KnL

New publication: Individualized asynchronous sensor-based telerehabilitation program

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Reza Naeemabadi, PhD student at Laboratory for Welfare Technology, Aalborg University, has published a study aimed to identify patients’ requirements after a total knee replacement following a self-training rehabilitation program, leading to the design and development of a telerehabilitation program.

Telerehabilitation programs can be employed to establish communication between patients and healthcare professionals and empower patients performing their training remotely. Let us hope it will be used more in the future.

You can see and read the paper here.

Join the conference “Aging in a Digital World”

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Download ADW registration flyer
Download flyer

Join the conference “Aging in a Digital World” in Sacramento, California, April 1-2, 2020 – it has been postponed due to the corona virus.

Our goal for the conference is to identify gaps in research, technology and policy that are delaying the adoption of innovations to support aging in a digital world.

You can see the program and sign up for the conference here.
You can submit a poster, please see call for poster abstracts here.

The conference organised by the UC Davis Health, Citris UC Berkeley and the Transatlantic Telehealth Research Network (TTRN). Hope to see you.

LOVOT has arrived

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LOVOT – a new social robot from Groove X in Japan has arrived to Aalborg University.

The LOVOTs are named Anne and Lars and will be tested for the first time outside Japan in interaction with citizens with dementia this spring in collaboration with Aalborg, Viborg and Skive Municipalities.

The LOVOTs are designed to create joy, has memory (AI), remember people, recognizes own name and has unique personalities that develops over time.

The National Health Authorities in Denmark are funding the project.

TTRN PhD Course 2020 – Save the Date

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TTRN – CITRIS International Summer Institute August 10–14, 2020 at University of California, Berkeley.

TTRN logo

The Danish-American Transatlantic Telehealth Research Network (TTRN) is dedicated to developing cutting-edge research and innovation within telehealth. The 2020 topics include research methods and approaches for health informatics, tele- and digital-health, plus a special focus on data science, robotics, artificial intelligence, and associated data governance and ethical-legal issues.

Doctoral students and post-doctoral trainees may apply to be a Fellow which comes with partial funding. Fellowship applications will be accepted on a rolling basis from January 8, 2020 to February 28, 2020. Priority will be given to early applicants.
Advanced master’s students and faculty new to the topic area may register on a space available basis starting March 1. 2020

Program Committee: Chair Katherine Kim, Birthe Dinesen, Nick Anderson, Kristian Kidholm, David Lindeman, and Student Representative Cynthia Matsumoto.

Direct any questions to personalizedhealthprogram@ucdavis.edu.
Complete information will be available soon at lnkd.in/gk8mri8
Download flyer:

TTRN PhD-2020 Flyer

JD TeleTechs 4th workshop on ehealth

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Pepper

JD TeleTech has had the 4th workshop on ehealth December 2-6 2019 in Tokyo in collaboration with Invest in Denmark and the Royal Danish Embassy in Tokyo. A Danish delegation of companies, researcher and healthcare professionals participated.

Jutendo Group picture

It was an amazing week where we gained new knowledge on the Japanese healthcare system and ehealth, made MOU with Jutendo University & Hospital, agreements with companies, two fruitful roundtables on “children and ehealth” and “elderly and ehealth” with over 130 participants and new ideas for collaboration between Japan and Denmark on ehealth.

Groove-X

Thank you so much to Peter Takizawa, Rumi Iida and Joakim Steen Barron-Mikkelsen for supporting the events.

Tokyo

You are welcome to follow future activities within JD TeleTech at lnkd.in/d8vfUuK

New PHD study focusing on critical IoT application in the Future Patient project

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The scope of the Ph.D. project covers the evaluation of the use of Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) technologies for the mission-critical Internet of Things (IoT) applications (Remote healthcare, traffic safety & control, smart grid automation, etc.). Unlike in the case of massive IoT applications, Critical IoT applications have more strict requirements for network performance such as higher level of security, high resiliency, low latency, scalability, and interoperability with existing communication systems.

The goal of the project is to do a thorough investigation of all the available communication technologies from an end to end perspective. The idea here is to identify which of the technology or combination of technologies that are cable of supporting all the needs of critical IoT applications.

The project also involves investigation the current infrastructure and either suggesting changes to it or proposing a new network architecture that is cable of transferring critical data more reliably and securely through the network. This part of the project involves working closely with other universities in Denmark and Japan, and Industrial partners to implement and test some of the upcoming wireless technologies for critical IoT application.

To begin with, the project includes collaboration with the Department of Health Science and Technology at Aalborg University on Future patient project. The project will primarily focus on real-time monitoring of patient’s data using the IoT technologies.

Visit by EON Reality and Teslasuit

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Today, EON Reality and Teslasuit visited Department of Health Science and Technology (HST).

The aim of the visit was to discuss potential future collaboration and use of Virtual Reality (VR) in teaching and research. A demonstration of the companies’ technologies framed the discussions, and new ideas for future teaching and research methods appeared.

EON Reality demonstrated the Teslasuit that has a built-in full body haptic feedback system and can be engaged on actions, on demand, or in response to motion capture comparison.

EON Reality’s founder, CTO and researchers, and the CTO and researchers from Teslasuits participated and met with researchers, teachers, and management from HST.

Students at lecture with Obama

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Saturday September 28 former US President Barack Obama visited Musikkens Hus, Aalborg, to give a talk on future leadership and entrepreneurship.

Cathrine, Kasper, Jens and Lahila, who are students working with Laboratory for Welfare Technology, Department of Health Science and Technology at Aalborg University, had the opportunity to hear the talk of Obama. They said it was very very inspiring.

Thank you to Aalborg University for giving the students the opportunity to participate in this important event.

Listening to the patient developing a heart portal

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Listening to the patients: using participatory design in the development of a cardiac telerehabilitation web portal

Katrine Joensson, Camilla Melholt, John Hansen, Soeren Leth, Helle Spindler, Mathias Vassard Olsen, Birthe Dinesen

Abstract

Background: Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of all deaths worldwide. Cardiac rehabilitation is an effective approach for preventing secondary complications, but it remains a complex intervention because of the need for lifestyle changes. One solution is to employ interactive telerehabilitation or eHealth web portals. However, these have not been implemented as intended by developers. The aim of this study was to evaluate the design and usability of a cardiac telerehabilitation web portal, called the ‘HeartPortal’, for use among heart failure (HF) patients.

Methods: The HeartPortal was designed using participatory design (PD). The design process involved HF patients, their relatives, healthcare professionals (HCP), healthcare company specialists and researchers. Self-determination theory (SDT) was used to enable the design to elicit intrinsic motivation within the patients. With eHealth literacy skills in mind, the goal of the HeartPortal was to successfully target the end-users. The PD process and data collection techniques included cultural probes, workshops, participant-observation, questionnaires, and problem-solving tasks.

Results: The PD process helped us design an interactive web portal, the HeartPortal. Based on participants’ feedback, the design incorporated features such as being able to make notes and to communicate with HCP, view data from self-tracking devices in a graphic form, and to obtain information on rehabilitation in the form of text, audio, and video. More than half of those testing the HeartPortal found that it was easy to navigate, and most of the users stated that it had an excellent structure and that using it could possibly improve their condition.

Conclusions: Overall, the HeartPortal was found to be logical and easy to navigate and will now be tested in a clinical trial within the Future Patient Telerehabilitation Program.

The full article is available here.

Video communication help facilitate the work of social workers

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Video communication as a tool for psychosocial support for people recovering from severe mental disorder: social workers’ experiences

Claus Ugilt Oestergaard, Birthe Dinesen

Abstract

Background: This paper focuses on a Danish social tele-rehabilitation project, which uses video technologies to support mentally ill citizens in their recovery process in their homes. The aim of the study is to explore how social workers experience using video communication as part of a tele-social-rehabilitation program aimed at citizens discharged from a psychiatric hospital and lives in their own home with mental disorders recovering from a mental illness.

Methods: The research strategy in this study is the case study method. Data collection techniques for the case study were based on triangulation of several data sources, such as analysis of relevant documents, participant observation and qualitative interviews with clients and with social workers assisting citizens in their recovery process.

Results: The social workers stated that video technology gave them the opportunity to make changes in their working practices with the citizens. They also felt they were better able to meet the citizens’ need to improve their everyday lives. The social workers found that video technology was less intrusive than a physical visit to the citizen’s home. The technology helps to promote the client’s recovery process.

Conclusions: The social workers who used video technology in a tele-social-rehabilitation program experienced a community of practice, changes in their work routine and changes in the way they carried out social rehabilitation for clients in their recovery following discharge from mental hospital.

The full article is available here.