Carme Carrion

Universitat Oberta de Catalunya | UOC · Health Sciences Studies

BACKGROUND As information and communication technologies are increasingly integrated to enhance care quality, digitalization is transforming health systems. Digital health tools offer promising solutions within mental health, particularly in the treatment of depression, which currently affects 5% of the global population and has been predicted to b...

Purpose Consultations related to major depression have increased significantly in recent years in Primary Care (PC) in Catalonia. PC is key in the approach, so we analysed the training and alignment with clinical practice guidelines (CPG) of PC professionals in Catalonia and explored their perceptions of the results obtained. Methods Explanatory s...

Purpose To identify and synthesise interactive digital tools used to support the empowerment of people with cancer and the outcomes of these tools. Methods A systematic literature review was conducted using PubMed, CINAHL, Web of Science, Cochrane, Eric, Scopus, and PsycINFO databases in May 2023. Inclusion criteria were patient empowerment as an...

Objective: Mobile Health (mHealth) refers to using mobile devices to support health. This study aimed to identify specific methodological challenges in systematic reviews (SRs) of mHealth interventions and to develop guidance for addressing selected challenges. Study Design and Setting: Two-phase participatory research project. First, we sent an o...

Background The digital transformation of healthcare enables new ways of working in cancer care directing attention on the digital skills of healthcare professionals. This systematic review aims to identify existing evidence about digital skills among health care professionals in cancer care to identify the needs for future education and research....

Background Among the millions of mobile apps in existence, thousands fall under the category of mobile health (mHealth). Although the utility of mHealth apps has been demonstrated for disease diagnosis, treatment data management, and health promotion strategies, to be effective they must reach and be used by their target audience. An appropriate ma...

Introduction Different remote interventions, such as applications (apps), have been used to continue promoting healthy ageing and preventing disability during the COVID-19 pandemic. The growing trend of apps in health is exponential and may facilitate scaling up physical activity prescription. Numerous tools are available, but little is known regar...

Currently, more than 700 million people worldwide are, at least, 65 years old, with this number expected to surpass 1 billion by 2050. Multi-morbidity and complex health and social care needs will increase in turn, exacerbating the demands for policies and services aimed at older adults, which the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted as lacking. Furth...

In response to major challenges facing the aging population, we have launched the Barcelona Aging coLLaboratory (BALL), an open-innovation ecosystem focused on promoting healthy and active aging through the co-creation, development, testing and evaluation of innovative products and services in real-life settings. In line with the quadruple helix in...

Background Depression is a significant public health issue that can lead to considerable disability and reduced quality of life. With the rise of technology, mobile health (mHealth) interventions, particularly smartphone apps, are emerging as a promising approach for addressing depression. However, the lack of standardized evaluation tools and evid...

BACKGROUND The reasons for mental health consultations are becoming increasingly relevant in primary care. The Catalan healthcare system is undergoing a process of digital transformation, where digital health tools and especially telemedicine are becoming increasingly relevant in routine clinical practice. OBJECTIVE To analyse the approach to depr...

Background The reasons for mental health consultations are becoming increasingly relevant in primary care. The Catalan health care system is undergoing a process of digital transformation, where eHealth is becoming increasingly relevant in routine clinical practice. Objective This study aimed to analyze the approach to depressive episodes and the...

BACKGROUND Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) affect over 1.5 billion people worldwide, the majority among impoverished populations in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Skin NTDs are a subgroup of NTDs that manifest primarily as skin lesions. The diagnosis and treatment of skin NTDs entail considerable resources, including trained personnel...

Background Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) affect over 1.5 billion people worldwide, primarily impoverished populations in low- and middle-income countries. Skin NTDs, a significant subgroup, manifest primarily as skin lesions and require extensive diagnosis and treatment resources, including trained personnel and financial backing. The World He...

BACKGROUND Among the millions of mobile applications (“apps”) in existence, thousands fall under the category of mobile health (mHealth). While the utility of mHealth apps has been demonstrated for disease diagnosis, treatment data management, and health promotion strategies, to be effective they must reach and be used by their target audience. An...

Introduction The aim of this systematic review is to assess the relationship between patient empowerment and other empowerment-related constructs, and affective symptoms and quality of life in patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods A systematic review of the literature was conducted, according to the PRISMA guidelines. Studies addressing adult pat...

Health technology assessment (HTA) provides evidence-based information on healthcare technology to support decision making in many countries. Environmental impact is a relevant dimension of a health technology’s value, but it has been poorly addressed in HTA processes in spite of the commitment that the health sector must have to contribute to miti...

BACKGROUND Depression is a significant public health issue that can lead to considerable disability and reduced quality of life. With the rise of technology, mobile health (mHealth) interventions, particularly smartphone apps, are emerging as a promising approach for addressing depression. However, the lack of standardized evaluation tools and evid...

Purpose: Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) have become fundamental tools for evidence-based medicine (EBM). However, CPG suffer from several limitations, including obsolescence, lack of applicability to many patients, and limited patient participation. This paper presents APPRAISE-RS, which is a methodology that we developed to overcome these li...

La inclusión de la actividad física y la prescripción de ejercicio físico en el ámbito de la sanidad móvil (mHealth) ofrece un nuevo campo de investigación en una sociedad cada vez más digitalizada. En este contexto, es necesario evaluar la aplicabilidad, fiabilidad y adecuación de las variables de control y evaluación, teniendo en cuenta los crite...

Introduction The use of mobile applications in the treatment of health issues is more frequently becoming common practice. Apps are fast, versatile, and manageable tools that allow the empowerment of patients and professionals, and can reduce the possible stigmatization suffered by some patients, mainly in mental health. There are more than 325,000...

Background Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) affect over 1.5 billion people worldwide, the majority of them belonging to impoverished populations in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Skin NTDs are a subgroup of NTDs that manifest primarily as skin lesions. The diagnosis and treatment of skin NTDs entail considerable resources, including tr...

Objective The aim of the present study is to identify factors associated with patient empowerment in people living with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in the Canary Islands (Spain). Methods Secondary cross‐sectional analysis was carried out of data obtained in the INDICA study: A 24‐month cluster randomized‐controlled trial evaluating the effecti...

Background Adolescent pregnancies and sexually-transmitted infections continue to impact 15 – 19-year-olds across the globe. The lack of sexual reproductive health information (SRH) in resource-limited settings due to cultural and societal attitudes towards adolescent SRH could be contributing to the negative outcomes. Innovative approaches, includ...

Background: Digital health interventions and mobile technologies can help to reduce the rates of obesity and overweight conditions. Although weight management apps are widely used, they usually lack professional content and evaluation, so the quality of these apps cannot be guaranteed. The EVALAPPS project aims to design and validate a tool to ass...

Background: Adolescents transitioning from childhood to adulthood need to be equipped with sexual reproductive health (SRH) knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values that empower them. Accessible, reliable, appropriate, and friendly information can be provided through mobile phone-based health interventions.

Introduction: In cross-sectional analyses, higher levels of patient empowerment have been related to lower symptoms of anxiety and depression. The aims of this study are: (1) to assess if patient empowerment predicts anxiety and depression symptoms after 12 and 24 months among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, and (2) to analyze whether a ch...

Background Adolescent pregnancies and sexually-transmitted infections continue to impact 15–19-year-olds across the globe. The lack of sexual reproductive health information in resource-limited settings can often be due to cultural and societal attitudes to adolescent sexual reproductive health. Innovative approaches, including mobile phone technol...

UNSTRUCTURED The inclusion of physical activity and physical exercise prescription in the field of mHealth, offers a new field of research in an increasingly digitized society. In this context, it is necessary to assess the applicability, reliability and adequacy of the control variables and assessment of the volume and intensity of physical exerci...

Objectives: The main objective of this work was to explore and characterize the current landscape of mobile applications available to treat mood disorders such as depression, bipolar disorder, and dysthymia. Methods: We developed a tool that makes both the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store searchable using keywords and that facilitates t...

BACKGROUND There are thousands of health apps available, including for mood disorders. However, their access is unstructured, and most are never download nor used. Their outcomes are rarely systematically measured and therefore effectiveness is disputed, even potentially damaging. The COVID-19 pandemic has posed and continues to pose a significant...

BACKGROUND : Adolescents transitioning from childhood to adulthood need to be equipped with sexual reproductive health (SRH) knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values that empower them. Accessible, reliable, appropriate, and friendly information can be provided through mobile phone-based health interventions. OBJECTIVE This study will investigate t...

Background: Adolescents transitioning from childhood to adulthood need to be equipped with sexual reproductive health (SRH) knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values that empower them. Accessible, reliable, appropriate, and friendly information can be provided through mobile phone-based health interventions. Objective: This study aims to investig...

Purpose The prevalence of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections among adolescents in low and middle-income countries leads us to believe that sexual and reproductive health (SRH) information needs are still unmet. This paper investigates current sources and their limitations and then explores the role technology could play. Methods: In an e...

BACKGROUND Adolescent pregnancies and sexually-transmitted infections continue to impact 15 – 19-year-olds across the globe. The lack of sexual reproductive health information in resource-limited settings can often be due to cultural and societal attitudes to adolescent sexual reproductive health. Innovative approaches, including mobile phone techn...

Background: The use of apps for weight management has increased over recent years; however, there is a lack of evidence regarding the efficacy and safety of these apps. The EVALAPPS project will develop and validate an assessment instrument to specifically assess the safety and efficacy of weight management apps. Objective: The aim of this study w...

BACKGROUND Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) is a diverse group of 20 communicable diseases that occur in tropical and subtropical conditions in 149 countries, affecting over one billion people and costing developing economies billions of dollars every year. Within these diseases, those that present lesions on the skin surface are classed as skin...

Background Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) represent a diverse group of 20 communicable diseases that occur in tropical and subtropical areas in 149 countries, affecting over 1 billion people and costing developing economies billions of dollars every year. Within these diseases, those that present lesions on the skin surface are classified as sk...

Objectives Myositis is a heterogeneous family of diseases that includes dermatomyositis (DM), antisynthetase syndrome (AS), immune-mediated necrotising myopathy (IMNM), inclusion body myositis (IBM), polymyositis and overlap myositis. Additional subtypes of myositis can be defined by the presence of myositis-specific autoantibodies (MSAs). The purp...

Background: Promotion of physical activity, healthy eating, adequate sleep, and reduced sedentary behavior in adolescents is a major priority globally given the current increase in population health challenges of noncommunicable diseases and risk factors such as obesity. Adolescents are highly engaged with mobile technology, but the challenge is t...

Today, lifelong learning is fully integrated into our society. From the student point of view, lifelong learning has several characteristics that differentiate it from regular learning: domains of interest may be very broad; learning occurs in different depths; topics to study may be related both to work, family and leisure; students’ continuity ca...

Introduction There are more than 320,000 accessible health apps, with the most downloaded of those related to physical exercise and weight control. However the initiatives for their validation address only partial aspects of the evaluation. The EVALAPPS project aims to develop an assessment tool for overweight and obesity management apps, based on...

Introduction eHealth is a new approach for managing several health conditions, but up to now not so many interventions have shown their efficacy/effectiveness. The AUTAPP Project tries to add knowledge in eHealth interventions targeted to Mental Health disorders, specifically Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) management that requires complex intervent...

Introduction E-health offers the opportunity of supporting the management of several diseases, but most of these tools are far from being based on scientific evidence and demonstrating their effectiveness and efficacy. The PSICODEM Project aims to develop a mobile personalized clinical decision support system (CDSS) based on evidence for contributi...

BACKGROUND The use of Mobile Applications (apps) for managing overweightness/obesity has increased over recent years. However, there is a lack of evidence on the efficacy, effectiveness and safety of these apps. The EVALAPPS project will develop and validate an assessment tool for specifically assessing these dimensions in overweightness/obesity ma...

Background The use of apps for weight management has increased over recent years; however, there is a lack of evidence regarding the efficacy and safety of these apps. The EVALAPPS project will develop and validate an assessment instrument to specifically assess the safety and efficacy of weight management apps. Objective The aim of this study was...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.2196/12612.].

The prevention of bone mass loss and related complications associated with osteoporosis is a significant public health issue. The Mediterranean diet (MD) is favorably associated with bone health, a potentially modifiable risk factor. The objective of this research was to determine MD adherence in a sample of women with and without osteoporosis. In...

Introduction: Management of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) requires complex and integrated interventions, usually tailored for each individual due to the wide variety of symptoms that people diagnosed with ASD present. Some of these interventions could be a combination of psychosocial interventions addressed to the management of emotions, the impro...

Introduction: Health apps are dynamic, versatile, illustrative tools that allow patient empowerment, healthy habits improvement, health data monitoring/storage, diagnosis and direct health provision. The initiatives that attempt to define their evaluation, account incomplete aspects. The objective of the AQuAS-UOC mHealth research group is to devel...

Background In conjunction with the World Health Organization (WHO), Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) has implemented training in the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) for health professionals in countries where the condition is highly endemic through an interactive on-line course. With three editions of the course successfully complete...

BACKGROUND Promotion of physical activity, healthy eating, adequate sleep, and reduced sedentary behavior in adolescents is a major priority globally given the current increase in population health challenges of noncommunicable diseases and risk factors such as obesity. Adolescents are highly engaged with mobile technology, but the challenge is to...

Background: There is mixed evidence to support current ambitions for mobile health (mHealth) apps to improve chronic health and well-being. One proposed explanation for this variable effect is that users do not engage with apps as intended. The application of analytics, defined as the use of data to generate new insights, is an emerging approach t...

BACKGROUND In recent years there has been a rise in the use of Mobile Applications (Apps) to prevent and treat adult overweight/obesity since they can facilitate the tracking of physical and dietary patterns, provide recommendations and advice, and include motivation strategies to achieve personalized goals. However, evidence available on the effic...

Background: The use of apps to tackle overweight and obesity by tracking physical and dietary patterns and providing recommendations and motivation strategies to achieve personalized goals has increased over recent years. However, evidence of the efficacy, effectiveness, and safety of these apps is severely lacking. Objective: The aim of this st...

Background: Cognitive therapy is a well-established intervention for treating elderly suffering from dementia. In particular, reality orientation and skills training seem to be effective interventions for reversing cognitive impairment among elderly, although findings are inconclusive. Therefore, a systematic update of the existing evidence of cog...

The objective of the conference is to share the perception on the state of the issue on mHealth, from a more academic point of view than the usual business visions. The collaboration with the group of researchers and panels of experts, together with the work of synthesis of the advances in the application of mHealth in scientific journals, are the...

Objective: To quantify how exhaustive and critical were stories reporting medical innovations published in print media and to analyze the characteristics that may be related. Method: Content analysis of the newspapers stories related to the discovery, introduction or improvement of a medical innovation through a questionnaire with ten criteria t...

To blind or not researcher's identity has often been a topic of debate in the context of peer-review process for scientific publication and research grant application. This article reports on how knowing the name and experience of researchers/institutions influences the qualification of a proposal. We present our experience of managing the peer-rev...

Background: To provide useful insights into the design of strategies to better put into practice health research outcomes in the case of cancer, heart disease and sexuallty transmitted infections, we designed a study to identify barriers and facilitators to implement clinical or public health guidelines recommendations.