Julie Faieta

Background: Long-COVID continues to take its toll on ~20% of those infected by COVID-19. Our understanding of the underlying mechanisms driving Long-COVID symptoms is still evolving. In many clinics, Long-COVID is treated with concussion treatment protocols. The objective of this study is to investigate the clinical presentation of those with Long-COVID as compared with persisting post-concussive symptoms (PPCS). Methods: Participants were assigned to Long-COVID, PPCS, or healthy control groups according to their pre-existing diagnosis. Participants completed a battery of 9 clinical assessments, 8 typically used to screen for PPCS. The association between clinical symptoms and groups was assessed through linear regression modeling. Results: A total of N=19 Long-COVID, N=18 PPCS, and N=19 healthy control participants completed clinical testing. The Long-COVID group was found to be significantly older and with greater BMI than other groups. Anxiety was found to significantly differentiate Long-COVID from PPCS. In addition, several clinical concussion assessments demonstrated the ability to distinguish patients with Long-COVID from healthy controls. Conclusions: This study provides key insight into the demographic and clinical presentation of Long-COVID as compared with PPCS populations. Findings emphasize the need for larger investigations to confirm the discriminant ability of baseline clinical and demographic factors to differentiate Long-COVID.

Manual wheelchairs (MWCs) are essential for individuals with mobility impairments, yet many users receive limited training, restricting mobility and participation. Innovative alternatives to therapist-led approaches, including eHealth and peer-led interventions, are emerging to address this gap. This follow-up study examined long-term retention of participation and related outcomes 6 months after an eHealth wheelchair skills training program. Secondary aims explored associations between participant demographics, program engagement and post-intervention outcomes. A repeated-measures cohort design was used with intervention participants from a multi-site randomised trial conducted across three Canadian urban centres. Nineteen adults using MWCs completed the 4-week TEAM Wheels program, comprising a tablet-based app with 200+ instructional videos and three peer-led teleconferences. Outcomes included participation, wheelchair skills capacity and performance, self-efficacy and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). At 6 months, participants (n = 18) maintained or improved statistically significant gains in participation, skills and self-efficacy but not HRQoL. Improvements were comparable across demographic groups, whereas meeting recommended engagement guidelines was linked to larger gains in skills and confidence. TEAM Wheels benefits were largely retained at 6 months. eHealth and peer-led approaches offer promising, sustainable alternatives to traditional clinician-led MWC skills training. Clinical Trial Registration No. NCT04090177.

Background and Objectives: A primary concern of many older adults as they age is whether they will be able to remain in the community setting. This is impacted by their ability to commute to their surroundings as needed to attend occupational-, leisure-, or health care-related appointments in the community setting. Whether an older adult is able to independently drive or relies on rides from others, the first step to safe community transportation is boarding into and alighting out of a vehicle. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of boarding and alighting injuries across age demographics and describe demographic factors that may impact the prevalence of injury. Research Design and Methods: This study was a retrospective, cross-sectional analysis. National Electronic Injury Surveillance System-All Injury Program (NEISS-AIP) data from 2017 to 2021 was analyzed through descriptive statistics and multivariable logistic regression. Results: Findings indicate that the annualized estimate of injury is 209,797 across age groups. Older adults were found to have a higher rate of injury and hospitalization following injury. Discussion and Implications: This study replicates earlier reporting on non-crash vehicle injuries occurring during boarding and alighting from 2001 to 2003. Continued research is needed to investigate methods of boarding and alighting injury risk reduction for vulnerable populations.

The efficacious implementation of robotic assistive technologies must be built on a thorough understanding of the experiences and perceptions of all concerned interest groups, particularly those of users and their caregivers. This study provides an in-depth insight into the experiences and perceptions of users of the JACO wheelchair-mounted robotic arm and those of their caregivers. Users of JACO (n = 21; Female: 6; Male: 15) and caregivers (n = 11; Female: 9; Male: 2) participated in individual interviews used to gain qualitative insight into the impact of JACO on their day-to-day lives. Interview transcripts were analyzed using a hybrid deductive-inductive coding process. Thematic analysis was conducted in accordance with the Consortium on Assistive Technology Outcomes Research (CATOR) taxonomy. This article exclusively reports data on the social impact of the JACO wheelchair-mounted robotic arm. In addition, participants completed three questionnaires to gather more objective data for quantitative assessment. These included the Caregiver Assistive Technology Outcome Measure (CATOM), a sociodemographic questionnaire, and a home-based questionnaire to assess the social impact of using JACO. Findings pointed to highly varied experiences among participants, including instances of positive, negative, and absence of effects from the use of JACO. Participants' feedback fell within two broad categories, Human Assistance, and Cost and Use of Resources. This study provides nuanced and varied insight into the spectrum of the social impact of using JACO as perceived by users and their caregivers, highlighting the importance of considering each user as an individual with unique experiences and needs.

This paper proposes an approach to assess digital health readiness in clinical settings to understand how prepared, experienced, and equipped individual people are to participate in digital health activities. Existing digital health literacy and telehealth prediction tools exist but do not assess technological aptitude for particular tasks or incorporate available electronic health record data to improve efficiency and efficacy. As such, we propose a multidomain digital health readiness assessment that incorporates a person’s stated goals and motivations for use of digital health, a focused digital health literacy assessment, passively collected data from the electronic health record, and a focused aptitude assessment for critical skills needed to achieve a person’s goals. This combination of elements should allow for easy integration into clinical workflows and make the assessment as actionable as possible for health care providers and in-clinic digital health navigators. Digital health readiness profiles could be used to match individuals with support interventions to promote the use of digital tools like telehealth, mobile apps, and remote monitoring, especially for those who are motivated but do not have adequate experience. Moreover, while effective and holistic digital health readiness assessments could contribute to increased use and greater equity in digital health engagement, they must also be designed with inclusivity in mind to avoid worsening known disparities in digital health care.

The efficacious implementation of robotic assistive technologies must be built on a thorough understanding of stakeholders' experiences and perceptions. This study provides an in-depth insight into the experiences and perceptions of users of the JACO wheelchair-mounted robotic arm and those of their caregivers. A sample of JACO users (n = 21; Female : 6; Male : 15) and caregivers (n = 11; Female: 2; Male: 9) participated in individual interviews used to gain qualitative insight into the impact of JACO on their day-to-day lives. Interview transcripts were analyzed using a hybrid deductive-inductive coding process. Thematic analysis was conducted in accordance with the Consortium on Assistive Technology Outcomes Research (CATOR) taxonomy. This article exclusively reports data on the social impact of the JACO wheelchair-mounted robotic arm. In addition, participants completed three questionnaires to gather more objective data for quantitative assessment, these included the Caregiver Assistive Technology Outcome Measure (CATOM), a sociodemographic questionnaire, and a home-based questionnaire to assess the social impact of using JACO. Findings pointed to highly varied experiences among participants, including instances of positive, negative, and absence of effects from the use of JACO. Participants' feedback fell within two broad categories, Human Assistance, and Cost and Use of Resources. This study provides nuanced and varied insight into the spectrum of the social impact of using JACO as perceived by users and their caregivers, highlighting the importance of considering each user as an individual with unique experiences and needs. Continued research is needed to assess the generalizability of these findings.

The Health App Review Tool (HART) is an evaluation tool that is designed to help the users in evaluation of the health apps for Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD) population. As the development of the HART continues, the domain items that HART addresses require evaluation to determine if they meet the intended required criteria for the users.To complete content validation of the HART 10 health care professions provided content validation of the HART via a content validation form. Specifically, data collection took place virtually through Microsoft Teams and Qualtrics-based content validity index. Following, revisions were made through a consensus process involving 3 rehabilitation experts, minimizing potential conflicts.Findings indicate 76 of 109 items were considered acceptable, 19 items were in need of review and 14 items in need of revision. In sum 30% of the total HART items required either review or revision to improve HART validity. The changes were implemented through consensus revisions.

This paper analyzes the technology-related outputs from The National Institute of Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR). We seek to answer the questions: What are the types and frequency of assistive technology (AT) technology transfer (ATTT) outputs from NIDILRR grants? How does NIDILRR's ATTT generation compare to other granting organizations? What types of ATTT outputs occur, how, and what is the relative productivity of the most frequently funded universities and small businesses performing with funding by NIDILRR grants? An online search was conducted for indications of ATTT from grants funded from 1983-2021 through publicly available databases, the National Rehabilitation Information Center (NARIC), and the internet. This data was then categorized across relevant output types and analyzed. NIDILRR funded 662 organizations and 951 different investigators from 1983 to 2021. The NIDILRR-funded portfolio includes 6,996 papers, 438 informational websites, 163 patents, 120 software products, and 29 hardware products. Compared to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), NIDILRR produced slightly more products per dollar. Our results highlight the substantial portfolio of technology-related outputs generated with NIDILRR funding and demonstrate how productivity measures can be calculated to guide future funding strategies.

UNSTRUCTURED This paper proposes an approach to assess digital health readiness in clinical settings to understand how prepared, experienced, and equipped individual people are to participate in digital health activities. Existing digital health literacy and telehealth prediction tools exist but do not assess technological aptitude for particular tasks or incorporate available electronic health record data to improve efficiency and efficacy. As such, we propose a multidomain digital health readiness assessment that incorporates a person’s stated goals and motivations for use of digital health, a focused digital health literacy assessment, passively collected data from the electronic health record, and a focused aptitude assessment for critical skills needed to achieve a person’s goals. This combination of elements should allow for easy integration into clinical workflows and make the assessment as actionable as possible for health care providers and in-clinic digital health navigators. Digital health readiness profiles could be used to match individuals with support interventions to promote the use of digital tools like telehealth, mobile apps, and remote monitoring, especially for those who are motivated but do not have adequate experience. Moreover, while effective and holistic digital health readiness assessments could contribute to increased use and greater equity in digital health engagement, they must also be designed with inclusivity in mind to avoid worsening known disparities in digital health care.