related education and intervention. However, there remains a digital divide among those with lower income and education, and among Spanish-speaking populations in the United States. Additional concerns are the low eHealth literacy rate among these populations and their interest in Internet-delivered interventions with these components. Given these factors, combined with the prevalence of type 2 diabetes among low socioeconomic status and Spanish-speaking Americans, strides need to be taken to reach these populations with online tools for diabetes prevention and management that are at once accessible and efficacious.ObjectiveUsing a formative evaluation of an eHealth diabetes prevention and control website, we tested the extent to which African Americans, Caucasians, and Mexican Americans at risk for type 2 diabetes gained knowledge and intended to modify their dietary intake and physical activity subsequent to viewing the website. We also examined their general Internet use patterns related to type 2 diabetes.MethodsA mixed methods approach was undertaken. The diabetes prevention and control website provided educational and behavioral change information in English and Spanish. For this study, eligible participants (1) completed a prequantitative survey, (2) interacted with the website, (3) completed a qualitative interview, and (4) completed a postquantitative survey.ResultsAfter finding a significant differences in posttest diabetes knowledge scores (P<.001), a regression analysis controlling for pretest score, health literacy, ethnicity, Transtheoretical Model Stage for exercise and fruit and vegetable consumption, and Internet literacy was conducted. Internet literacy score (P=.04) and fruit and vegetable consumption stage (P<.001) were significantly associated with posttest scores indicating that those in precontemplation stage and with low Internet literacy scores were less likely to show improved diabetes knowledge scores. We found significant difference in posttest intention to eat a healthy diet each day in the next 2 months after controlling for pretest score, health literacy, ethnicity, Transtheoretical Model Stage for fruit and vegetable consumption and Internet literacy. Those in the Action stage of the Transtheoretical model for exercise were significantly less likely (P=.023) to improve the posttest score for intention to eat a healthy diet compared to those in the Preparation stage for exercise. We also found that health information is sought commonly across ethnic groups, but that diabetes-related information is less commonly sought even among those at risk. Other specific ethnic usage patterns were identified in the qualitative data including content sought on Web searches and technology used to access the Internet.ConclusionsThis study provides in-depth qualitative insight into the seeking, access, and use of Web-based health information across three ethnic groups in two languages. Addit...

This study solicited the perspectives of community-hased behavioral health practitioners and supervisors ahout their perceived clinical training needs and preferences using a mixed-methods approach. Forty one participants completed quantitative questionnaires hefore engaging in qualitative focus groups or interviews. Of those, 34 practitioners participated in a focus group discussion and 7 supervisors participated in semistructured interviews. Quantitative analyses (one-way analysis of variance [ANOVA]; t test) indicated differences in attitude toward the adoption of evidence-hased practices across service line, hut not role (staff vs. supervisor), with wraparound staff heing more open and willing to implement evidence-based practices. Qualitative data were coded hy 2 independent coders. Four themes emerged: include training support from trainers, agencies, supervisors, and peers within and across departments; use interactive training methods rather than lecture-based formats; schedule and structure training sessions with an appreciation of the time constraints upon practitioners; and offer training in content areas that are both efficacious and of interest.

BackgroundRecent trial results show that an interactive short message service (SMS) text message intervention, Texting to Reduce Alcohol Consumption (TRAC), is effective in reducing heavy drinking in non-treatment-seeking young adults, but may not be optimized.ObjectiveTo assess the usability of the TRAC intervention among young adults in an effort to optimize future intervention design.MethodsWe conducted five focus groups with 18 young adults, aged 18-25 years, who had a history of heavy drinking and had been randomized to 12 weeks of the TRAC intervention as part of a clinical trial. A trained moderator followed a semistructured interview guide. Focus groups were audiotaped, transcribed, and analyzed to identify themes.ResultsWe identified four themes regarding user experiences with the TRAC intervention: (1) ease of use, (2) comfort and confidentiality, (3) increased awareness of drinking behavior, and (4) accountability for drinking behavior. Participants’ comments supported the existing features of the TRAC intervention, as well as the addition of other features to increase personalization and continuing engagement with the intervention.ConclusionsYoung adults perceived the TRAC intervention as a useful way to help them reduce heavy drinking on weekends. Components that promote ease of use, ensure confidentiality, increase awareness of alcohol consumption, and increase accountability were seen as important.