Acceptability and feasibility of a virtual intervention to help people living with HIV manage their daily therapies.

We conducted a study of the acceptability and feasibility of a web application which was designed to empower people living with HIV to manage their daily antiretroviral therapies. The application (VIH-TAVIE) consists of four interactive computer sessions with a virtual nurse who guides the user through a learning process aimed at enhancing treatment management capacities. The information furnished and the strategies proposed by the nurse are tailored, based on the responses provided by the user. The application was evaluated in a hospital setting as an adjunct to usual care. The participants (n = 71) had a mean age of 47 years (SD = 7.6). There were 59 men and 12 women. They had been diagnosed with HIV some 15 years earlier and had been on antiretroviral medication for a mean duration of 11 years. Data were collected by acceptability questionnaires, field notes and observations. Most participants found the application easy to use. They learned tips for taking their medication, diminishing adverse side-effects and maintaining a positive attitude towards treatment. Many participants deemed their experience with the application highly satisfactory and felt that it met their needs with respect to strategies and proficiencies despite their long experience of medication use. The results of the study support the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention.

Mobile computing and the quality of home care nursing practice.

We investigated the effects of the introduction of mobile computing on the quality of home care nursing practice in Québec. The software, which structured and organized the nursing activities in patients' homes, was installed sequentially in nine community health centres. The completeness of the nursing notes was compared in 77 paper records (pre-implementation) and 73 electronic records (post-implementation). Overall, the introduction of the software was associated with an improvement in the completeness of the nursing notes. All 137 nurse users were asked to complete a structured questionnaire. A total of 101 completed questionnaires were returned (74% response rate). Overall, the nurses reported a very high level of satisfaction with the quality of clinical information collected. A total of 57 semi-structured interviews were conducted and most nurses believed that the new software represented a user-friendly tool with a clear and understandable structure. A postal questionnaire was sent to approximately 1240 patients. A total of 223 patients returned the questionnaire (approximately 18% response rate). Overall, patients felt that the use of mobile computing during home visits allowed nurses to manage their health condition better and, hence, provide superior care services. The use of mobile computing had positive and significant effects on the quality of care provided by home nurses.