Maria Wolters’s research while affiliated with Institute for Information Technology and other places

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Publications (47)


Collaborative learning in older age and the role of familiarity: evidence from the map task
  • Article

November 2024

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12 Reads

Aging Neuropsychology and Cognition

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Catherine Joan Crompton

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As we age, learning new knowledge and skills becomes more difficult due to age-related changes to cognition. Learning collaboratively could counteract these changes, and perhaps more so when working with someone familiar. This study examined whether collaborative learning is affected by age and partner familiarity. Forty-eight participants (younger n = 24, older n = 24) completed the Map Task with a familiar and unfamiliar same-age partner. Participants became more efficient at completing the Map Task over time, regardless of age and partner familiarity. There was no age difference in immediate or 1-hour recall, but younger adults recalled more after 7 days than older adults. Overall, results suggest that collaborative learning outcomes are unaffected by age or partner familiarity and that collaborative learning has short-term protective effects on memory, with age-related declines only emerging after 7 days.


Figure 1. Overview of steps in the study, depicting (A-C) data preparation and (D) analysis of lifestyle-focused calls. HF: heart failure; LOS: length of stay.
Figure 2. Correlation between the number of lifestyle-focused calls and (A) average length of stay (LOS) for all-cause inpatient admissions and (B) number of all-cause inpatient admissions.
Characterization of Telecare Conversations on Lifestyle Management and Their Relation to Health Care Utilization for Patients with Heart Failure: Mixed Methods Study
  • Article
  • Full-text available

October 2024

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9 Reads

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1 Citation

Journal of Medical Internet Research

Background Telehealth interventions where providers offer support and coaching to patients with chronic conditions such as heart failure (HF) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are effective in improving health outcomes. However, the understanding of the content and structure of these interactions and how they relate to health care utilization remains incomplete. Objective This study aimed to characterize the content and structure of telecare conversations on lifestyle management for patients with HF and investigate how these conversations relate to health care utilization. Methods We leveraged real-world data from 50 patients with HF enrolled in a postdischarge telehealth program, with the primary intervention comprising a series of telephone calls from nurse telecarers over a 12-month period. For the full cohort, we transcribed 729 English-language calls and annotated conversation topics. For a subcohort (25 patients with both HF and T2DM), we annotated lifestyle management content with fine-grained dialogue acts describing typical conversational structures. For each patient, we identified calls with unusually high ratios of utterances on lifestyle management as lifestyle-focused calls. We further extracted structured data for inpatient admissions from 6 months before to 6 months after the intervention period. First, to understand conversational structures and content of lifestyle-focused calls, we compared the number of utterances, dialogue acts, and symptom attributes in lifestyle-focused calls to those in calls containing but not focused on lifestyle management. Second, to understand the perspectives of nurse telecarers on these calls, we conducted an expert evaluation where 2 nurse telecarers judged levels of concern and follow-up actions for lifestyle-focused and other calls (not focused on lifestyle management content). Finally, we assessed how the number of lifestyle-focused calls relates to the number of admissions, and to the average length of stay per admission. Results In comparative analyses, lifestyle-focused calls had significantly fewer utterances (P=.01) and more dialogue acts (Padj=.005) than calls containing but not focused on lifestyle management. Lifestyle-focused calls did not contain deeper discussions on clinical symptoms. These findings indicate that lifestyle-focused calls entail short, intense discussions with greater emphasis on understanding patient experience and coaching than on clinical content. In the expert evaluation, nurse telecarers identified 24.2% (29/120) of calls assessed as concerning enough for follow-up. For these 29 calls, nurse telecarers were more attuned to concerns about symptoms and vitals (19/29, 65.5%) than lifestyle management concerns (4/29, 13.8%). The number of lifestyle-focused calls a patient had was modestly (but not significantly) associated with a lower average length of stay for inpatient admissions (Spearman ρ=-0.30; Padj=.06), but not with the number of admissions (Spearman ρ=-0.03; Padj=.84). Conclusions Our approach and findings offer novel perspectives on the content, structure, and clinical associations of telehealth conversations on lifestyle management for patients with HF. Hence, our study could inform ways to enhance telehealth programs for self-care management in chronic conditions.

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A compound analysis of medical device clinical trials registered in Africa on clinicaltrials.gov

October 2024

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45 Reads

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1 Citation

Trials

Background Africa, specifically the Sub-Saharan region, has had numerous medical technology clinical trials to address the various healthcare challenges around infectious diseases, non-communicable diseases, and nutritional disorders it is facing. Medical device clinical trials provide performance data in terms of safety, efficacy, and efficiency, which is a requirement before commercialization. Key players such as academicians, governments, international organizations, and funders collaborate to drive these trials, but their growth in Africa remains slower compared to other parts of the globe. This paper aims to evaluate the number of medical device clinical trials conducted in different African countries that are registered on the clinicaltrials.gov website. Methods Data on medical device clinical trials was mined from clinicaltrials.gov website accessed on 22nd September, 2022. The data extracted was analyzed and cleaned in Microsoft Excel and R. Countries were grouped into regions and descriptive statistical analyses for each region were done. Additionally, frequency distributions were also generated and no inferential statistical tests were performed, as the primary focus of this analysis was to describe the distribution of medical conditions across regions. Results Thirty-one African countries had registered medical device clinical trials on the website with the majority taking place in Egypt and South Africa. Medical device trials for heart related issues took longer to complete compared to other conditions. Malaria, HIV, and male circumcision related device trials were mainly conducted in Eastern and Southern Africa while trials related to dental, fertility, and obesity were concentrated in Northern Africa. Female reproductive health issues were studied equally across all regions. Some African countries did not have any trials registered on clinicaltrials.gov website. Conclusion Findings from this study clearly show the disparity in the number, status, and duration of medical device clinical trials across various African countries.



Digital Interventions for Older People Experiencing Homelessness: A Systematic Scoping Review (Preprint)

July 2024

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9 Reads

BACKGROUND Older people experiencing homelessness (OPEH) can have mental and physical indicators of ageing several decades earlier than the general population and experience premature mortality due to age-related chronic conditions. Emerging literature suggests digital interventions could positively impact the health and well-being of People Experiencing Homelessness (PEH) [1]. However, the increased reliance on digital delivery may also perpetuate digital inequalities for socially excluded groups. The potential triple disadvantage of being older, homeless, and digitally excluded creates a uniquely problematic situation that warrants further research. Limited efforts have been made to synthesise the available literature on digital interventions for OPEH. OBJECTIVE This scoping review examined the usage, range, and nature of digital interventions available to OPEH and organisations that support OPEH. METHODS The scoping review was conducted following Arksey and O’Malley’s proposed methodology [2], the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews [3] and recent guidelines from the Joanna Briggs Institute [4]. We searched 14 databases (Including Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, CINAHL and Association for Computing Machinery Digital Library (ACMDL)). Grey literature sources were searched to supplement the electronic database search. A narrative synthesis approach was conducted on the included articles, and common themes were identified inductively through thematic analysis. RESULTS A total of 19915 records were identified through database and grey literature searching. We identified 10 articles reporting on digital interventions that had a clearly defined participant age group of over 50 or the mean participant age was over 50. Nine of ten studies were published in the USA. Study design included descriptive studies [5, 6], uncontrolled pilot studies [7-11] and pilot randomised controlled trials (RCT)[12-14]. No studies aimed to deliver an intervention exclusively to OPEH or organisations that supported OPEH. Four types of intervention were identified: telecare for PEH, distributing technology to enable digital inclusion, text message reminders, and interventions delivered digitally. Interventions delivered digitally included smoking cessation support, vocational training, physical activity promotion and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). Overall, the included studies demonstrated evidence for the acceptability and feasibility of digital interventions for OPEH, and all ten studies reported some improvements in digital inclusion or enhanced engagement among participants. However, several barriers to digital interventions were identified, particularly aspects related to digital inclusion such as infrastructure, digital literacy, and age. Proposed facilitators for digital interventions included organisational and peer support. CONCLUSIONS Our findings highlight a paucity of evaluated digital interventions targeted at OPEH. However, the included studies demonstrated evidence of the acceptability and feasibility of digital interventions for OPEH. Further research on digital interventions that provide services and support OPEH is required. Future interventions must address the barriers OPEH face when accessing digital technology with the input of those with lived experience of homelessness. CLINICALTRIAL Not applicable


Semantic verbal fluency in native speakers of Turkish: a systematic review of category use, scoring metrics and normative data in healthy individuals

June 2024

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44 Reads


Loop diuretic utilisation with or without heart failure: impact on prognosis

June 2024

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27 Reads

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9 Citations

European Heart Journal

Background & Aims Many patients are prescribed loop diuretics without a diagnostic record of heart failure. Little is known about their characteristics and prognosis. Methods Glasgow regional health records (2009-2016) were obtained for adults with cardiovascular disease or taking loop diuretics. Outcomes were investigated using Cox models with hazard ratios adjusted for age, sex, socioeconomic deprivation, and co-morbid disease (adjHR). Results Of 198,898 patients (median age 65 years; 55% women), 161,935 (81%) neither took loop diuretics nor had a diagnostic record of heart failure (reference group), 23,963 (12%) were taking loop diuretics but had no heart failure recorded, 7,844 (4%) had heart failure recorded and took loop diuretics and 5,156 (3%) had heart failure recorded but were not receiving loop diuretics. Five-year mortality was only slightly higher for heart failure in absence of loop diuretics (22%; adjHR: 1.2 [95% CI 1.1-1.3]), substantially higher for those taking loop diuretics with no heart failure recorded (40%; adjHR: 1.8 [95% CI 1.7-1.8]) and highest for heart failure treated with loop diuretics (52%; adjHR: 2.2 [95% CI 2.0-2.2]). Conclusions For patients with cardiovascular disease, many are prescribed loop diuretics without a diagnosis of heart failure being recorded. Mortality is more strongly associated with loop diuretic use than with a heart failure record. The diagnosis of heart failure may be often missed, or loop diuretic use is associated with other conditions with a prognosis similar to heart failure, or inappropriate loop diuretic use increases mortality; all might be true.




Why the Fine, AI? The Effect of Explanation Level on Citizens’ Fairness Perception of AI-based Discretion in Public Administrations

The integration of Artificial Intelligence into decision-making processes within public administration extends to AI-systems that exercise administrative discretion. This raises fairness concerns among citizens, possibly leading to AI-systems abandonment. Uncertainty persists regarding explanation elements impacting citizens’ perception of fairness and technology adoption level. In a video-vignette online-survey (N=847), we investigated the impact of explanation levels on citizens’ perceptions of informational fairness, distributive fairness, and system adoption level. We enhanced explanations in three stages: none, factor explanations, culminating in factor importance explanations. We found that more detailed explanations improved informational and distributive fairness perceptions, but did not affect citizens’ willingness to reuse the system. Interestingly, citizens with higher AI-literacy expressed greater willingness to adopt the system, regardless of the explanation levels. Qualitative findings revealed that greater human involvement and appeal mechanisms could positively influence citizens’ perceptions. Our findings highlight the importance of citizen-centered design of AI-based decision-making in public administration.


Citations (24)


... West Africa presents a diverse regulatory landscape for medical devices, with countries like Nigeria and Ghana making strides toward establishing comprehensive frameworks. In Nigeria, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) is responsible for regulating medical devices, which are categorized into three classes based on risk (Matovu et al. 2024). The registration process includes documentation for safety and efficacy, but challenges such as inadequate infrastructure and resources hinder effective regulation (Abdallah et al. 2024). ...

Reference:

Evidence-based recommendations for comprehensive regulatory guidelines in medical devices: the imperative for global harmonization
A compound analysis of medical device clinical trials registered in Africa on clinicaltrials.gov

Trials

... the activation of cellular membrane thromboxaneprostanoid receptors (TPr). 5 Standard daily aspirin (ASA) therapy effectively inhibits TXA 2 generation in platelets by irreversibly blocking platelet COX-1, but incompletely inhibits TXA 2 generation in nonplatelet tissue due to the ability of nucleated cells to regenerate COX-1 or generate TXA 2 by a COX-2 mediated pathway. [6][7][8][9] Systemic TXA 2 generation is readily assessed by measuring levels of stable thromboxane B 2 metabolites (TXB 2 -M) in the urine. ...

Loop diuretic utilisation with or without heart failure: impact on prognosis
  • Citing Article
  • June 2024

European Heart Journal

... notas de atualização pode atrapalhar o processo de decisão e implementação, expondo sistemas a riscos muitas vezes desnecessários. A principal recomendação do artigo que fica como lição aprendida é a separação de atualizações de segurança das de funcionalidade, de forma a facilitar a gestão e melhorar a segurança geral dos sistemas computacionais.[Jenkins et al. 2024] abordam as práticas de gerenciamento de patches entre administradores de sistemas e como o contexto de trabalho influencia tais práticas. Para tanto, os autores coletaram dados de 220 administradores de sistemas de diversas organizações, examinando fatores como a disponibilidade de ambientes de teste e o uso de Anais do SBSeg 2024: Art ...

Not as easy as just update: Survey of System Administrators and Patching Behaviours
  • Citing Conference Paper
  • May 2024

... The proposed algorithm is a hybrid method that merges feature selection methods, clustering [33], [34] (K-mean), and classification ML methods using the DL (H2O) [35] algorithm, which is an open-source ML platform that is designed for scalable and distributed data analysis. It can perform a wide range of ML tasks efficiently and effectively, particularly for large datasets. ...

Using Clustering Algorithms to Automatically Identify Phishing Campaigns

IEEE Access

... Despite efforts of different African governments and partners to set up innovation centers and the increase in innovations across countries, medical device innovations and research is still low and less reported to the global community. Mpaata et al. in 2022 reports about challenges most medical innovators face in Uganda and points out that many of them have never reached the clinical trials stage [27]. Further research and investigations are needed to support these innovators and have their ideas reach the clinical stage. ...

Systems and processes for regulation of investigational medical devices in Uganda

Frontiers in Medical Technology

... [6][7][8][9] Concerns about theft, vandalism, and misuse of AEDs have led to the implementation of security measures, including the use of locked cabinets to house these devices in public areas. [10][11][12] Field visits to AED locations, as recorded in registries or apps, have shown high proportions of AEDs in key-locked cabinets in some regions. 13 While locked cabinets aim to protect AEDs, they may also cause delays in AED access during emergencies. ...

Factors affecting public access defibrillator placement decisions in the United Kingdom: A survey study

Resuscitation Plus

... Seventh, we do not know how well group members knew each other or whether they already worked together in other courses. In other studies, subjective outcomes are fostered by group members familiarity with each other (Crompton et al., 2022;Janssen et al., 2009;Zhang et al., 2023a;Zhang et al., 2023b), whereas findings regarding objective performance are less conclusive and often find no effect (Crompton et al., 2022;Janssen et al., 2009). As the two lectures were large and students came from many different subjects, we assume that a considerable proportion of group members might have been unfamiliar with each other. ...

Learning with friends and strangers: partner familiarity does not improve collaborative learning performance in younger and older adults

... After establishing this common ground, we led participants through two key activities. First, we began with the Circles Activity [57], [58], [59] to establish an understanding of the breadth of disclosure experiences among the participants. This method, previously used in HCI, helps participants consider how they disclose information differently to individuals at different hierarchical levels of their personal social network [60], [59]. ...

The miscarriage circle of care: towards leveraging online spaces for social support

... Our work contributes to the literature of CSCW and HCI research studying different aspects of spiritual and religious presence online [88]. While most of the work in this area focuses more on the Western communities, our study here adds to the limited work that studies the Muslim and Arab communities [3,7,10,11,56,72,73], which should help in further understanding these communities in a step for building more diverse and inclusive technologies. Particularly, our work paves the way for the CSCW community to explore multiple research directions that are related to the actual presence of hadiths among Arabic-speaking Muslims in everyday interactions on social media as opposed to classical Islamic books. ...

Atheists versus Theists: Religious Polarisation in Arab Online Communities
  • Citing Article
  • October 2021

Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction

... The participants of the studies correspond to university students and/or professors/ staff of undergraduate, postgraduate or both types of programs. The sample gathers students with visual impairment (Akbar et al., 2022;Pacheco et al., 2018;Suherman et al., 2022), visual or auditory impairment (Baguma & Wolters, 2021), visual, auditory or physical disabilities (Ndlovu, 2021). The research by Cinquin et al. (2021) focuses on cognitive disability and the study by Zorec et al. (2022) included students with more than one type of disability. ...

Making Virtual Learning Environments Accessible to People with Disabilities in Universities in Uganda

Frontiers in Computer Science