SFO009121U Welfare technologies and motivation in Rehabilition

Volume 2014/2015
Education
Full Degree Master in Public Health Science
Content

The growing number of elderly and increased number of patients with chronic diseases together with a change in healthcare system to fewer and larger hospitals have driven the development of technological e-health solutions to allow patients and citizens to be treated in their own homes for a variety of diseases. Welfare technology is presently used in the rehabilitation of a large number of diseases using combinations of sensors, video and mobile solutions.

It is at the same time well known that increased physical activity is the number one treatment for most of these patients. Despite of this it has been found very difficult to change and sustain healthy habits over time in these patients. To deal with this problem welfare technology has gained tremendous interest during the last decade.

During this course you will be introduced to the latest technological developments in rehabilitation with examples from real life scientific projects currently running on patients with COPD, diabetes, stroke, low-back pain and cancer. The rehab regimes used range from the use of Apps, tablets and mobile phones to various sensors (e.g. measures of heart signals, physical activity and quality of sleep). Social medias and new technologies also allow patients to interact with each other and healthcare providers over distances and in the future specialized rehabilitation will be offered to citizens in all parts of the country using e-health technology.

The success of various rehabilitation regimes may depend on the personality of the patients. Therefore, a thorough understanding of personality testing and the influence on motivation is crucial in rehabilitation. This new area will be described and discussed during the course with examples from the various projects.

On this course you will become acquainted with the researchers from CopenRehab that during various projects have participated in the development, adaption and application of the welfare technology solution in collaboration with inventors and actual users (citizens and patients). Learning from these projects on patient with e.g. COPD, diabetes, stroke, musculoskeletal disorders are presented and actual data are used to illustrate the advantages and difficulties in designing studies and implementing the technologies in Danish Municipalities. The aim of the developed technologies is to provide timed feedback to reinforce sustained healthy habit changes in patients with lifestyle diseases for them to become more physically active and "empower" them to a better self-care.

Learning Outcome

Learning outcomes from the course:

  • The goal of the course is to provide the students with in depth knowledge on the use of welfare technology and how these technologies are used in rehabilitation to motivate elderly and patients with chronic diseases to live a healthier life.
  • The course will enable students to analyse the advantages and disadvantages of using welfare technology within rehabilitation.
  • A specific focus area of the present course is the involvement of citizens and patients in the development and maintenance of a healthier lifestyle.
  • Students should on this basis be able to determine interesting areas within public health to illustrate the changes and challenges in work in the health and illuminate the dilemmas in the use of specific welfare technologies
  • Based on the course students will be asked to review the literature within this area
  • Students will after the course be able to describe how welfare technology can be designed, developed, tested and implemented within the future rehabilitation of elderly and patients with chronic lifestyle related diseases.
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  • Category
  • Hours
  • Class Instruction
  • 30
  • Exam
  • 30
  • Preparation
  • 215
  • Total
  • 275
Credit
10 ECTS
Type of assessment
Written assignment
Course paper which the students should work on through out the course. To be handed in at the end of the course.
Aid
All aids allowed
Marking scale
passed/not passed
Censorship form
No external censorship
Exam period
See the exam schedule
Re-exam
See the exam schedule
Criteria for exam assesment

To pass, the student with the course assignment able to demonstrate:

- Ability to select relevant curriculum literature in the development of a public health problem formulation and thereby exerting an independent definition of a problem within the theme welfare technology and rehabilitation;

- Well-argued assessment of the challenges and benefits associated with the use of welfare technology in rehabilitation;

- Describe the importance of and methods for involving citizens and patients in the development and use of welfare technology solutions;

- Detection of specific dilemmas surrounding the use of welfare technology optimization, prevention and / or rehabilitation

- Knowledge about issues of control and regulation of new technologies

- Reflections on the interplay between social and health issues

- Ability to identify and argue for the strengths and weaknesses of using welfare technology theoretical orientations or conceptual applications in relation to the treated problem formulation