JMIR Formative Research

The experiences of patients with COVID-19 and their families manifested the most devastating effects of family separation since the 1918 Spanish influenza pandemic and, with it, a call for solutions to patient isolation and its effect on family mental health.

Physical activity (PA) has an important role in the prevention and treatment of type 2 diabetes (T2D). Interventions with mobile-based technology (mobile health [mHealth]) seem promising in PA promotion, but their behavioral framework is often vague, and the implementation is seldom reported.

Although a general purpose (GPT-5), and a fine-tuned (ASReviewLab) artificial intelligence were able to rank abstracts for likely inclusion in a variety of Cochrane systematic reviews, some actually included studies were not highly ranked, necessitating human review of all abstracts.

Personalized behavioral recommendations through mobile apps have proven effective in preventing serious chronic diseases such as diabetes. Recent studies have primarily focused on optimizing personalized recommendations using reinforcement learning. However, the main problem with these approaches is that they focus on behavioral changes and overlook clinical outcomes.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors are widely used in oncology but can cause immune-related adverse events (irAEs), which may be severe or life-threatening if not detected early. Electronic patient-reported outcome (ePRO) symptom monitoring systems may facilitate timely recognition and management of irAEs. Usability testing is a critical stage in ePRO system development, yet no published examples of formal usability and acceptance testing exist.

Smartwatches have gained popularity for their potential to provide accurate measurements of various physiological parameters. However, the validity of energy expenditure (EE) across different smartwatch models remains a topic of ongoing investigation. Discrepancies between results obtained from different models and gold standard methods are particularly critical across varying exercise intensities and types, as validation studies have demonstrated overestimation when wearable activity monitors are compared with indirect calorimetry.

Prospective integration of large language model tools into a classical hematology challenging-cases conference was feasible, increased clinician familiarity and interest, and was perceived as diagnostically and educationally valuable.

This study analyzed social media posts from patients with congenital ichthyosis and their caregivers across Europe and found that users, primarily young women, discussed hygiene care, psychological impact, therapeutic challenges, and lack of disease awareness. This allowed for the identification of unmet needs and potential actions to improve patients’ quality of life.

Chronic illness may cause a financial burden that affects patients, their caregivers, and families. While international research, mostly from the United States, has largely focused on cancer-related financial hardship, less is known about whether financial distress due to other chronic illnesses exists, specifically in countries that have universal health insurance coverage, such as Switzerland.

Chronic insomnia affects more than 30% of US adults, is more prevalent in women and older adults, and is strongly associated with poor mental and physical health outcomes. Poor sleep quality and intraindividual variability of sleep are recognized to be key characteristics of chronic insomnia, but longitudinal assessment of sleep is largely subjective, with no objective characterization of sleep patterns and intraindividual variability over extended periods. Objective, ecologically valid longitudinal sleep measurements are needed to help identify and manage insomnia in both clinical and population settings. Consumer sleep technologies offer a possible solution, but their clinical utility remains relatively unexplored.

E-cigarette use remains prevalent among US adolescents, with many reporting daily use and high nicotine dependence. Few evidence-based mobile health interventions focus specifically on adolescents.

Electronic medical records (EMRs) are increasingly adopted globally to improve health care delivery, yet challenges remain in their acceptance, defined here as favorable attitudes toward their use among health professionals. Understanding factors influencing acceptance is critical for successful implementation.