Designers have grown increasingly interested in social consequences of new technologies. As social impacts become increasingly important it might be fruitful to understand how social impacts develop and how a designer can anticipate these consequences. In health care practices, for instance, it is important to control unintended social impacts at forehand. Social impact is an outcome of the mediating effect of a technology with its social environment. Human behaviour in a social environment can be analysed from the perspective of a social ecological system. To anticipate social impacts simulations of social practices are needed. To simulate practices the persona approach has been adapted to a screenplay approach in which the elements of a social ecology are used to gain a rich description of a social environment. This has been applied for a 'Heart Managers' case. It was concluded that the screenplay approach can be used for a systematic simulation of future social impacts.
Smart glasses were perceived to be potentially revolutionary for healthcare, however, there is only limited research on the acceptance and social implications of smart glasses in healthcare. This study aims to get a better insight into the theoretical foundations and the purpose was to identify themes regarding adoption, mediation, and the use of smart glasses from the perspective of healthcare professionals. A qualitative research design with focus groups was used to collect data. Three focus groups with 22 participants were conducted. Data were analyzed using content analysis. Our analysis revealed six overarching themes related to the anticipated adoption of smart glasses: knowledge, innovativeness, use cases, ethical issues, persuasion, and attitude. Nine themes were found related to anticipated mediation and use of smart glasses: attention, emotions, social influences, design, context, camera use, risks, comparisons to known products, and expected reaction and might influence the acceptance of smart glasses.
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Internationalizing curricula. Needs and wishes of alumni and employers with regard to international competencies. Internationalization has become of great importance for universities acrossthe globe. The labour market is becoming international, with internationalopportunities and international competition. Emerging markets such as India, China and Russia are gaining economic power. Global challenges demand world-wide solutions. Production and marketing networks span the globe and various forms of migration have resulted in a large cultural diversity within nations. As a result, societies and labour markets are changing as well. In order to deal with these societal changes adequately and to succeed in today’s labour market, graduates need to be equipped with international competencies. In a survey among 500 chief executives, ICM Research (on behalf of Think Global and The British Council, 2011) showed that employers strongly value staff members who are able to work in an international and multicultural environment. Similar results were found in Diamond et al. (2011), in which ‘multicultural teamwork’ was considered most important. The Hague University of Applied Sciences seeks to prepare its students adequately for the world of tomorrow. The University’s development plans (e.g. HogeschoolOntwikkelingsPlan, HOP 7, 2009-2013 and HOP 8, 2014-2017) indicate that its vision is to train students to be globally-minded professionals with an international and multicultural perspective, who are world-citizens, interested in global issues and able to deal with diversity in a constructive manner. They are to be professionals, who possess the competencies to function well in an international and intercultural environment. Internationalization is therefore high on the agenda of The Hague University of Applied Sciences (THUAS) which is illustrated by the fact that, as of 2014, new students in all academies have to fill 12.5% (30 ECTS) of their four-year Bachelor program with international activities. These activities can range from an internship or semester abroad (student mobility) to participating in full programs of study or minors in which English is the medium of instruction, or an internationally themed minor (Internationalization at Home, IaH). And this is only the beginning. Internationalization is a means, not an end. All THUAS courses are looking into ways in which they can internationalize their curriculum. And in doing so, they need to be innovative (Leask, 2009) and keep in mind the specific needs and wishes of alumni and their employers with regard to international competences. The THUAS research group International Cooperation supports these internationalization policy objectives by investigating various aspects, such as: • The acquisition and development of international competencies among students. • The extent to which lecturers possess international competencies and what their needs and wishes are for further development. • The international competencies THUAS graduates have acquired as part of their degree and how THUAS has stimulated this development. • The international competencies that employers and alumni consider important. Although international competencies and employability have received growing attention in internationalization research, existing studies have mainly focused on: • The effects of study abroad on the development of international competence (cf. Hoven & Walenkamp, 2013). • The effects of an experience abroad (study, internship, voluntary work) on employability. • A more general analysis of the skills employers look for in prospective employees.
Regular physical activity is considered to be an important component of a healthy lifestyle that decreases the risk of coronary heart disease, diabetes mellitus type 2, hypertension, colon and breast cancer, obesity and other debilitating conditions. Physical activity can also improve functional capacity and therefore also the quality of life in older adults. Despite all these favorable aspects, a substantial part of the Dutch older adult population is still underactive or even sedentary. To change this for the better, the Groningen Active Living Model (GALM) was developed.Aim of GALM is to stimulate recreational sports activities in sedentary and underactive older adults in the 55-65 age band. After a door-to-door visit as part of an intensive recruitment phase, a fitness test was conducted followed by the GALM recreational sports program. This program was based on principles from evolutionary-biological play theory and insights fromsocial cognitive theory. The program was versatile in nature (e.g. softball, dance, self-defense, swimming, athletics, etc.) in two main ways: a) to improve compliance with the program different sports were offered, which was reported to be more appealing for older adults; b) by aiming at more components of motor fitness (e.g. strength, flexibility, speed, endurance and coordination). Between 1997 and 2005 more than 552,000 persons were visited door-to-door, over 55,700 were tested, and 41,310 participated in the GALM recreational sports program. The aim of the present thesis is to determine the effects of participation in the GALM recreational sports program on physical activity, health and fitness outcomes.Chapter 2 describes the effectiveness of the GALM recruitment in selecting and recruiting sedentary and underactive older adults. Three municipalities in the Netherlands were selected, and in every municipality four neighborhoods were included. Two of each of the four neighborhoods were randomly assigned as intervention and the others as control neighborhoods. In total, 8,504 persons were mailed and received a home visit. During this home visit the GALM recruitment questionnaire was collected on which the selection between sedentary/underactive and physically active older adults was based. Ultimately we succeeded inincluding 12.3% (315 of the 2,551 qualifying) of the older adults, 79.4% of whom could be indeed considered sedentary or underactive. The cost of successfully recruiting an older adult was estimated at $84.To assess the effects of a physical activity intervention on health and fitness and explain the results, it is necessary to know program characteristics regarding frequency, intensity, time and content of the activities. With respect to the GALM recreational sports activity program, the only unknown characteristic was intensity. Chapter 3 describes the intensity of this program systematically. Using heart rate monitors, data of 97 persons (mean age 60.1 yr) were collected in three municipalities. The mean intensity of all 15 GALM sessions was 73.7% of the predicted maximal heart rate. Six percent of the monitored heart rate time could be classified as light, 33% as moderate and 61% as hard. In summary, the GALM recreational sports program meets the 1998 ACSM recommendations for intensity necessary to improve cardiorespiratory fitness.Chapters 4 and 5 describe the effects of 6 and 12 months of participation in the GALM recreational sports program, and 181 persons were followed over time. Results after 6 months revealed only few significant between-group differences favoring the intervention group (i.e. sleep, diastolic blood pressure, perceived fitness score and grip strength). Changes in energyexpenditure for leisure-time physical activities (EELTPA) showed an increase in both study groups. From 6 to 12 months a decrease in EELTPA occurred in the intervention group and an increase in the control group. The significant positive time effects for the health outcomes (diastolic blood pressure, BMI, percentage of body fat) that were found after 6 months were diminishedfrom 6 to 12 months. However, the energy expenditure for recreational sports activities (EERECSPORT) demonstrated a continuous increase over 12 months. Parallel to this, significant main effects for time were found in performance-based fitness outcomes (i.e. simple reaction time, leg strength, flexibility of hamstrings and lower back, and aerobic endurance). After 12 months only a significant between-group difference for flexibility of the hamstrings andlower back was found, favoring the control group. In conclusion, a short-term increase in EELTPA was found with accompanying improvements in health outcomes that more or less disappeared in 6 to 12 months. In the long term, results showed a continuous increase in EERECSPORT and performance-based fitness. This latter increase is probably a reflection of the significantimprovement over time in EERECSPORT and the fact that recreational sports activities are of a higher intensity.Aerobic endurance is regarded as the most important component of motor fitness that is relevant for older adults to function independently. In Chapter 6, the development in aerobic endurance after 18 months of participation in the GALM recreational sports program was assessed by means of changes in heart rate during fixed submaximal exercise. Since both groups were comparable regarding changes in energy expenditure for physical activity after 6 months and testing confirmed this, both groups were combined and considered as one group. Multilevel analyses were conducted and models for change were developed. A significant decrease in heart rate over time was found at all walking speeds (4, 5, 6 and 7 km/h). The average decrease in heart rate was 5.5, 6.0, 10.0 and 9.0 beats/min for the 4, 5, 6 and 7 km/h walking speeds, respectively. The relative decrease varied from 5.1 to 7.4% relative to average heart rates at baseline. These results illustrate that participation in the GALM recreational sports program has a positive significant effect on aerobic endurance, and that the participants are able to perform at submaximal intensity more easily.Based on the overall results it can be concluded that this study contributes to the field in how to effectively recruit sedentary and underactive older adults and stimulate them to become and stay active in recreational sports activities. As far as we know, this recruitment in combination with the recreational sport program is not only unique but also effective toward increasing performance-based fitness in the long term. Short-term effects were found in other leisure-time activities and health outcomes. To further stimulate other leisure-time and probably health outcomes besides the favorable effects that were already seen, additional interventions that pay more attention to behavioral change in terms of how to integrate other activities besides sports activities are recommended.
YOUNG-D is a European project on the prevention and management of anxiety, stress and sleep problems in people with early onset dementia (OED).The overall aim of this project is to increase awareness and knowledge of (future) health care providers in the included EU-partners on psychosocial and behavioral program YOUNG-D in people with early onset dementia in order to prevent and manage anxiety, stress and sleep problems, which in turn increases heart rate variability, wellbeing and quality of life.ErasmusprojectThis project aims to educate and sensitize health care providers, organisations and health care students and -lecturers about early onset dementia. More specifically, this project focuses on knowledge transfer about aspects in the prevention and management of anxiety, stress and sleep problems in people with early onset dementia by means of a psychosocial and behavioural program. Activities to implement(1) the development and organisation of a train-the-trainer course for professional health caregivers and organisations.; (2) the health care organisation partner in each European country (partner) will enroll the six week psychosocial and behavioural program in its own setting; (3) knowledge transfer towards future health care students and lecturers will be provided per country by means of a blended learning module. Planned results: (1) Development of the train-the-trainer course: a syllabus and a joint report(2) Implementation of the six week program in each health care setting in the included health care partners and a joint report (3) development of blended learning course and a joint report
