Mobile Health Technologies for Health Behavior & Adherence

Investigators:

Research Team Goals:This multi-disciplinary research team seeks to address the issue of patient self-management of chronic disease, which is crucial to reducing risk of negative health outcomes. The research team is convinced that the integration of theory, current practical methods, and technology will enable sustainable behavior change and adherence in chronic disease patients. The technologies we are developing and researching will be for chronic disease patients, along with their social support network, and will be used by patients to improve their health.

Recent and Ongoing Research & Pursuit of External Funding:

Funded:Texas State University Multidisciplinary Internal Research Grant “Increasing Treatment Adherence and Self-Management in Metabolic Syndrome Patients” (2016-2017)

This funding is supporting the initial stages of the design and development of an interactive, mobileapplication for Metabolic Syndrome patients.

Atkinson, G., Whiteside, K., Stump, M., Lawrence, G., Tamir, D. E. (2015). Musing: A mobile client and web server augmented reality application for museum visitors and curators. International Journal on Advances in Telecommunications.

Burke, T. J., Dailey, S. L., & Zhu, Y. (in press). Let’s hit the gym: Co-worker influence, social support, and organizational socialization in workplace wellness programs. International Journal of Workplace Health Management.

Burke, T. J., Ruppel, E., & Dinsmore, D. (2016). Moving away and reaching out: Young adults’ relational maintenance and psychosocial well-being during the transition to college. Journal of Family Communication, 16, 180-187. doi:10.1080/15267431.2016.1146724

Burke, T. J., & Segrin, C. (2016). Weight-related social control and relationship quality: Accuracy and bias effects. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 33, 999-1017. doi:10.1177/0265407515615692.

Haskard-Zolnierek, K.B., Miller, T., & DiMatteo, M.R. (in press). Promoting treatment adherence. Oxford Textbook in Communication and Oncology in Palliative Care (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.

Haskard-Zolnierek, K., & Thompson, T. (2016). Adherence and Communication about Health and Risk. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication. New York: Oxford University Press.

DiMatteo, M.R., Haskard-Zolnierek, K.B., & Martin, L.R. (2011). Improving patient adherence: a three-factor model to guide practice. Health Psychology Review, 1-18.

Howard, K., Gray, A., Ramos, S., Ellis, H. (2016). The Pain Disability Questionnaire (PDQ): Evaluation of its utility for pre-surgical and one-year post-surgical physical and psychosocial out-comes for patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty. Current Orthopaedic Practice, 27(4), 420-426.

Arteta,J., Cobos, B., Hu, Y., Jordan, K., & Howard, K. (2015). Evaluation of how depression and anxiety mediate the relationship between pain catastrophizing and prescription opioid misuse in chronic pain populations. Pain Medicine, 17(2), 295-303.

Howard, K.J., Ellis, H.B., **Wang, J.F., *von der Gruen, J., & Bucholz, R. (2012). Evaluating the effects of somatization disorder for patients with end-stage lower extremity osteoarthritis. Journal of Applied Biobehavioral Research, 17 (2) 79-93.

D. E. Tamir, D. K. V. Dasari, O. V. Komogortsev, G. R. LaKomski, “Detecting Software Usability Deficiencies Through Pinpoint Analysis,” International Journal on Advances in Software Systems, vol. 7(1&2), 2014.

D. E. Tamir, C. J. Muller, A. Kandel, Complex Fuzzy Logic Reasoning-Based Methodologies for Quantitative Software Requirements Specifications, in W. Pedrycz, G. Succi, A. Sillitti (Eds.), Computational Intelligence and Quantitative Software Engineering, Studies in Computational Intelligence, Springer, 2015.

C. R. King, D. E. Tamir, M. McKenney, “Improving Combinatorial Optimization Algorithms through Record Keeping in Constructive Multistart Search,” International Journal of Intelligent Systems, Vol. 29, Willey, 2014. Zuniga KE, Mackenzie MJ, Roberts SA, Raine LB, Hillman CH, Kramer AF, McAuley E. Relationship between fruit and vegetable intake and interference control in breast cancer survivors. European Journal of Nutrition. 2016;55(4):1555-62

Zuniga KE and McAuley E. Considerations in selection of diet assessment methods for examining the effect of nutrition on cognition. Journal of Nutrition Health and Aging. 2015;19(3):333-40

Zuniga, K. E., Mackenzie, M., Kramer, A., McAuley, E. (2016). Subjective Memory Impairment and Well-Being in Community-Dwelling Older Adults. Psychogeriatrics, 16(1), 20-26.

Dr. Burke’s research program takes a theoretical and practical approach to understanding the intersection of interpersonal and health communication. More specifically, she is interested in interpersonal communication processes (e.g., social influence, support, conflict, social skills) as they relate to health/well-being and relationship quality in romantic and family relationships.

Tricia Burke | Communication Studies

Dr. Tamir is conducting research in image processing, data analytics, and human computer

interaction / usability.

College of Science and EngineeringDan Tamir | Computer Science

Dr. Haskard-Zolnierek’s research program deals with two main areas: (1) patients’ adherence to medical recommendations for healthy behavior and the prevention and treatment of disease and (2) medical visit communication in the dyadic health professional-patient relationship. She is particularly interested in psychosocial factors that predict adherence and health behavior change as well as interventions to improve adherence and healthy behavior.

Kelly Haskard-Zolnierek | Psychology

Dr. Howard’s research focuses on psychosocial factors that influence adherence and treatment out-comes for patients with chronic pain and other chronic illnesses. She is trained as a biostatistician.

Krista Howard | Psychology

Dr. Zuniga conducts both basic and clinical research, creating a translational research agenda to understand the effects that nutrition and physical activity may have in the prevention of cognitive decline and promotion of physical health in cancer survivors and older adults.

Krystle Zuniga | Nutrition & Foods

Grayson’s area of research involves applying design thinking methodologies to mobile app, Web and Virtual Reality design. He specializes in User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI) design and rapid prototyping.

Grayson Lawrence | Art & Design

Sample Publications:

Under review:NIH R15 research grant “Improving Self-Management in Patients with Metabolic Syndrome: The Development and Testing of the MetaboManage Mobile App”

This proposed project will focus on the development of a social support network-based mobile-app uniquely designed for midlife and older adult metabolic syndrome patients. Upon pilot testing the app in patients (45+ years old) with metabolic syndrome, we will determine the feasibility of using a mobile-app in a health intervention for metabolic syndrome patients, as well as test the hypothesis that those patients who use the mobile app will exhibit health behavior changes and improved self-management and quality of life.

Future Directions:In future projects, we hope to incorporate a suite of mHealth (mobile health) tools for self-management for adults with metabolic syndrome and other chronic illnesses. Individuals will use an internet “dashboard” and other tools such as wearable devices, “smart” pillboxes, or voice response technology. This approach will use mHealth technology to address multiple behavior change and medication-taking issues for those with chronic illness. It will bring in valuable elements of goal-setting, social support, monitoring of medications and physical activity, and reminders.

Tricia Burke, Communication Studies | Kelly Haskard-Zolnierek, Psychology | Krista Howard, Psychology | Grayson Lawrence, Art & Design | Dan Tamir, Computer Science | Krystle Zuniga, Nutrition & Foods

50%

of U.S. adults struggle with treatment adherence

Is it possible to marrytechnology & the IMS model

(Information-Motivation-Strategy) to help them?

InformationUnderstand the required change

MotivationHave the desire to change

StrategyHave the tools to achieve and sustain the change