JMIR Human Factors

Grip strength is a crucial indicator of muscle deterioration, recovery, sarcopenia, and neurological disorders. However, conventional measurement requires a dedicated dynamometer, which limits accessibility and requires specific movements.

The integration of robots into industrial settings has rapidly advanced, aiming to reduce human involvement in demanding tasks while improving overall efficiency. As collaborative robots (cobots) become more prevalent, assessing the physical strain during joint tasks is essential to promote long-term well-being in the workplace.

Behavioral health concerns are common in pediatric practice, with pediatricians reporting a lack of skills related to providing effective behavioral management strategies to parents. A prior human-facilitated, screen-based virtual reality training curriculum proved effective in enhancing behavioral health communication skills among pediatric residents. However, barriers to spread and scale of the curriculum included the need for human facilitation.

The digital divide constitutes a growing form of social inequality, influencing access to, use of, and benefit from digital health technologies. Accurate assessment of this phenomenon requires psychometrically sound measurement instruments, especially in health care contexts.

Mobile health (mHealth) apps are increasingly used to support healthy lifestyle behaviors through features such as health tracking and personalized reminders. Personalized messaging, tailored to users’ profiles, has been shown to improve engagement and retention in health-related contexts. Prior research has linked personality traits, based on the Big Five model, to preferences for specific app mechanisms, leading to the development of a preference matrix for personalizing mHealth apps. This matrix comprises 15 mechanisms derived from behavior change techniques and gamification elements, intended to guide developers in optimizing engagement according to user profiles.

Near miss events can reveal system problems before patients are harmed, but current reviews are inconsistent and often rely on simple counts that are distorted by patient volume and reporting culture. Consequently, leaders cannot tell whether a rise in reports means that safety is getting worse or that staff are reporting more, and current systems are not strong enough to clearly separate real safety risks from random variation.

Child-centered care (CCC) is standard practice in pediatrics, emphasizing the child as an individual with rights while acknowledging the child’s role within the family. A key aspect of CCC is the involvement of the child in health care decisions alongside parents and professionals. Although this is a right recognized by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, it may not always be applied in practice.

High-quality professional development can help teachers build the skills and confidence needed to implement evidence-based practices, such as classroom physical activity breaks. While in-person training is often preferred, virtual asynchronous training offers a flexible alternative for teachers. However, its effectiveness may be limited by design and usability challenges.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a prevalent and impairing mental health condition characterized by persistent low mood and diminished energy. Self-report instruments, such as the Patient Health Questionnaire-8 (PHQ-8), are frequently used in clinical and research settings for depression assessment.

Smart home emergency response systems (SHERS) leverage existing smart home infrastructure to detect critical events and alert emergency services without manual activation. Unlike personal emergency response systems, which require users to trigger alarms, SHERS initiate alerts autonomously. Although technically feasible, user acceptance has received limited empirical attention.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly recognized for its potential to transform cancer care. However, much of the existing evidence of its efficacy comes from controlled settings. There remains a need to complement this knowledge with insights into how AI tools are perceived and used in real-world clinical settings, as well as how their use impacts clinical practice.

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of virtual psychotherapy, making videoconferencing a vital tool for maintaining continuity of care. While virtual sessions offer flexibility and accessibility, concern has also been raised about the impact of virtual care on therapeutic relationships, a sense of community, and the ability to support clients with higher levels of clinical need.