Concerns regarding the accessibility of self-service interactive devices for people with disabilities.

PURPOSE: Self-service interactive devices allow users to access information or services without directly interacting with service personnel. As the prevalence of disability increases, it is important to consider the barriers individuals face in using these devices and explore opportunities to increase accessibility through assistive and adaptive technologies. This study aimed to establish recommendations to enhance the accessibility of self-service interactive devices, with the objective of understanding users' experiences with these devices. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Nineteen semi-structured interviews were held with stakeholders focusing on accessible design for people with disabilities, categorized as (a) persons with lived experiences with disability, (b) disability advocates, or (c) assistive technology industry experts. The study used content analysis to identify recurring concepts and opportunities to improve accessibility. Participants discussed the potential benefits of updating or incorporating additional accessibility technologies into self-service devices and proposed solutions to existing deficiencies. RESULTS: Common concerns expressed among participants included the privacy and security of self-service devices, protection of personal information, and the consistency and usability of devices. Participants also suggested how this inconsistency could be mitigated and how to improve existing accessibility functionalities. Accessible functionalities in self-service devices have the potential to help address the unmet needs of Canadians with disabilities. CONCLUSIONS: With the breadth of available accessible and adaptive technologies, the study concludes that it is imperative to understand (1) what technologies are useful to people with disabilities, (2) whether the inclusion of these technologies is feasible in self-service devices, and (3) how user experience can be improved.

To support full participation of people with disabilities in public and commercial spaces, the intentional inclusion of accessibility in self-service devices needs to be strengthened when considering their usability and security.Many accessible and adaptive technologies are available, but when considering their integration into self-service devices it is important to understand which of these would be actually useful to people with disabilities, whether their inclusion is feasible, and how user experience can be improved.

The Cooperation Between Nurses and a New Digital Colleague "AI-Driven Lifestyle Monitoring" in Long-Term Care for Older Adults: Viewpoint.

Technology has a major impact on the way nurses work. Data-driven technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), have particularly strong potential to support nurses in their work. However, their use also introduces ambiguities. An example of such a technology is AI-driven lifestyle monitoring in long-term care for older adults, based on data collected from ambient sensors in an older adult's home. Designing and implementing this technology in such an intimate setting requires collaboration with nurses experienced in long-term and older adult care. This viewpoint paper emphasizes the need to incorporate nurses and the nursing perspective into every stage of designing, using, and implementing AI-driven lifestyle monitoring in long-term care settings. It is argued that the technology will not replace nurses, but rather act as a new digital colleague, complementing the humane qualities of nurses and seamlessly integrating into nursing workflows. Several advantages of such a collaboration between nurses and technology are highlighted, as are potential risks such as decreased patient empowerment, depersonalization, lack of transparency, and loss of human contact. Finally, practical suggestions are offered to move forward with integrating the digital colleague.

Exploring the Role of Active Assisted Living in the Continuum of Care for Older Adults: Thematic Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Active assisted living (AAL) refers to systems designed to improve the quality of life, aid in independence, and create healthier lifestyles for those who need assistance at any stage of their lives. As the population of older adults in Canada grows, there is a pressing need for nonintrusive, continuous, adaptable, and reliable health monitoring tools to support aging in place and reduce health care costs. AAL has great potential to support these efforts with the wide variety of solutions currently available; however, additional work is required to address the concerns of care recipients and their care providers with regard to the integration of AAL into care. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to work closely with stakeholders to ensure that the recommendations for system-service integrations for AAL aligned with the needs and capacity of health care and allied health systems. To this end, an exploratory study was conducted to understand the perceptions of, and concerns with, AAL technology use. METHODS: A total of 18 semistructured group interviews were conducted with stakeholders, with each group comprising several participants from the same organization. These participant groups were categorized into care organizations, technology development organizations, technology integration organizations, and potential care recipient or patient advocacy groups. The results of the interviews were coded using a thematic analysis to identify future steps and opportunities regarding AAL. RESULTS: The participants discussed how the use of AAL systems may lead to improved support for care recipients through more comprehensive monitoring and alerting, greater confidence in aging in place, and increased care recipient empowerment and access to care. However, they also raised concerns regarding the management and monetization of data emerging from AAL systems as well as general accountability and liability. Finally, the participants discussed potential barriers to the use and implementation of AAL systems, especially addressing the question of whether AAL systems are even worth it considering the investment required and encroachment on privacy. Other barriers raised included issues with the institutional decision-making process and equity. CONCLUSIONS: Better definition of roles is needed in terms of who can access the data and who is responsible for acting on the gathered data. It is important for stakeholders to understand the trade-off between using AAL technologies in care settings and the costs of AAL technologies, including the loss of patient privacy and control. Finally, further work is needed to address the gaps, explore the equity in AAL access, and develop a data governance framework for AAL in the continuum of care.

Public Attitudes Towards Vaccine Passports in Alberta During the "Pandemic of the Unvaccinated": A Qualitative Analysis of Reddit Posts.

Objective: The goal of this study is to understand the attitudes and beliefs towards mandatory vaccination policies in Alberta, Canada in September 2021, during the fourth wave of COVID-19. Methods: 9400 posts between 1st September and 30th September 2021 were collected from the subreddit r/Alberta with Pushshift.io. Posts and comments were manually screened to determine their relevance to research objectives, and then coded using inductive coding and iterative qualitative analysis methods. Results: Inductive coding methods yielded five key themes: 1) opinions related to autonomy and consent, 2) concerns about COVID-19 vaccine passport enforcement, 3) concerns about government, 4) concerns about the logistics of passports, and 5) opinions relating to the necessity of passports to prevent lockdowns. Conclusion: Overall, the data presented favorable opinions towards an Albertan vaccine passport within r/Alberta. Anti-vaccine and anti-mandate opinions were often less extreme than those present in the literature, although this may be due to r/Alberta subreddit moderators removing those more extreme comments. Most reservations were due to issues of bodily autonomy, though concerns about the government and logistics also played a meaningful role.

Topic Modelling and Sentiment Analysis of Tweets Related to Freedom Convoy 2022 in Canada.

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate public discourses and sentiments regarding the Freedom Convoy in Canada on Twitter. Methods: English tweets were retrieved from Twitter API from 15 January to 14 February 2022 when the Freedom Convoy occurred. Unsupervised topic modelling and sentiment analysis were applied to identify topics and sentiments for each topic. Results: Five topics resulted from the topic modelling, including convoy support, political arguments toward the current prime minister, lifting vaccine mandates, police activities, and convoy fundraising. Overall, sentiments for each topic began with more positive or negative sentiments but approached to neutral over time. Conclusion: The results show that sentiments towards the Freedom Convoy generally tended to be positive. Five topics were identified from the data collected, and these topics highly correlated with the events of the convoy. Our study also demonstrated that a mixed approach of unsupervised machine learning techniques and manual validation could generate timely evidence.

Evaluating Challenges and Adoption Factors for Active Assisted Living Smart Environments.

While there have been rapid advancements in individual technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT) and Active Assisted Living (AAL) to address challenges related to an aging population, there remain large gaps in how these technologies can be integrated into the broader ecosystem to support older adults in aging in place. This research provides an overview of 15 solutions available to date around the globe and compares key factors for adoption in each solution, including user acceptance, privacy and security, accessibility, and interoperability. To scale these solutions sustainably and universally, the development and implementation of standards for key factors for adoption in AAL environments is critical. There is also a need for increased and sustainable funding to complement research priorities, to continue advancing AAL technologies.