TY - JOUR
T1 - LEAVES (optimizing the mentaL health and resiliencE of older Adults that haVe lost thEir spouSe via blended, online therapy)
T2 - Proposal for an Online Service Development and Evaluation
AU - van Velsen, Lex
AU - Cabrita, Miriam
AU - Akker, Harm op den
AU - Brandl, Lena
AU - Isaac, Joana
AU - Suárez, María
AU - Gouveia, Afonso
AU - de Sousa, Rute Dinis
AU - Rodrigues, Ana Maria
AU - Canhão, Helena
AU - Evans, Nathaniel
AU - Blok, Marije
AU - Alcobia, Carlos
AU - Brodbeck, Jeannette
AU - DELA Natura- En Levensverzekeringen NV
N1 - Funding Information:
The RRD Virtual Agent platform is part of the back end of the LEAVES platform and consists of a set of tools and services that enables the creation and execution of dialogue-based natural interaction interfaces with end users. The platform is used to develop personal virtual agent companions in the context of eHealth apps that allow users to have tailored, dynamic conversations with a virtual agent. A core component of the platform is the WOOL Dialogue Framework, a simple, powerful dialogue framework for creating virtual agent conversations and completely open source licensed under an MIT License. More information and the tool itself can be found on the WOOL website [24]. The WOOL framework consists of 3 main components: (1) the dialogue language definition, (2) an easy-to-use editor for creating dialogue scripts, and (3) a set of tools to execute these dialogues. The WOOL Dialogue Framework was created in the context of the Council of Coaches project, a research and innovation project funded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Research Programme.
Funding Information:
The research leading to these results was carried out under the AAL Programme under project number AAL-2019-6-168-CP with funding by the European Union and the national funding agencies from the Netherlands, Portugal, and Switzerland: The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMW), Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), and Innosuisse – Swiss Innovation Agency. DELA Nature-En Levensverzekerigen NV is represented in the project by Caroline Smeets and Ilse Pullens.
Publisher Copyright:
©Lex van Velsen, Miriam Cabrita, Harm op den Akker, Lena Brandl, Joana Isaac, María Suárez, Afonso Gouveia, Nathaniel Evans, Rute Dinis de Sousa, Ana Maria Rodrigues, Helena Canhão, DELA Natura- En Levensverzekeringen NV, Marije Blok, Carlos Alcobia, Jeannette Brodbeck. Originally published in JMIR Research Protocols (http://www.researchprotocols.org),08.09.2020. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in JMIR Research Protocols, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on http://www.researchprotocols.org, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.
PY - 2020/9/8
Y1 - 2020/9/8
N2 - Background: Loss of a spouse is a frequent occurrence in later life. While most older adults successfully process this loss and will return to a normal life, about 10% of the individuals are unable to cope, and progress to prolonged grief (PG). PG, in turn, can result in mental and physical problems including poor sleep, cardiovascular problems, depression, and suicidal tendencies. Objective: LEAVES (optimizing the mentaL health and resiliencE of older Adults that haVe lost thEir spouSe via blended, online therapy) is an online bereavement program that will support the prevention and treatment of PG, so that elderly mourners can continue to lead an active, meaningful, and dignified life. LEAVES will cater to secondary end users (eg, family, informal caregivers) by reducing stress. Methods: LEAVES will help older adults to process the loss of a spouse in an online environment, which consists of (1) an existing online grief self-help program LIVIA, (2) the Before You Leave program that allows for storing personal memories, (3) a virtual agent platform, and (4) an accessible front-end design. LEAVES can detect persons at risk for complications, reveal negative trends in their emotional life, and act to counter such trends. The service relies on online support whenever possible but is blended with telephone or face-to-face counseling when necessary. Results: The project will take place between February 2020 and January 2023 and includes a real-life evaluation in which 315 end users will use the service across 3 countries (the Netherlands, Portugal, and Switzerland). The evaluation of LEAVES will focus on clinical effect, its business case, and technology acceptance. The results will pave the way for smooth integration into existing care paths and reimbursement schemes. Conclusions: The LEAVES service aims to soften the mourning process, prevents depression or social isolation, strengthens widow(er)s resilience and well-being, and quickens one's return to societal participation.
AB - Background: Loss of a spouse is a frequent occurrence in later life. While most older adults successfully process this loss and will return to a normal life, about 10% of the individuals are unable to cope, and progress to prolonged grief (PG). PG, in turn, can result in mental and physical problems including poor sleep, cardiovascular problems, depression, and suicidal tendencies. Objective: LEAVES (optimizing the mentaL health and resiliencE of older Adults that haVe lost thEir spouSe via blended, online therapy) is an online bereavement program that will support the prevention and treatment of PG, so that elderly mourners can continue to lead an active, meaningful, and dignified life. LEAVES will cater to secondary end users (eg, family, informal caregivers) by reducing stress. Methods: LEAVES will help older adults to process the loss of a spouse in an online environment, which consists of (1) an existing online grief self-help program LIVIA, (2) the Before You Leave program that allows for storing personal memories, (3) a virtual agent platform, and (4) an accessible front-end design. LEAVES can detect persons at risk for complications, reveal negative trends in their emotional life, and act to counter such trends. The service relies on online support whenever possible but is blended with telephone or face-to-face counseling when necessary. Results: The project will take place between February 2020 and January 2023 and includes a real-life evaluation in which 315 end users will use the service across 3 countries (the Netherlands, Portugal, and Switzerland). The evaluation of LEAVES will focus on clinical effect, its business case, and technology acceptance. The results will pave the way for smooth integration into existing care paths and reimbursement schemes. Conclusions: The LEAVES service aims to soften the mourning process, prevents depression or social isolation, strengthens widow(er)s resilience and well-being, and quickens one's return to societal participation.
KW - Aged
KW - Bereavement
KW - EHealth
KW - Grief
KW - Mental health
KW - Resilience
KW - Telemedicine
KW - Widowhood
KW - UT-Gold-D
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85091822502&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.2196/19344
DO - 10.2196/19344
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85091822502
VL - 9
JO - JMIR research protocols
JF - JMIR research protocols
SN - 1929-0748
IS - 9
M1 - e19344
ER -