Growth curve modeling of virtual events and online engagement in a palliative care peer support online health community for adolescents and young adults
Adolescence; Engagement; Online; Palliative Care; Peer Support; Virtual Events
Online health communities (OHCs) have been identified as important outlets for social support and community connection for adolescents and young adults (AYAs) living with chronic illnesses. Despite evident benefits, there remains a gap in research on methods to maximize sustained patient engagement within OHCs. This study assessed per-patient daily commenting rates over time, as well as associations with program staff and volunteer-facilitated events and engagement.We utilized data from 662 daily patient, volunteer, and staff comment totals within a Discord server hosted through the Streetlight at UF Health Streetlight Gaming and Online Team, between January 2019 and January 2022. Multilevel models were used to assess per-patient daily commenting rates and examine associations with OHC-level predictors of staff and volunteer-facilitated daily and seasonal events, as well as the number of daily active users.Per-patient comment rates showed an overall negative slope with time in most models. Unadjusted and adjusted growth curve models showed that daily events (β = .21), seasonal events (β = .18), and total daily active users (β = .09) were all significantly associated with increases in per-patient daily comment rates.Results suggest that social event facilitation strategies can be applied to increase AYA patient engagement in OHCs. Seasonal events and staff and volunteer engagement may be the effective means of maintaining engagement among long-term patients.Our findings highlight the importance of staff and volunteer presence in OHCs in driving long-term patient engagement and in considering patient needs and perspectives in developing OHC features.
Walker AL; Swygert A; Marchi E; Lebeau K; Haardörfer R; Livingston III MD
Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association
2022
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<a href="http://doi.org/10.1093/jamia/ocac252" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">10.1093/jamia/ocac252</a>
"Holding back my own emotions": Evaluation of an online education module in pediatric end-of-life care
communication barrier; distance education; End of life care; General hospitals; Online; Pediatrics
Providing quality end-of-life care to a child who is dying in hospital can be stressful and challenging, and health professionals often feel ill-prepared and require additional support. End-of-Life Essentials offers online education modules for health professionals working in acute hospitals, including one on end-of-life care in pediatric settings. This study aimed to evaluate this module and explore learners' views on challenges faced when caring for a dying child and their family in a hospital setting. Learners comprised nurses, doctors, and allied health professionals. A quantitative pre-/post-evaluation analysis was conducted using learner data (n = 552) on knowledge and skills gained from engagement with the module, along with a qualitative thematic content analysis on learner responses (n = 395) to a post-evaluation free-text response question, between May 2019 and May 2020. Learners' post-evaluation ranks of perceived knowledge, skill, attitude, and confidence were significantly higher than pre-evaluation ranks (p < 0.001). Effect sizes were small to medium, ranging from 0.31 to 0.38 (95% confidence intervals from 0.23 to 0.45). Emerging themes from the qualitative data were dealing with emotions, and communicating effectively. This evaluation suggests that the Pediatrics module could be a useful online learning resource for health professionals. A planned longitudinal study will further investigate practice change.
Rawlings D; Winsall M; Yin H; Devery K
Journal of Child Health Care
2022
<a href="http://doi.org/10.1177/13674935221076214" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">10.1177/13674935221076214</a>