Themes:

Technology and Innovation

The theme of technology and innovation considers the concept of 'appropriate technology' as it is understood in the Alma Ata Declaration. It can be defined as: “methods of care, service delivery, procedures and equipment that are socially acceptable and affordable.”

Reference: Canadian Nurses Association,  Backgrounder: Primary Health Care: A Summary of the Issues (2005)  https://www.cna-aiic.ca/~/media/cna/page-content/pdf-en/bg7_primary_health_care_e.pdf?la=en (page 1)

Research Funding

Caring for Seniors with Multiple Chronic Conditions: A Team Approach to e-Health Supported Transitional Care

The proposed study will focus on learning about how to best implement a new model of interprofessional, community-based stroke rehabilitation so that it becomes normalized in practice. It will also...

 Active

 Sept. 1, 2016-Aug. 31, 2018

Co-Primary Investigator

Contributing to, and Learning from, the Lives of Older Adults: Practical learning experiences in the care of older adults as trained community volunteers for health care

Health TAPESTRY (Health Teams Advancing Patient Experience: Strengthening Quality) is a community-based approach, centered in primary care, which aims to promote optimal aging through four...

 Active

 2016-2017

Co-Primary Investigator

TAPESTRY: Teams Advancing Patient Experience: Strengthening Quality

Health TAPESTRY works to help people stay healthier for longer in the places where they live. The health goals of our clients are the basis for engaging people in meaningful ways. We are doing this...

 Active

 2013-2016

Co-Investigator

Scholarly Work

A Canadian application of EUGENIE – a web-based application to support high older adult users of emergency rooms to access community health and social services assisted by trained primary health care volunteers

EU-GENIE is an online tool that volunteers can use with clients. It can help them describe their support network and can link them to relevant local community resources that are tailored to the interests of the client.

 Completed

Projects

A Protocol for a Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial Using the Health Teams Advancing Patient Experience: Strengthening Quality (Health TAPESTRY) Platform Approach to Promote Person-centred Primary Health Care for Older Adults

The objective of this study is to evaluate the implementation and effectiveness of the Health Teams Advancing Patient Experience: Strengthening Quality (Health TAPESTRY) approach in older adults.

 Completed

Articles

A Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Extranet: Supporting Local Communication and Information Dissemination

The objective of this study was to explore the use and perceptions of a local Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) Extranet and its potential to support future information and communication applications. The SARS Extranet was a single, managed electronic and limited access system to manage local, provincial and other SARS control information.

 Completed

Articles

A Usability Study of Patients Setting up a Cardiac Event Loop Recorder and BlackBerry® Gateway for Remote Monitoring at Home

This article reports on a usability study of remote noninvasive cardiac testing in homes. We studied the Vitaphone 3100BT (Bluetooth®) event loop recorder (Vitaphone GmbH, Mannheim, Germany) and paired BlackBerry® Curve™ 8520 smartphone (Research In Motion, Ltd., Waterloo, ON, Canada).

 Completed

Articles

An E-Health Tool to Support Collaborative Practice for Community Reintegration of Stroke Survivors:[My Stroke Team = MyST] Ready for Real World Testing!

The research objective was to collaborate with frontline homecare workers (e.g. care coordinators, nurses, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, and personal support workers) and key stakeholders (e.g. Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario, Heart and Stroke Foundation) to inform, design and build an innovative mobile health application to support communication and collaboration. A Webinar was given for the Ontario Home Care Association, January 27, 2016.

 Completed

Projects

Caregiver-Focused, Web-Based Interventions: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (Part 2)

The primary objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to examine the effect of caregiver-focused, Web-based interventions, compared with no or minimal Web-based interventions, on caregiver outcomes.

 Completed

Articles

Computers and the Internet: Tools for youth empowerment

Youth are often disenfranchised in their communities and may feel they have little voice. Since computers are an important aspect of youth culture, they may offer solutions to increasing youth participation in communities. This study involved public health nurses to support the school-based community development project.

 Completed

Articles

Designing, Implementing and Evaluating Mobile Health Technologies for Managing Chronic Conditions in Older Adults: A scoping review

The purpose of this study was to conduct a scoping review of current practices and recommendations for designing, implementing, and evaluating mHealth technologies to support the management of chronic conditions in community-dwelling older adults.

 Completed

Articles

Development and Implementation of an mHealth App to Support Community-Based Stroke Rehabilitation in Home Care: Lessons Learned from Ontario

This scoping review was conducted in advance of our design and build of a mobile health app to support an interprofessional nurse-led team approach in the delivery of community-based stroke rehabilitation in home care.

 Completed

Reports

Effective Public Health Practice Summary Statement of “Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response: Use of Information Technologies and Decision Support Systems (2002)

To understand how and if information technology (IT) and decision-support systems (DSS) can be effective in detection, management, and communication during a bioterrorist event.

 Completed

Reports

Electronic Social Support Groups to Improve Health

This review sought to answer the question: what is the use, nature and impact of electronic support groups in the prevention and promotion of health?

 Completed

Reports

Enabling Youth Participation in School-based Computer-supported Community Development

Schools are a main setting for health promotion for youth. A one year qualitative case study was undertaken in an inner-city, Canadian school. It explored factors that enabled and constrained youth in the process of a school-based computer-supported community development (CD) project. This paper reports on Dr. Ruta Valaitis' PhD thesis results.

 Completed

Articles

Evaluation of the Spark Health Promotion Web Site

Tailoring Online Health Promotion: A Toolkit for Communities has been produced to share our learning and experiences in working to build a health promotion web site (www.youthspark.ca) to meet local needs by and for rural youth in Huron County, Ontario Canada.

 Completed

Reports

Exploration of volunteers as health connectors within a multicomponent primary care‐based program supporting self‐management of diabetes and hypertension

This study describes the effectiveness, feasibility and effects of a volunteer program evaluation framework in primary care.

 Completed

Articles

Impact of internet-based interventions on caregiver mental health: Meta-analysis

The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to examine the impact of internet-based interventions on caregiver mental health outcomes and the impact of different types of internet-based intervention programs.

 Completed

Articles

Invited Member of the E-Health Steering Committee for the Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant Norfolk Local Health Integrated Network (LHIN 4)

During 2005 - 2006, Dr. Ruta Valaitis served as an invited member of the E-Health Steering Committee for the Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant Norfolk Local Health Integrated Network (LHIN 4).

 Completed

Committees

Member of Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, E-Health Council for Public Health

During 2004 - 2007, Dr. Ruta Valaitis was a member of the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, E-Health Council for Public Health

 Completed

Committees

Member of the Canadian Nursing Association’s Nursing Portal Project- Evidenced Based Practice Sub-group

During 2005 - 2006, Dr. Ruta Valaits was a member of the Canadian Nursing Association’s Nursing Portal Project- Evidenced Based Practice (EBP) Sub-group.

 Completed

Committees

Member of the RNAO e-Health Advisory Committee

From 2005 – 2011, Dr. Ruta Valaitis was a member of the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario’s e-Health Advisory Committee

 Completed

Committees

Methods, Strategies and Technologies Used to Conduct a Scoping Literature Review of Collaboration Between Primary Care and Public Health

This paper describes the methods, strategies and technologies used to conduct a scoping literature review examining primary care (PC) and public health (PH) collaboration. It presents challenges encountered as well as recommendations and 'lessons learned' from conducting the review with a large geographically distributed team comprised of researchers and decision-makers using an integrated knowledge translation approach.

 Completed

Articles

Nurse Faculty Perceptions of Simulation Use in Nursing Education

In this study nursing faculty perceptions of the implementation of simulation in schools of nursing across Ontario, Canada, were explored using the Q-methodology technique. Building on her secondary interest in the use of appropriate technologies (a principle of primary health care), this work was conducted during Dr. Valaitis' short term role as the Director of Learning Technologies for the Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University.

 Completed

Articles

Online Communities of Practice as a Communication Resource for Community Health Nurses Working with Homeless Persons

This study explored community health nurses' viewpoints about a Canadian online community of practice to support their practice with homeless or under-housed populations.

 Completed

Articles

Online Discussions with Pregnant and Parenting Adolescents: Perspectives and possibilities

The Internet is an innovative strategy to increase public participation. It is important to include pregnant and parenting teens' perspectives when planning programs to meet their needs. This qualitative study explored online discussions as a strategy to enhance participation by this population.

 Completed

Articles

Pilot randomized controlled trial of a complex intervention for diabetes self-management supported by volunteers, technology, and interprofessional primary health care teams

Most health care for people with diabetes occurs in family practice, yet balancing the time and resources to help these patients can be difficult. An intervention empowering patients, leveraging community resources, and assisting self-management could benefit patients and providers. Thus, the feasibility and potential for effectiveness of “Health Teams Advancing Patient Experience, Strengthening Quality through Health Connectors for Diabetes Management” (Health TAPESTRY-HC-DM) as an approach supporting diabetes self-management was explored to inform development of a future large-scale trial.

 Completed

Articles

Pragmatists, Positive Communicators and Shy Enthusiasts: Three viewpoints on web conferencing in health sciences education

Building on Dr. Valaitis' secondary interest in the use of appropriate technologies (a principle of primary health care), this work was conducted during her short term role as the Director of Learning Technologies for the Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University.

 Completed

Articles

Problem-based Learning Online: Perceptions of health science students

This qualitative study explored health sciences students' perceptions of their experiences in online problem based learning (PBL) and focused on their views about learning and group process in the online environment. Building on her secondary interest in the use of appropriate technologies (a principle of primary health care), this work was conducted during Dr. Valaitis' short term role as the Director of Learning Technologies for the Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University.

 Completed

Articles

Public Health Nurses’ Perceptions of Mobile Computing in a School Program

The use of mobile computing in healthcare practice has grown substantially in recent years, yet little is known about its impact.This descriptive, exploratory, qualitative study explored the perceptions of public health nurses (PHNs) in a school health program about their use of mobile computing.

 Completed

Articles

Representative for Canadian Association for Schools of Nursing (CASN) at a National Summit for Ontario Health Information Highway

In 2002, Dr. Valaitis was a representative for CASN at the National Summit for Ontario Health Information Highway. This conference was related to health Informatics and held at the University of Victoria, British Columbia.

 Completed

Committees

Simulated Experiences: Nursing students share their perspectives

This study explored nursing students' viewpoints about the use of simulation in their nursing programs. This work was conducted during Dr. Valaitis' short term as the Director of Learning Technologies for the Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University.

 Completed

Articles

Tailoring Online Health Promotion: A Toolkit for Communities

Tailoring Online Health Promotion: A Toolkit for Communities: This toolkit was produced based on our experience and evaluation of working with public health staff and youth in a rural community to build a health promotion website for youth by youth.

 Completed

Projects

Tailoring Online Health Promotion: A Toolkit for Communities

Tailoring Online Health Promotion: A Toolkit for Communities has been produced to share our learning and experiences in working to build a health promotion web site (www.youthspark.ca) to meet local needs by and for rural youth in Huron County, Ontario Canada. The Toolkit is loosely organized according to the phases of project development that we experienced in the YouthSpark project.

 Completed

Reports

Technology to Encourage the Adoption of Health Promoting/Protecting Behaviours: A Comprehensive Literature Review

A technical report commissioned by the Public Health Agency of Canada to inform the 2014 Chief Public Health Officer’s (CPHO) Report on the State of Public Health in Canada.

 Completed

Reports

Use of Home Telehealth in Palliative Cancer Care: A case study

We conducted a mixed-methods case study to explore the perceptions of family caregivers and palliative cancer patients of home telehealth, and their experience with it.

 Completed

Articles

Web-Based Interventions to Improve Mental Health, General Caregiving Outcomes, and General Health for Informal Caregivers of Adults with Chronic Conditions Living in the Community: Rapid evidence review

Most adults with chronic conditions live at home and rely on informal caregivers to provide support. The purpose of this rapid evidence review was to assess the impact of Web-based interventions on mental health, general caregiving outcomes, and general health for informal caregivers of persons with chronic conditions living in the community.

 Completed

Articles

Students

Picture Name Degree Ruta's Role Thesis Topic More Info
Irtaza Tahir Irtaza Tahir MS eHealth Supervisory Committee Member Exploring User Requirements for the Design of an Electronic Patient Decision Aid for Guardians Making Treatment Decisions about Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia More Info.
Basilhea Woodley Basilhea Woodley MS eHealth Supervisor A scoping review of stroke rehabilitation eHealth apps More Info.
Trish Burnett Trish Burnett MScN Supervisory Committee Member Mobile technology for the promotion of physical activity in children More Info.
Danielle Hunter Danielle Hunter MS eHealth Graduate Program Student Advisor An examination of the impact of e-Health on health equity among marginalized populations More Info.
Rojin Karimi Rojin Karimi MS eHealth Supervisor Design of an e-Health tool to link primary care providers with home care to support stroke patients More Info.
Bellraj Eapen Bellraj Eapen MS eHealth Supervisor Efficacy of web-based tailored health communication for behavioural modification in sun safety: A randomized, comparative study of tailored and response independent information delivery More Info.
Jane Sparkes Jane Sparkes MS eHealth Supervisor A usability study of patients in their own homes as they set up a cardiac event loop record and Blackberry gateway for remote monitoring More Info.
Stephanie Chiu Stephanie Chiu MS eHealth Supervisory Committee Member Developing the Design for an Online Diuretic Care Tool for Older Patients with Heart Failure by Evaluating its Interactions with Heart Failure Patients and Caregivers More Info.
Kenneth Nwosu Kenneth Nwosu MS eHealth Supervisory Committee Member Design and Evaluation of a Two Way Interactive Video eConsult System (TWIVES): A Web-Based Care and Continuity Solution Enabling Secure and Private Patient-Provider Connections When Mobility is Limited or Commuting is Not an Option More Info.
Mary Guise Mary Guise PhD Supervisor Computer-mediated-conferencing: support for preceptors of senior nursing students More Info.
Anita Stern Anita Stern PhD Supervisor The Complexity of Family Caregiving: Use and Perceptions of Home Telehealth in Palliative Cancer Care More Info.