The mPOWERED Electronic Learning System for Intimate Partner Violence Education: Mixed Methods Usability Study.

BACKGROUND: Nurse practitioners are a common resource for victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) presenting to health care settings. However, they often have inadequate knowledge about IPV and lack self-efficacy and confidence to be able to screen for IPV and communicate effectively with patients. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to develop and test the usability of a blended learning system aimed at educating nurse practitioner students on topics related to IPV (ie, the mPOWERED system [Health Equity Institute]). METHODS: Development of the mPOWERED system involved usability testing with 7 nurse educators (NEs) and 18 nurse practitioner students. Users were asked to complete usability testing using a speak-aloud procedure and then complete a satisfaction and usability questionnaire. RESULTS: Overall, the mPOWERED system was deemed to have high usability and was positively evaluated by both NEs and nurse practitioner students. Respondents provided critical feedback that will be used to improve the system. CONCLUSIONS: By including target end users in the design and evaluation of the mPOWERED system, we have developed a blended IPV learning system that can easily be integrated into health care education. Larger-scale evaluation of the pedagogical impact of this system is underway.

Age-related Declines in Sensorimotor Proficiency are Specific to the Tested Motor Skill Component.

This study utilized a 3-degree of freedom robotic device (Wristbot) to examine wrist proprioception and eye-hand coordination in a cross-sectional sample of sixty-three young adults (19-29 years), 20 older young adults (30-49), and 17 older adults (50 years and older). Results indicated differences in the emergence of age-related declines in sensorimotor functioning depending on the tested motor skill component. While young adults exhibited smaller matching error and lower variability compared to older young adults and older adults on the proprioception task, we observed lower times-on-target and higher Linearity indices for participants older than 50 years of age compared to both young adults and older young adults. The present results provide necessary quantitative information on sensorimotor function in adulthood, and have implications for the early diagnosis and effective management of sensorimotor dysfunction in clinical settings using a commercially available robotic device.