The Future of Human Service Information Technology

The immediate future of human services and information technology is examined in terms of their unifying principles and potentials. Effects on human relationships are used as a departure point to forecast changes in professional training and work and changes in the problems people experience. Professional training will incorporate high skill levels in the use and application of information technology. Changes in professional work may include more home based work and more automation of professional tasks. Changes in the problems people experience are addressed in four areas: (1) near consequences of life in an intellect intensive society; (2) human services subject to dramatic improvement; (3) information technology as a "male" technology; and (4) the growth in social support networks. Suggestions are made to explore the conjunction of human service work and information technology.     

Effects of mobile information-seeking on the intention to obtain reproductive cancer screening among chinese women: testing an integrative model

Because the cognitive perspective has often been used in health behavior research, the influence of information and communication technology has been neglected although it plays a significant role in healthcare in the increasingly mobile age. The aim of this study is to test an integrative model including technological and cognitive variables to demonstrate that perceived usefulness and ease of mobile media use, health consciousness, and risk perception predict reproductive cancer information-seeking through mobile media and the intention to obtain cancer screening. The analyses of data collected in a survey of 1,065 young and middle-aged women in Nanjing, China showed that the cognitive variables of health consciousness and risk perception directly predicted cancer screening. In addition, the cognitive variables and the technological variables (i.e., perceived usefulness and ease of mobile media use, respectively) indirectly predicted cancer screening through mobile information-seeking. The implications of these results are discussed.     

Adversity and children experiencing family homelessness: implications for health

This study tests links between adversity and health problems among children in family emergency housing. Children who experience family homelessness are at risk to also experience high levels of stress, health problems, and need for pediatric care. Understanding the connection between stress and health holds the potential to reduce persistent health disparities. Analyses tested whether experiencing a greater number of stressful life events during the early years of life was related to worse health conditions, emergency health-care utilization, and hospitalizations. Parents noted children’s experience of negative stressful life events, health problems, emergency room (ER) use, and hospitalization. Two cohorts of kindergarten-aged children staying in emergency family housing participated in the study in 2006–2007 (n?=?104) and in 2008–2009 (n?=?138), with the results examined separately. In both cohorts, more health problems were acknowledged for children exposed to more negative stressful life events. Stressful life events were not related to ER use but did relate to hospitalization for the 2006–2007 cohort. Results affirm links between stress in early childhood and health problems among children living in emergency housing. Findings are consistent with the hypothesis that adversity in early childhood contributes to income and racial disparities in health.     

Collaborative Care at a Distance: Student Therapists' Experiences of Learning and Delivering Relationally Focused Telemental Health

There is mounting evidence that telemental health is an effective delivery method for treating a variety of mental, emotional, behavioral, and relational health problems. While many of the therapeutic skills leading to the effectiveness of face-to-face treatments are transferable, the effectiveness of telemental health requires unique skills. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to determine the experience of learning how to use videoconferencing to deliver relationally focused mental health care. Participants included 10 graduates of a COAMFTE-accredited master's degree program emphasizing training in telemental health. Each student had practicum placements that required videoconferencing to deliver relationally based psychotherapy. Analysis of interview data revealed (a) personal reservations about distance delivery; (b) the importance of scaffolding student learning through curriculum, supervision, and mental health-care delivery protocols; (c) the technological barriers associated with this delivery method; and (d) overcoming technological barriers through intentionality.     

The effects of physical activity and sedentary behavior on cognitive health in older adults

Physical activity has been shown to be positively associated with cognitive health, but the mechanisms underlying the benefits of physical activity on cognitive health are unclear. The present study simultaneously examined two hypotheses using structural equation modeling (SEM). The depression-reduction hypothesis states that depression suppresses cognitive ability and that physical activity alleviates dysphoric mood and thereby improves cognitive ability. The social-stimulation hypothesis posits that social contact, which is often facilitated by socially laden physical activities, improves cognitive functioning by stimulating the nervous system. Sedentary behavior in the absence of physical activity is expected to exert an inverse relationship on cognitive health through each of these hypotheses. Community-dwelling elders (N = 158) were administered a variety of measures of cognition, depression, social support, and physical activity. SEM techniques provided partial support for the social-stimulation hypothesis and depression-reduction hypothesis. Implications for treating depression and improving cognitive functioning are discussed.     

Technostress: Implications for Adults in the Workforce

The use of technology can enhance workplace efficiency, productivity, and flexibility; yet, technological tools can have negative effects on individuals’ cognitive, psychological, and physical health, as well as on organizations (e.g., lowered employee satisfaction, decreased employee commitment). The use of information and communications technologies (ICT) adds to existing work stress. The authors reviewed recent literature to identify ICT trends, define key terms, and gain insights to improve awareness of ICT issues related to career development, health and wellness, and job security. The potential for inquiry as it relates to career exploration, development, and advancement is relevant to counselors and clients in today's workplace. Research is needed to examine the effects of technostress across different industries, to identify workers at greatest risk of adverse effects, to explore the impact on career decision making, to help clients develop personal coping resources, and to determine strategies for career professionals to collaborate with workplace managers.     

Old and Female: Testing the Double Jeopardy Hypothesis*

A double jeopardy hypothesis argues that the combined negative effects of occupying two stigmatized statuses are greater than occupying either status alone. Applying this framework to elderly persons, it can be argued that being female and “old” elderly has more negative consequences than being male and “old” elderly, male and “young” elderly or female and “young” elderly. An empirical test of this hypothesis, using both an objective (mental health status) and a subjective (perceived well-being) indicator as the dependent variable, reveals a confirmation of double jeopardy using the objective quality of life indicator, but not the subjective indicator. Additional analyses of the factors affecting each of the dependent variables, adds further support for the uniqueness of old, elderly women as a social category.     

Marijuana use, introspectiveness, and mental health

Conflicting evidence suggests that marijuana use may be associated with either positive or negative mental health. This study explores the possibility that the association of marijuana use with mental health differs among various subgroups of users. Specifically, we investigate the hypothesis that marijuana use and the personality disposition of introspectiveness interact in their effects on psychological well-being. Results support this hypothesis and show that marijuana use is associated significantly with psychological distress for highly introspective individuals. In contrast, marijuana use has no such association for those low on introspectiveness. Additional evidence shows that marijuana use involves primarily self-oriented cognitive and emotional experiences for highly introspective individuals, whereas for those low on introspectiveness it is characterized more often by perceptual distortions and sensorimotor sensations.     

Development of guidelines for designing appliances for older persons

The ability of older adults to use a domestic appliance depends on their comprehension of the appliance's operation. This may depend on transfer of understanding from similar, more familiar technology. While this may assist their interaction with the new device, it may constrain the discovery of new functionality not represented in the familiar technology, and, thereby, constrain the discovery of advanced functionality. Older adults experience declining cognitive abilities associated with attention, perceptual encoding, and memory (cueing and recall). Designing appliances to extend cognitive abilities provides opportunity to prolong functional independence. Concepts from cognitive psychology, human factors, and gerontology are reviewed to explain age-related behavior towards technology to support innovative product development of technologies for older adults.     

(Potential) patients like me: testing the effects of user-generated health content on social media

As media technology becomes increasingly participatory, individuals may use social media to share health information and connect with those who have similar health concerns. While prior research has focused on evaluating the feasibility, usability, and effectiveness of traditional health messages, this study investigates the effects of user-generated health content on individuals’ cognitive and emotional responses, as well as their behavioral intentions. An experimental study with a two (story source: personal story vs news story) by two (story ending: happy ending vs sad ending) factorial design was conducted. The results confirmed the positive effects of identification with the narrative character on the experience of being transported, which further led to the behavioral intentions to take countermeasures and viral communication on social media. The sad ending of a narrative was found to elicit emotions that were sufficiently strong to increase perceptions of susceptibility to dengue fever, which, however, failed to result in behavioral intentions.     

The beneficial effects of different types of exercise interventions on motor and cognitive functions in older age: a systematic review

The decline in cognitive and motor functions with age affects the performance of the aging healthy population in many daily life activities. Physical activity appears to mitigate this decline or even improve motor and cognitive abilities in older adults. The current systematic review will focus mainly on behavioral studies that look into the dual effects of different types of physical training (e.g., balance training, aerobic training, strength training, group sports, etc.) on cognitive and motor tasks in older adults with no known cognitive or motor disabilities or disease. Our search retrieved a total of 1095 likely relevant articles, of which 41 were considered for full-text reading and 19 were included in the review after the full-text reading. Overall, observations from the 19 included studies conclude that improvements on both motor and cognitive functions were found, mainly in interventions that adopt physical-cognitive training or combined exercise training. While this finding advocates the use of multimodal exercise training paradigms or interventions to improve cognitive-motor abilities in older adults, the sizeable inconsistency among training protocols and endpoint measures complicates the generalization of this finding.     

Health-related quality of life in older adults: Testing the double jeopardy hypothesis

The double jeopardy hypothesis posits that racial minority elderly suffer a double disadvantage to health due to the interactive effects of age and race. Empirical examinations have found mixed support for the proposition that the aging process heightens the health disadvantage for racial minorities compared to whites. Race-by-age differences are tested using a health-related quality of life measure that has been largely overlooked in previous double jeopardy analyses. The outcome, number of days in poor physical health during the past month, quantifies day-to-day physical well-being in a way not available to standard measures of morbidity and mortality. The data are from the 2003 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) and were analyzed using negative binomial regression. Results show that the magnitude of differences in the number of physically unhealthy days for African Americans and Hispanics compared to their white counterparts is much larger in the elderly strata than that observed between younger groups. Additionally, social characteristics do not fully explain why racial differences in poor physical health days are greater at older ages. A life course perspective is proposed as one possible explanation for the double jeopardy finding. The results indicate a need to consider health-related quality of life outcomes when examining racial/ethnic health disparities among the elderly population. The appendix presents cross-validation of the 2003 CHIS results with the 2005 CHIS and the findings are replicated.     

E-social work and at-risk populations: technology and robotics in social intervention with elders. The case of Spain

Information and communication technologies are increasingly relevant. Finding a sphere of activity that is isolated from technological advancement proves increasingly difficult, and social work is no exception. Therefore, given the socio-demographic and technological context for this sector in Spain, we must face and tackle new challenges. Focusing exclusively on the elderly, e-social work highlights new skills and abilities that can be developed by means of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), which are viewed as powerful tools that can guarantee egalitarian access to an improved life standard. Nevertheless, despite the digital divide growing smaller, its impact on people over 75 is still significant; hence, we need to use every tool at our disposal to reduce it to the bare minimum. With that purpose in mind, this article discusses usability, the causes of unequal access to ICTs, technological gerontological pedagogy and robotics as forward-looking technology. The aim is to technologically enable the senior population by adapting the necessary interfaces for an easier interaction; likewise, online intervention also aims for the utilization of alternative technologies. Technology has completely changed the world we live in pushing us to a new approach towards old age, fragility and chronicity. ICTs in social intervention must be a true source of opportunities to further social cohesion.     

The Role of Technology on Young Adolescent Development: Implications for Policy, Research and Practice

This National Science Foundation funded qualitative study highlights unique features of adolescent technology use and its impact on the developmental maturational processes of early adolescence. One hundred twenty-eight 13- and 14-year-old students were interviewed about their information technology (IT) use. The most salient feature of the interview data is that the students perceived technology as integral to all aspects of their everyday life experience. In particular, they understood the necessity of using technology for the development of their cognitive/academic skills, and they spoke about the need to have technology skills for their future careers. They also seemed to understand how IT helped them develop psychosocially, especially in the areas of communication and relationship development. Throughout the interviews, these young adolescents expressed pleasure and pride in their self-reported high level of technoliteracy. Their voices can help expand our understanding of adolescent development in the digital age, and suggest implications for policy, practice, and research.     

Mortality patterns among elderly American Jews

"Mortality studies of ethnic and religious subgroups within a nation are of interest as they provide indicators of health differentials that may result from differences in life style and risk-factor exposures. The mortality experience of North American Jews has been documented over many years and is of particular interest because of the unusual pattern that has been observed, a crossover from relatively low rates at younger ages to relatively high rates at older ages. This study examines mortality in 1979-81 among more than 100,000 Medicare enrollees who held 22 surnames common among American Jews. The findings substantiate those of a recent mortality study of a Canadian Jewish population which indicated more rapid improvement in life expectancy among elderly Jewish than non-Jewish males, and a lessening of the relative disadvantage of elderly Jewish women."     

Who Among the Elderly Owns Stocks? The Role of Cognitive Ability and Bequest Motive

Conventional advice is to reduce risky investments as one ages. Such a generalized focus on risk avoidance may be inappropriate for elderly with longer life spans and those with financial goals that extend beyond their lifetime. To better understand risky asset holdings among the elderly, we investigated the effect of cognitive ability and bequest motive on stock ownership and stock purchase. Using the 2004 wave of the Health and Retirement Study, we found that one-third of elderly households held stocks and 36% of those elderly stockowners had recently acquired stocks. The respondent??s cognitive ability and bequest motive were strongly related to stock ownership. Among those who owned stock, a bequest motive was positively related to a recent purchase of stocks.     

High-Tech Amenities for the Elderly: The Technological Assistance Needs of Elderly Koreans Aging at Home

This study builds on existing literature regarding residential technological systems and the elderly. This study investigates elderly Koreans’ needs for technological systems in their residential environments and makes appropriate suggestions for creating high-tech amenities to support their aging at home. This study surveyed 60 elderly Koreans and presented them with 5 categories of 24 technological systems to evaluate. Results of this study show that participants were willing to adapt technological systems in their residential environment without any technophobia. In terms of their needs, the participants ranked the safety and security system category first, the indoor environment control system category second, and the health-related system category third. The results of this study suggest that residential environments, including individual housing and apartment properties, should incorporate technological systems to extend elderly residents’ independent living at home.     

Suicide prevention in the dot com era: technological aspects of a university suicide prevention program

Western Michigan University's Suicide Prevention Program utilizes multiple technological components, including an online training course, a Web site, and 2 social networking Web site profiles, as integral aspects of a comprehensive program. This article discusses the development, maintenance, use, and impact of the technological aspects of this program, which complement other program activities in meeting program goals. The Web site and use of social networking Web sites have been very well received by members of the university and wider community. Although initial outcomes of each component are positive, low participation in the online training course has limited the usefulness of pretest-posttest comparisons. It is thought that other campus suicide prevention programs may benefit from using technology as a primary method in their suicide prevention programming efforts.     

Serious games in prevention and rehabilitation—a new panacea for elderly people?

Digital games cannot only be used for fun and entertainment. The term “serious games” (SG) denotes digital games serving serious purposes like education, training, advertising, research and health. Recently, a new generation of games has emerged involving whole-body movements. Compared to traditional interventions, these games may help elderly people to improve their health by enhancing physical fitness and coordinative abilities by combining increased motivation, game experience like fun and game flow and training. Serious games, particularly adventure and shooter games, already play an important role in health education, prevention and rehabilitation, e.g. to enhance health-related physical activity, improve sensory–motor coordination, prevent asthma, change nutrition behaviour and alleviate diabetes and prevent smoking or HIV. In this paper, the impact of SG on prevention and rehabilitation is discussed. Three criteria are applied. Beyond effectivity and efficiency, the additional benefits of serious games can be described and explained by different models including social, psychological, physiological and sensory–motor factors. The quality of study serves as a third criterion. Despite first promising results, there are only few high-quality studies. Adequate content, game interfaces, sustainability and appropriate settings are critical factors for the success of SG. In this regard, (sport) science can help to develop and evaluate SG and test appropriate settings that ensure sustainable use of serious games.