Journal of Medical Internet Research

Web-based questionnaire (WBQ) surveys are popular, but the quality of reporting WBQ survey research is uneven and unsatisfactory worldwide. Education and training on WBQ methodology may be necessary. However, the current knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of its methodology remain unknown.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is being increasingly adopted in the health care industry for administrative tasks, patient care operations, and medical research.

Chatbots have become a promising tool to support public health initiatives. Despite their potential, little research has examined how individuals interacted with chatbots during the COVID-19 pandemic. Understanding user-chatbot interactions is crucial for developing services that can respond to people’s needs during a global health emergency.

Previous studies have demonstrated telemedicine (TM) to be an effective tool to complement rheumatology care and address workforce shortage. With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, TM experienced a massive upswing. A previous study revealed that physicians’ willingness to use TM and actual use of TM are closely connected to their knowledge of TM. However, it remains unclear which factors are associated with patients’ motivation to use TM.

This article focuses on how Japan experienced the COVID-19 pandemic. It delineates the various challenges the country faced and the measures the national government took to stop the spread of the infection. The article begins with the author’s personal experience of COVID-19. The second section explains how the Japanese government lacked the legal sanctions to enforce a state of emergency. The third section deals with the current pandemic response as characterized by the increased use of digital technologies to control the spread of the virus. I argue that the lack of effective governance hampered Japan’s timely use of digital technologies. The fourth section will touch on the issues created by the rapid spread of the infection and an increase in the hospitalization rate, focusing on intensive care unit triage and the ethical debates that ensued in Japan. The fifth section discusses the pandemic from the perspective of disaster preparedness and management, exploring the ways the pandemic responses share ethical challenges with responses to other disasters such as earthquakes and typhoons.

Recently, we were deeply saddened by the findings of the coroner investigating the death of 14-year-old Molly Russell. Deeply saddened and angry but not surprised. This case should be seen as a sentinel event, given that this is the first time social media was directly implicated as a cause of death. We should use this opportunity to advance proposals for the regulations of the health effects of social media.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, as health care services shifted to video- and phone-based modalities for patient and provider safety, the Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Connected Care widely expanded its video-enabled tablet program to bridge digital divides for veterans with limited video care access.

Integrating health and social care delivery with the help of digital technologies is a grand challenge. We argue that previous attempts have largely failed to achieve their objectives because implementers and decision makers disregard the complex socio-organizational dimensions of change associated with initiatives. These include structural and organizational complexity inhibiting the development of shared care pathways; professional jurisdictions, interests, and expertise; and existing data and governance structures. We provide an overview of those dimensions that can inform strategic decisions going forward, thereby contributing to the chances of success of shared care initiatives.

Virtual care (VC) and remote patient monitoring programs were deployed widely during the COVID-19 pandemic. Deployments were heterogeneous and evolved as the pandemic progressed, complicating subsequent attempts to quantify their impact. The unique arrangement of the US Military Health System (MHS) enabled direct comparison between facilities that did and did not implement a standardized VC program. The VC program enrolled patients symptomatic for COVID-19 or at risk for severe disease. Patients’ vital signs were continuously monitored at home with a wearable device (Current Health). A central team monitored vital signs and conducted daily or twice-daily reviews (the nurse-to-patient ratio was 1:30).

There is some initial evidence suggesting that mindsets about the adequacy and health consequences of one’s physical activity (activity adequacy mindsets [AAMs]) can shape physical activity behavior, health, and well-being. However, it is unknown how to leverage these mindsets using wearable technology and other interventions.

In the nursing home sector, reusing routinely recorded data from electronic health records (EHRs) for knowledge development and quality improvement is still in its infancy. Trust in appropriate and responsible reuse is crucial for patients and nursing homes deciding whether to share EHR data for these purposes. A data governance framework determines who may access the data, under what conditions, and for what purposes. This can help obtain that trust. Although increasing attention is being paid to data governance in the health care sector, little guidance is available on development and implementation of a data governance framework in practice.

Automatic diagnosis of depression based on speech can complement mental health treatment methods in the future. Previous studies have reported that acoustic properties can be used to identify depression. However, few studies have attempted a large-scale differential diagnosis of patients with depressive disorders using acoustic characteristics of non-English speakers.