BackgroundMobile apps for health exist in large numbers today, but oftentimes, consumers do not continue to use them after a brief period of initial usage, are averse toward using them at all, or are unaware that such apps even exist. The purpose of our study was to examine and qualitatively determine the design and content elements of health apps that facilitate or impede usage from the users’ perceptive.MethodsIn 2014, six focus groups and five individual interviews were conducted in the Midwest region of the U.S. with a mixture of 44 smartphone owners of various social economic status. The participants were asked about their general and health specific mobile app usage. They were then shown specific features of exemplar health apps and prompted to discuss their perceptions. The focus groups and interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and coded using the software NVivo.ResultsInductive thematic analysis was adopted to analyze the data and nine themes were identified: 1) barriers to adoption of health apps, 2) barriers to continued use of health apps, 3) motivators, 4) information and personalized guidance, 5) tracking for awareness and progress, 6) credibility, 7) goal setting, 8) reminders, and 9) sharing personal information. The themes were mapped to theories for interpretation of the results.ConclusionsThis qualitative research with a diverse pool of participants extended previous research on challenges and opportunities of health apps. The findings provide researchers, app designers, and health care providers insights on how to develop and evaluate health apps from the users’ perspective.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-016-3808-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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One-micrometer wavelength ultrafast laser emission is transformed to a powerful tool for ultrabroadband mid-infrared spectroscopy.

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BackgroundToday, college students are dealing with depression at some of the highest rates in decades. As the primary mental health service provider, university counseling centers are limited in their capacity and efficiency to provide mental health care due to time constraints and reliance on students’ self-reports. A mobile behavioral-sensing platform may serve as a solution to enhance the efficiency and accessibility of university counseling services.ObjectiveThe main objectives of this study are to (1) understand the usefulness of a mobile sensing platform (ie, iSee) in improving counseling services and assisting students’ self-management of their depression conditions, and (2) explore what types of behavioral targets (ie, meaningful information extracted from raw sensor data) and feedback to deliver from both clinician and students’ perspectives.MethodsWe conducted semistructured interviews with 9 clinicians and 12 students with depression recruited from a counseling center at a large Midwestern university. The interviews were 40-50 minutes long and were audio recorded and transcribed. The interview data were analyzed using thematic analysis with an inductive approach. Clinician and student interviews were analyzed separately for comparison. The process of extracting themes involved iterative coding, memo writing, theme revisits, and refinement.ResultsFrom the clinician perspective, the mobile sensing platform helps to improve counseling service by providing objective evidence for clinicians and filling gaps in clinician-patient communication. Clinicians suggested providing students with their sensed behavioral targets organized around personalized goals. Clinicians also recommended delivering therapeutic feedback to students based on their sensed behavioral targets, including positive reinforcement, reflection reminders, and challenging negative thoughts. From the student perspective, the mobile sensing platform helps to ease continued self-tracking practices. Students expressed their need for integrated behavioral targets to understand correlations between behaviors and depression. They also pointed out that they would prefer to avoid seeing negative feedback.ConclusionsAlthough clinician and student participants shared views on the advantages of iSee in supporting university counseling, they had divergent opinions on the types of behavioral targets and feedback to be provided via iSee. This exploratory work gained initial insights into the design of a mobile sensing platform for depression management and informed a more conclusive research project for the future.

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An unanticipated outcome of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has been increased Sinophobia directed toward Asian Americans. The present study used a mixed-methods design and investigated how 345 East Asian Americans responded to COVID-19-related microaggressions and how their responses affected stress and well-being. The qualitative data included 196 narratives describing anti-Asian microaggressions experienced by participants during COVID-19. Four themes emerged from narratives including nonverbal rejection responses, verbal rejection, physical assault, and exposure to aggression on the social media. Additionally, quantitative data collected participants' responses to scales measuring microaggressions, personal resilience, social support, coping strategies (engagement and disengagement coping), stress, and psychological well-being. Path analysis showed that participants who reported more microaggressions experienced significantly more stress. Participants with more social support had better psychological well-being. Those with stronger personal resilience were more likely to use engagement coping. Even though engagement coping was associated with more stress, confronting aggressors was also associated with better psychological well-being compared to ignoring the threat (disengagement coping). Implications of these findings are discussed.What is the public significance of this article? East Asian Americans confronted with anti-Asian microaggressions during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic who engaged with the aggressor had more stress, but better mental health outcomes compared to participants who ignored microaggressions.