Recent Articles
Pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) associated delirium decreases post-discharge quality of life with worse outcomes in those with delayed identification. As screening rates are not uniformly conducted within PICUs, caregivers may assist with early detection, for which they need education, as pediatric delirium awareness among caregivers remains limited.
Social media (SM) data may augment understanding of disease and treatment experiences and quality-of-life of youth with chronic medical conditions (YCMC). Little is known about willingness of YCMC to share their SM for health research, and differences in health status between sharing/non-sharing YCMC.
Despite pediatric populations representing a smaller proportion and less severe prognosis of COVID-19 cases, similar demographics such as racial and ethnic minorities are at an increased risk of developing more severe COVID-19-related outcomes. Vaccine coverage is crucial to the pandemic mitigation efforts, yet since COVID-19, vaccine hesitancy has increased, and routine pediatric immunizations have decreased. Limited research exists on how vaccine hesitancy may contribute to low pediatric COVID-19 vaccine uptake among racial and ethnic minority populations.
The use of digital technology in pediatric asthma management has emerged as a potential tool for improving asthma management. However, the use of these tools has the potential to contribute to the inequitable delivery of asthma care because of existing social factors associated with asthma disparities. Our study focused on parent language and sociodemographic factors that might shape the use of digital technology in asthma self-management.
Admission to a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for prematurity or illness is necessary for approximately 20% of newborns in Australia, resulting in parent-infant separation. Web cameras in the NICU provide a virtual link for parents to remain remotely connected to their infant during the admission. Web camera use is increasing, however there is limited evidence on the impact of web cameras on parents, infants and neonatal staff.
Social network interventions are an effective approach to promote physical activity. These interventions are traditionally designed using self-reported peer nomination network data to represent social connections. However, there is unexplored potential in communication data exchanged through web-based messaging apps or social platforms, given the availability of these data, the developments in artificial intelligence to analyze these data, and the shift of personal communication to the web sphere. The implications of using web-based versus offline social networks on the effectiveness of social network interventions remain largely unexplored.
The prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV) and its related cancers is a major global concern. In the United States, routine HPV vaccination is recommended for youth aged 11 or 12 years. Despite HPV being the most common sexually transmitted infection and the vaccine’s proven efficacy, the vaccination rate among US youth remains below the recommended 80% completion rate. Mobile health (mHealth) interventions have demonstrated promise in improving health. Examining and synthesizing the current evidence about the impact of mHealth interventions on vaccination coverage in youth and intervention characteristics could guide future mHealth interventions aimed at mitigating the vaccination gap and disease burden.
Risk identification and communication tools have the potential to improve health care by supporting clinician-patient or family discussion of treatment risks and benefits and helping patients make more informed decisions; however, they have yet to be tailored to pediatric surgery. User-centered design principles can help to ensure the successful development and uptake of health care tools.
Online environments dominate the daily lives of American youth and pose evolving challenges to their health and well-being. Recent national poll data indicate that social media overuse, internet safety, and online bullying are among parents’ top child health concerns, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. While parents are uniquely positioned to help youth navigate social media, their attitudes on monitoring media use may be impacted by a myriad of personal and family factors.
Family caregivers (FCs) of children with medical complexity require specialized support to promote the safe management of new medical technologies (eg, gastrostomy tubes) during hospital-to-home transitions. With limited after-hours services available to families in home and community care, medical device complications that arise often lead to increased FC stress and unplanned emergency department (ED) visits. To improve FC experiences, enable safer patient discharge, and reduce after-hours ED visits, this study explores the feasibility of piloting a 24/7 virtual care service (Connected Care Live) with families to provide real-time support by clinicians expert in the use of pediatric home care technologies.
Research suggests that expectant and new mothers consult and value information gathered from digital technologies, such as pregnancy-specific mobile apps and social media platforms, to support their transition to parenting. Notably, this transitional context can be rich with profound physiological, psychological, and emotional fluctuation for women as they cope with the demands of new parenting and navigate the cultural expectations of “good motherhood.” Given the ways in which digital technologies can both support and hinder women’s perceptions of their parenting abilities, understanding expectant and new mothers’ experiences using digital technologies and the tensions that may arise from such use during the transition to parenting period warrants nuanced exploration.
