Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T02:45:45.954Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Use of a Home-Care Computer Network by Persons With AIDS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2009

Patricia Flatley Brennan
Affiliation:
Case Western Reserve University
Stefan Ripich
Affiliation:
Palo Alto Veterans Administration

Abstract

Computer networks serve as convenient, efficient, and enduring vehicles for delivering nursing services to patients at home. The ComputerLink, a specialized computer network, provided nurse-supervised information, decision support, and communication services to home-dwelling persons living with AIDS (PWAs). During a 26-week randomized field experiment, 26 PWAs accessed the ComputerLink on more than 8,664 occasions. The communications area was used most often; the public communication area functioned like a support group. Multiple behavioral measures of use provide a rich picture of how these PWAs, none of whom had had prior computer experience, adopted and adapted to this innovative nursing care delivery system. Meeting the needs of a rapidly growing and diverse population of home-care clients demands that nurses make effective use of existing technologies such as cable television and telephone triage systems. Computer networks combine the best features of cable television and telephone systems—broadcast distribution and interaction; therefore, computer networks represent an ideal technology for the delivery of certain nursing services to the home.

Type
Special Section: Assessing Nursing and Technology
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1.Bosworth, K., & Gustafson, D.CHESS: Providing decision support for reducing health risk behavior and improving access to health services. Interfaces, 1991, 21, 93104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2.Brennan, P. F. Computer networks promote caregiving collaboration: The Computer Link project. Proceedings, 16th symposium on computer applications in medical care. New York, NY: IEEE Computer Society Publications, 1992.Google Scholar
3.Brennan, P. F., Moore, S. M., & Smyth, K. A.ComputerLink: Electronic support for the home caregiver. Advances in Nursing Science, 1991, 13(4), 427.Google Scholar
4.Clark, K., & Ellis, L. Balance: An interactive program for the design of balance study diets. In Blum, B. (ed.), SCAMC proceedings, 6th symposium on computer applications in medical care. Los Angeles, CA: IEEE Computer Society, 1982.Google Scholar
5.Ensel, W., & Woelfel, M. Measuring the instrumental and expressive functions of social support. In Lin, N., Dean, A., & Ensel, W. (eds.), Social support, life events and depression Orlando, FL: Academic Press, 1986.Google Scholar
6.Gonyea, J. G.Alzheimer's disease support groups: An analysis of their structure, format and perceived benefits. Social Work in Health Care, 1989, 14(1), 6173.Google Scholar
7.Greenberger, M., & Puffer, J. C.Telemedicine: Toward better health care for the elderly. Journal of Communication, 1989, 39(3), 137–44.Google Scholar
8.Gustafson, D. H., Bosworth, K., Chewning, B. J., & Hawkins, R.Computer-based health promotion: Combining technological advance and problem solving technique to effect successful health behavior changes. Annual Review of Public Health, 1987, 8, 387415.Google Scholar
9.Jacox, A., Pillar, B., & Redman, B. K.A classification of nursing technology. Nursing Outlook, 1990, 38(2), 8185.Google ScholarPubMed
10.Happ, B.Should computers be used in the nursing care of patients? Nursing Management, 1983, 14(7), 3134.Google Scholar
11.Keisler, S., Siegel, J., & McGuire, T. W.Social and psychological aspects of computer mediated communication. American Psychologist, 1984, 39, 1123–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12.Kerr, E. B., & Hiltz, S. R.Computer-mediated communication systems. New York, NY: Academic Press, 1982.Google Scholar
13.Lewis, A.Nursing care of the person with AIDS/ARC. Rockville, MD: Aspen Publishers, Inc., 1988.Google Scholar
14.Mihalo, W. E.The microcomputer and social relationships. Computers and the Social Sciences, 1985, 1,199205.Google Scholar
15.Orem, D. E.Nursing: Concepts of practice. St. Louis, MO: Mosby-Year Book, Inc., 1991.Google Scholar
16.Rafaeli, S.The electronic bulletin board: A computer driven mass medium. Computers and the Social Sciences, 1986, 2, 123136.Google Scholar
17.Ripich, S. F., Moore, S. M., & Brennan, P. F.Using group interventions for clinical problems via a computer network. Journal of Psychosocial Nursing, 1992, 30(7), 1520.Google Scholar
18.Saunders, G., & Courtney, J.A field study of the organizational factors influencing DDS success. MIS Quarterly, 1985, 9(1), 7788.Google Scholar
19.Schrager, L., Friedland, G., Feiner, C, & Kahl, P.Demographic characteristics, drug use, and sexual behavior of IV drug users with AIDS in Bronx, New York. Public Health Reports, 1991, 106(1), 7884.Google ScholarPubMed
20.Srinivasan, A.Alternative measures of system effectiveness: Associations and implications. MIS Quarterly, 1985, 9(1), 243253.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
21.von Winterfeldt, D., & Edwards, W.Decision analysis and behavioral research. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge Press, 1986.Google Scholar
22.Zimmerman, D. P.A psychosocial comparison of computer mediated and face-to-face language use among severely disturbed adolescents. Adolescence, 1987, 22, 827–40.Google Scholar