Article published on 5/6/2013.

Role of Patient-facing Technologies in the Era of Healthcare Reform
David Ahern, Ph.D.
Director, Health Information Technology Resource Center (HITRC) For Aligning Forces for Quality of RWJF
Director, Program in Behavioral Informatics & eHealth
Department of Psychiatry
Brigham & Women’s Hospital

Abstract: I will describe a framework for organizing patient-facing technologies to enable meaningful use from the patients’ perspective. The major premise is that success of healthcare reform is predicated on creating technology-enabled, proactive care teams coupled with informed and activated patients who are more engaged in their own care. Two technology-enabled research projects in primary care will be presented as exemplars of this model.

Bio: Dr. Ahern is the Director of the Health Information Technology Resource Center (HITRC) based at the Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston for Aligning Forces for Quality, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation® providing 16 current active communities across the U.S. with technical assistance and guidance to leverage the near term value of health information technology to improve health care quality. In addition, Dr. Ahern is the Director of the Program in Behavioral Informatics and eHealth within the Department of Psychiatry at the Brigham & Women’s Hospital. The Program in Behavioral Informatics and eHealth was created to advance research in at the intersection of behavioral science, technology, and the evaluation and treatment of mental health disorders. Dr. Ahern is an Assistant Professor of Psychology (Psychiatry) at Harvard Medical School. He received his doctorate from Nova Southeastern University and completed internship at the Brown University Internship Consortium. Dr. Ahern has had a distinguished career in clinical research in behavioral medicine and behavioral informatics and eHealth. He has published over 80 original articles in the areas of chronic pain, psychosocial aspects of musculoskeletal disorders, cardiovascular behavioral medicine, and eHealth research. He has held investigator roles on numerous research grants and contracts funded by multiple agencies including the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, the National Cancer Institute, and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Dr. Ahern served a three year term on the Board of Scientific Counselors, National Center for Health Marketing, Federal Advisory Committee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Ahern also holds the position of Senior Scientist for Abacus Management Technologies based in Rhode Island.

For a list of upcoming speakers, see http://phi.neu.edu/seminar

Hosted by the Northeastern University Personal Health Informatics Program.

Thursday 4/4, 4-5PM, Room 104 West Village G (WVG)

Open to the public.

From MIMIC to Sana: Learning systems, global eHealth, quality improvement and design thinking
Leo Celi, MD, MPH, MS
MIT

Abstract: The failure to store and analyze the vast amount of data generated on a daily basis is a key hurdle in advancing the practice of medicine. An equally necessary and important goal involves creating a culture that reacts to and translates the findings of such “big data” into a better system of care. Together, these changes will close a feedback control loop that can help provide a more standardized, yet more personalized care. I will describe an interdisciplinary team-led, data-fueled, learning system that we have built around MIMIC, a public clinical database of patients admitted to the intensive care units at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. I will also discuss the evolution of Sana, a project hosted at the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT, from an mHealth solution to an organization that promotes capacity building and design thinking in the development of health information systems to improve the quality of care in resource-poor settings.

Bio: Bio: Dr. Leo Anthony Celi is an internist, an intensive care unit doctor, and an infectious disease specialist. After working in New Zealand for 5 years, Leo returned to Boston to pursue a master’s degree in biomedical informatics at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences & Technology and a master’s degree in public health at Harvard University, and a research post-doctoral fellowship at the Massachusetts General Hospital. His current research projects are in the field of artificial intelligence in medicine and strengthening health care systems in resource-constrained settings. He is now on staff at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center ICU and the Laboratory of Computational Physiology at MIT.

For a list of upcoming speakers, see http://phi.neu.edu/seminar

Hosted by the Northeastern University Personal Health Informatics Program.

Thursday 3/14, 4-5PM, Room 104 West Village G (WVG)
Please note the room change from last semester.

Open to the public.

RAGE-Control: Regulate and Gain Emotional Control
Jason Kahn, Ph.D.
Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School

Abstract: Many young children have clinical levels of anger and aggression, which has negative consequences with families, peers, and academics. Historically, these children have had to rely on psychotherapy or psychopharmacological medications to treat these symptoms. Both of these approaches can be effective, but have considerable limitations. Adapting both recent findings in neuroscience and constructivist principles, we have been developing video games to help these children by using active biofeedback, which requires both simultaneous attention and relaxation. In pilot studies in both outpatient and inpatient settings, we have found that using our video game leads to reduced symptoms of anger in children. We have taken these findings and started developing toys that use the principles.

Bio:
Jason Kahn, PhD is a researcher at Boston Children’s Hospital and an Instructor at Harvard Medical School. He received his PhD in education from Tufts University and is an expert in developing new technologies to help children learn concepts that are often considered developmentally difficult. At Boston Children’s he has pursued multiple avenues to incorporate emerging technology to improve mental health care. He is committed to creating new ways for children to explore the world around them, leading to healthy development and positive interactions with family and peers.

For a list of upcoming speakers, see http://phi.neu.edu/seminar

Open to the public.

Use of Pre-recorded Video and Audio to Create an Engaging Interactive Media Program for Mental Health

James Cartreine, PhD
Research and Clinical Psychologist
Program in Behavioral Informatics and eHealth
Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Instructor in Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School

Abstract: A 10-year program of research has been undertaken for NASA to develop and evaluate a suite of interactive media programs to help astronauts prevent, assess, and treat their own psychosocial problems. One of the Virtual Space Station tools that is now being transitioned for use by the public helps persons improve their mood and enjoyment of life, based on problem-solving therapy for depression. Through rich media (branching video and audio clips tailored to users’ inputs), a conversation is approximated between the user and a competent, caring therapist. The intent is to make the program feel more like interacting with a person than with a computer. Research studies have indicated that users “bond” with the on-camera therapist similar to live therapy. This talk will provide a rationale for when to use and not to use video, audio, graphics and text in a behavioral health-oriented computer program, as well as the process of storyboarding, scriptwriting, and media production that went into the production. A demonstration of the Virtual Space Station and its components will be provided.

For a list of upcoming speakers, see http://phi.neu.edu/seminar

Strong potential students are encouraged to apply beyond this date as well. We will continue to consider applications as they are received.

http://www.northeastern.edu/news/2012/11/technology-to-improve-health-care/

http://www.northeastern.edu/news/2012/11/popping-in-on-the-latest-research/

Open to the public.

Models of Behavior Change: Implications and Challenges
Wayne Velicer
Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Rhode Island
Co-Director, Cancer Prevention Research Center, University of Rhode Island

Abstract: Models of Behavior Change are different from Models of Behavior in four fundamental ways. First, models of behavior change focus on dynamic variables rather than static variable. Dynamic variables like psychosocial and behavioral variables are open to change. Static variables like past history and demographic variables cannot be easily modified. Second, the focus is on the individual evolutionary process. Models of Behavior Change need to model change over time. The nature of the change process and the pattern of change over time are critical. Third, models of behavior change need to be generalizable across behaviors. Models specific to a single behavior do little to advance science. Variables (manifest variables) will change across behaviors but constructs (latent variables) will not. Fourth, constructs that are curvilinear over time should be common in behavior change models. Typically, a person makes no effort to change a behavior, and then makes increasing effort, and then decreases effort as change becomes stable. Linear models, applied to curvilinear models will greatly underestimate the relationship. Models of behavior change will also result in a shift in focus for model testing with more emphasis on: (a) effect sizes estimation rather than traditional Null Hypothesis Testing; (b) Using methods like mediation analysis to identifying the mechanisms of behavior change; (c) Focusing on multivariate models to capture all aspects of the change process; (d) Focusing on longitudinal methods to include the temporal dimension; and (e) Testing theories through intervention development.