Development and evaluation of an online vocational program for veterans with legal convictions and psychiatric illness

PURPOSE

We describe the development and pilot evaluation of an online vocational rehabilitation program, the About Face Online System (AFOS), for veterans with a history of felony convictions and either mental illness and/or substance use disorders.

METHOD

Phase One was the development and acceptability testing of the online system. Phase Two was a small, randomized trial comparing the likelihood of obtaining employment among people using the AFOS, compared to people receiving a self-directed hardcopy manual, after 6 months.

RESULTS

In Phase One, 17 veterans provided feedback as the system was being developed. The final system allows veterans to receive education on vocational reintegration skills, watch short videos describing the techniques, and communicate with a vocational staff member via chat features. Veterans found the AFOS to be as acceptable as a hardcopy manual that covered similar material. In Phase Two, 38 veterans with a history of felony convictions and either mental illness or substance use disorder were randomized to receive the AFOS or a hardcopy manual. After 6 months, people randomized to the AFOS were more likely to obtain employment than people randomized to the hardcopy manual.

CONCLUSION

An online vocational program may help veterans who cannot attend traditional in-person vocational services to successfully obtain employment.

COVID-19 impact on the Chinese top academic libraries: Libraries' response to space, collection and services

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic was a major public health emergency on a global scale. The literature regarding the pandemic and its impact on academic libraries is still rising. This article examines the two-year process of developing a flexible service scenario and the broader picture by analyzing data on Chinese top university libraries' programmes and outreach initiatives prior to, during, and the normal COVID-19 pandemic (Sept. 2019-Sept. 2021). COVID-19 is found to have a significant impact on the physical space, collection development, and service of the library, demonstrating the characteristics of space access restricted by security measures, collection digitization, and online service. This research also examines the previous year's initiatives and programmes and discusses the next phase of "new normal" procedures. Hopefully, this study will give insight on how Chinese libraries responded to the recent pandemic, informing libraries' outreach and efforts to be better prepared to take imperative, swift, and decisive action in the post-COVID-19 era and beyond.

Feasibility of a virtual service delivery model to support physical activity engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic for those with spinal cord injury

BACKGROUND

The current pandemic has reduced access to safe, monitored physical activity (PA) programs for persons with spinal cord injury (SCI). The use of telerehabilitation has the potential for continuing activity engagement without risking virus exposure. The present study evaluates the feasibility and efficacy of an online group-based PA program for persons with SCI.

METHODS

This preliminary pre-post study delivered an online group-based PA program to persons with SCI. The program consisted of 1-hour sessions twice weekly for six weeks. Online PA satisfaction questionnaires were assessed at post-treatment. Psychosocial subscales from the NeuroQOL-SF were assessed.

RESULTS

Participants were adult females between 3 and 32 years post-injury, 1 tetraplegic and 3 paraplegics (n = 4). All participants were highly satisfied with the online instruction, overall content, and videoconferencing platform. Participants stated that the online program was beneficial for their overall physical and psychosocial wellbeing. The program resulted in improvement in anxiety and satisfaction with social roles and activities.

CONCLUSION

The current pilot study demonstrates the acceptability and limited efficacy of an online PA program for those with SCI. The program resulted in improved overall perceived wellbeing and satisfaction with social roles and activities. These results have important implications for the clinical implementation of online PA programs in a hospital and community setting.

How to Prepare a Compound Collection Prior to Virtual Screening

Virtual screening is a well-established technique that has proven to be successful in the identification of novel biologically active molecules, including drug repurposing. Whether for ligand-based or for structure-based virtual screening, a chemical collection needs to be properly processed prior to in silico evaluation. Here we describe our step-by-step procedure for handling very large collections (up to billions) of compounds prior to virtual screening.

Implementing an online pharmaceutical service using design science research

BACKGROUND

The rising prevalence of chronic diseases is pressing health systems to introduce reforms. Primary healthcare and multidisciplinary models have been suggested as approaches to deal with this challenge, with new roles for nurses and pharmacists being advocated. More recently, implementing healthcare based on information systems and technologies (e.g. eHealth) has been proposed as a way to improve health services. However, implementing online pharmaceutical services, including their adoption by pharmacists and patients, is still an open research question. In this paper we present ePharmacare, a new online pharmaceutical service implemented using Design Science Research.

METHODS

The Design Science Research Methodology (DSRM) was chosen to implement this online service for chronic diseases management. In the paper, DSRM's different activities are explained, from the definition of the problem to the evaluation of the artifact. During the design and development activities, surveys, observations, focus groups, and eye-tracking glasses were used to validate pharmacists' and patients' requirements. During the demonstration and evaluation activities the new service was used with real-world pharmacists and patients.

RESULTS

The results show the contribution of DSRM in the implementation of online services for pharmacies. We found that pharmacists spend only 50% of their time interacting with patients, uncovering a clear opportunity to implement online pharmaceutical care services. On the other hand, patients that regularly visit the same pharmacy recognize the value in patient follow-up demanding to use channels such as the Internet for their pharmacy interactions. Limitations were identified regarding the high workload of pharmacists, but particularly their lack of know-how and experience in dealing with information systems (IST) for the provision of pharmaceutical services.

CONCLUSIONS

This paper summarizes a research project in which an online pharmaceutical service was proposed, designed, developed, demonstrated and evaluated using DSRM. The main barriers for pharmacists' adoption of online pharmaceutical services provision were the lack of time, time management and information systems usage skills, as well as a precise role definition within pharmacies. These problems can be addressed with proper training and services reorganization, two proposals to be investigated in future works.