LiveWell RERC State of the Science Conference Report on ICT Access to Support Community Living, Health and Function for People with Disabilities

Abstract

This article summarizes the proceedings of the three session State of the Science (SOS) Conference that was conducted by the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center for Community Living, Health and Function (LiveWell RERC) in June 2019 in Toronto, Canada. RERCs customarily convene an SOS conference toward the end of their five-year funding cycle in order to assess the current state and identify potential future research, development, and knowledge translation efforts needed to advance their field. The first two sessions focused on the current and future state of information and communication technology (ICT) for mobile health (mHealth) and mobile rehabilitation (mRehab). The third session was a wide-ranging discussion of pressing needs for future research and development in the field. Several “big ideas” resulted from the discussion among participants in the SOS Conference that should inform the structure and operation of future efforts, including: (1) identifying active ingredients of interventions, (2) incorporating effective behavior-change techniques into all interventions, (3) including measures of social determinants of health in evaluation studies, (4) incorporating user-customizable features into technology solutions, and (5) ensuring “discoverability” of research and development outputs by stakeholders via structured and continuous outreach, education and training. Substantive areas of work include gaming and esports, the gamification of interventions for health and fitness, the cultivation of community supports, and continuous outreach and education wherever a person with a disability may live.

Promoting Physical and Mental Health among Children and Adolescents via Gamification—A Conceptual Systematic Review

“…Additionally, gamification can be used to improve health literacy and mental health awareness. Through interactive games, young people can be effectively educated about physical and mental health, thereby increasing understanding, decreasing stigma, and encouraging help-seeking behaviors [26]. Gamification can convert traditional learning experiences into interactive, engaging, and enjoyable educational activities.…”