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Ho SH, Tan DPS, Tan PJ, Ng KW, Lim ZZB, Ng IHL, Wong LH, Ginting ML, Yuen B, Mallya UJ, Chong MS, Wong CH. The development and validation of a prototype mobility tracker for assessing the life space mobility and activity participation of older adults. BMC Geriatr 2020; 20:251. [PMID: 32698799 PMCID: PMC7374961 DOI: 10.1186/s12877-020-01649-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2020] [Accepted: 07/13/2020] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND There is increasing interest in examining the life space mobility and activity participation of older adults in the community using sensor technology. Objective data from these technologies may overcome the limitations of self-reported surveys especially in older adults with age-associated cognitive impairment. This paper describes the development and validation of a prototype hybrid mobility tracker for assessing life space mobility and out-of-home activities amongst 33 community-ambulant older adults in Singapore. METHODS A hybrid mobility tracker was developed by combining a passive Global Positioning System logger, tri-axial accelerometer and radio-frequency identification. Objective measures of life space, derived from 1 week of tracking data using Geographic Information Systems, were the maximum Euclidean distance from home (Max Euclid) and the area of the minimum convex polygon surrounding all GPS waypoints (MCP area). Out-of-home activities were quantified by visually identifying the total number of activity nodes, or places where participants spent ≥5 min, from mobility tracks. Self-reported measure of life space in 4 weeks was obtained using the University of Alabama at Birmingham Study of Life Space Assessment (UAB-LSA) questionnaire. Self-reported out-of-home activities were recorded daily in a travel diary for 1 week. Bivariate correlations were used to examine convergent validity between objective and subjective measures of life space and out-of-home activities. RESULTS The mean age of participants was 69.2 ± 7.1 years. The mean UAB-LSA total score was 79.1 ± 17.4. The median (range) Max Euclid was 2.44 km (0.26-7.50) per day, and the median (range) MCP area was 3.31 km2 (0.03-34.23) per day. The UAB-LSA total score had good correlation with Max Euclid (r = 0.51, p = 0.002), and moderate correlation with MCP area (r = 0.46, p = 0.007). The median (range) total number of activity nodes measured by tracker of 20 (8-47) per week had a good correlation with the total activity count recorded in the travel diaries of 15 (6-40) per week (r = 0.52, p = 0.002). CONCLUSIONS The tracking system developed to understand out-of-home travel was feasible and reliable. Comparisons with the UAB-LSA and travel diaries showed that it provided reliable and valid spatiotemporal data to assess the life space mobility and activity participation of older adults.
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Affiliation(s)
- Soon Hoe Ho
- Geriatric Education and Research Institute Ltd, 2 Yishun Central 2, Singapore, 768024, Singapore
| | - Dion Piu Sern Tan
- NDR Medical Technology Pte Ltd, 75 Ayer Rajah Crescent #02-19, Singapore, 139953, Singapore
| | - Pey June Tan
- Geriatric Education and Research Institute Ltd, 2 Yishun Central 2, Singapore, 768024, Singapore
| | - Ka Wei Ng
- NDR Medical Technology Pte Ltd, 75 Ayer Rajah Crescent #02-19, Singapore, 139953, Singapore
| | - Zoe Zon Be Lim
- Geriatric Education and Research Institute Ltd, 2 Yishun Central 2, Singapore, 768024, Singapore
| | - Isabel Hui Leng Ng
- Geriatric Education and Research Institute Ltd, 2 Yishun Central 2, Singapore, 768024, Singapore
| | - Lok Hang Wong
- Geriatric Education and Research Institute Ltd, 2 Yishun Central 2, Singapore, 768024, Singapore
| | - Mimaika Luluina Ginting
- Geriatric Education and Research Institute Ltd, 2 Yishun Central 2, Singapore, 768024, Singapore
| | - Belinda Yuen
- Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities, Singapore University of Technology and Design, 8 Somapah Road, Singapore, 487372, Singapore
| | - Ullal Jagadish Mallya
- Department of Geriatric Medicine, Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, 90 Yishun Central, Singapore, 768828, Singapore
| | - Mei Sian Chong
- Geriatric Education and Research Institute Ltd, 2 Yishun Central 2, Singapore, 768024, Singapore.,The Geriatric Practice, 38 Irrawaddy Road #09-21, Mount Elizabeth Novena Specialist Centre, Singapore, 329563, Singapore
| | - Chek Hooi Wong
- Geriatric Education and Research Institute Ltd, 2 Yishun Central 2, Singapore, 768024, Singapore. .,Department of Geriatric Medicine, Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, 90 Yishun Central, Singapore, 768828, Singapore. .,Health Services and Systems Research, Duke-NUS Medical School, 8 College Road, Singapore, 169857, Singapore.
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Jiang L, Ng IHL, Hou Y, Li D, Tan LWL, Ho HJA, Chen MIC. Infectious disease transmission: survey of contacts between hospital-based healthcare workers and working adults from the general population. J Hosp Infect 2017; 98:404-411. [PMID: 29097147 PMCID: PMC7114670 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhin.2017.10.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2017] [Accepted: 10/25/2017] [Indexed: 10/29/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Healthcare workers (HCWs) may be the inadvertent interface between the healthcare setting and the community for infectious diseases transmission. AIM To investigate HCWs' contacts during a work day and compare these against working adults from the general population. METHODS Prospective survey of contacts through 24 h self-reported diary in three public sector tertiary care hospitals and community-based working adults in Singapore. Participants were HCWs and working adults from the community. FINDINGS In all, 211 HCWs and 1028 working adults reported a total of 4066 and 9206 contacts. HCWs reported more work-related contacts than community-based working adults (median of 13 versus 4), and more contacts that were neither household nor work-related (1 versus 0) but fewer household contacts (2 versus 3). HCWs reported more work-related contacts involving physical contacts, and more new contacts particularly with short duration (≤15 min) compared to community-based working adults. Among different HCW types, doctors reported the highest whereas ward-based nurses reported the lowest total work-related contacts. Around half of ward-based and clinic-based nurses' contacts involved physical touch. Work-related contacts reported by clinic-based nurses, doctors, and assorted HCWs were shorter than in ward-based nurses, with a substantial number effectively occurring with new contacts. Institutional effects significant on univariate analyses were much reduced and non-significant after adjusting for confounding by HCW type. CONCLUSION HCWs' contacts differ substantially from those of community-based working adults. HCWs may thus be at higher risk of acquiring and spreading contact-transmissible and respiratory infections due to the nature of their work. Whereas total number of contacts was fairly similar between HCW types, the characteristics of their contacts differed substantively.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lili Jiang
- Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University Health System, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | | | - Yan'an Hou
- Infectious Diseases - Epidemiology Unit, National University Hospital, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Dunli Li
- Department of Infection Control, Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Linda Wei Lin Tan
- Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University Health System, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Hanley Jian An Ho
- Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Mark I-Cheng Chen
- Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University Health System, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore; Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore, Singapore.
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