Pilot Projects Program

Round 7 Pilot Project Awardees

Kahsi Pedersen, Ph.D.

MaineHealth

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Assessing a Mobile App-Based Mindfulness Training to Improve Mental Health of Caregivers of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Rural Areas

Adult caregivers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who live in rural areas are more likely to experience stress and anxiety and less likely to receive mental health care than those who live in more urban areas. This project collected preliminary data on daily stress and anxiety and tested an innovative and accessible 30-day mobile app-based mindfulness training (MT) for these caregivers. Forty caregivers were recruited in a rural Maine community. One study aim was to learn whether mindfulness training could have a meaningful impact on parental stress and anxiety. The study also assessed whether or not caregivers experienced a decrease in stress and anxiety as a result of their exposure to daily mindfulness training. The knowledge gained from these data is expected to inform an innovative model for expanding rural caregiver access to effective and long-lasting solutions for improving their mental health and to improve the availability of diagnostic, treatment, and support services for families of individuals with ASD living in rural communities. 

 
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 Integrated Wearable Sensing and Telehealth for Tracking Physical Status of Rural Elders

This project focused on developing technologies to reduce the occurrence of falls among older adults, particularly those living in rural areas where healthcare facilities are relatively scarce. Older adults living in rural geographic areas report more falls than those living in urban areas, and they have less access to the healthcare services needed to recover effectively. Digital health tools, which couple mobile IT with wearable sensors for continuous monitoring of function, could bridge care between clinic and home settings and expand access for those in rural environments. However, these technologies are often not designed with older adults in mind. Similarly, it is not clear how data from these technologies should be relayed to healthcare providers to inform effective monitoring and prevention efforts. In this multi-site collaborative project, Rosen’s team developed a new wearable technology system for fall prevention tailored for use by older adults and their healthcare providers with the goal of designing a prototype for an integrated digital health system acceptable for use with older adults.

 

 

 

 

Michael Rosen

University of Vermont

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Bikki Tran Smith, Ph.D., MA

University of Vermont

 

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When Formal Supports End: Picturing Health Access for Afghan Refugees in Small Town Refugee Resettlement Communities in Vermont

Informed by critical race theory (CRT), racist nativism, and intersectionality, the goal of this mixed-methods inquiry was to understand how race and ethnicity, class, politics, and immigrant status intersect within rural geography to produce health disparities and inequities among Afghan refugees living in small town resettlement communities in Vermont. Using photo research methodology, asset mapping and focus groups, Tran Smith investigated mechanisms through which structural racism and nativism impact access to health resources, and identified patterns of resource distribution by race and ethnicity, class and immigrant status to serve as a critical first step to generating interventions targeting structural barriers to healthcare and resources for healthy living.

 

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