write a 2-4 page introduction to your research problem. Include one paragraph for each of the following:

In this paper (introduction), I want you to start thinking about a public health research problem you are curious about. (SEE CAPSTONE ATTACHMENT. PROBLEM IS IDENTIFIED FOR YOU)

Once you have chosen a public health problem, you will want to start researching this topic to find peer-reviewed articles within the field of public health to gain more insight about it.  Google Scholar is a great resource to use in order to find open source peer reviewed materials as well as the National University Library. 

PAPER (INTRODUCTION) Instructions

PROJECT TOPIC: Comparative Analysis of Access to Healthcare in Rural Communities within the United States.

Write a 2-4 page introduction to your research problem.  Include one paragraph for each of the following:

· Statement of the research problem (What healthcare problem/issue are you addressing in your research proposal?)

· Review studies that have addressed the problem (This is NOT a literature review...instead, you are using existing studies to justify the importance of YOUR study and creating distinctions between past studies and your proposed study - you want to synthesize the literature versus reporting on individual studies)

· Deficiencies in past literature and how your planned study will remedy and address these deficiencies (deficiencies can often be found in the "suggestions for future research" or "limitations" section of journal articles)

· Audiences who will potentially find the study of interest 

· Write your purpose statement – qualitative (this was used in the capstone paper attached, you can use the same but write it differently) or quantitative: sets objectives, intent, or the major idea of a proposal or study – builds on the need (the problem).

· A reference page with 8 peer reviewed scholarly articles closely related to your research problem (these will be from your discussion board post this week. I will attach the discussion post journal articles used). 

a.

i. These must be recent (preferably in past 5 years, and not over 10 years old)

ii. These must be peer-reviewed journal articles of primary research

iii. Sources outside of peer-reviewed journals (government websites, etc.) are encouraged but DO NOT count toward your five sources.

Below is an example of an introduction

Sample Introduction - APA 7th Edition (see attachment)

1

1

Impact of Wearable Technology in Healthcare

Student Name

Department of Community Health, National University

COH 611: Research Methods

Dr. Lori Bednarchik

Due Date

Impact of Wearable Technology in Healthcare

Introduction

With the Health Information Technology for Economic Clinical Health Act (HITECH), which was part of a stimulus package for the Affordable Care Act of 2009, providers were tasked with creating a patient-centric platform to improve engagement (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, 2009). This was achieved most commonly through use of patient portals. In order to connect with these patient portals securely, and to meet patients where they are, many of these portals were integrated into mobile applications. Due to this, and the increased saturation of wearable technology in consumer markets, some health providers began to allow access of shared data collected by such devices. According to Krohn (2017), “doctor[s] can remotely monitor the patient’s vital signs, perform simple medical diagnosis tests…before the patient has even noticed any symptoms” (p. 45). This type of engagement has the potential to provide increased insight into diagnosis, treatment, and a variety of other medical relevancies.

For patients as well as the industry, there is a delicate balance of providing the best care while respecting privacy. Because of that balance, determining the impact of this new data stream can be challenging due to the nature of early technology adoption and regulatory constraints from the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Additionally, determining which conditions and treatments might benefit most from such technology is likely to evolve over time. Chronic illnesses, for example, are commonly tracked conditions on such devices today and provide early case studies (Krohn, 2017). Therefore, specific treatments and diagnosis markers may be easier to explore as compared to other conditions. Yet, the potential to impact great portions of communities and populations exists and makes the effort of exploring the medium worthy of pursuit.

From a population health standpoint, particularly in dense and diverse populations in large metro areas, spikes in emergency room or acute care visits can be examined much differently. For example, when trying to understand why so many people were seeking treatment for illness in Flint, Michigan in 2015, Epic, an electronic health records system, was used to determine that the patients were localized around the same water source (Epic, 2016). By leveraging a localized data stream, health professionals could quickly address what was occurring and notify government officials. For wearable technologies, consider synthesizing the data pool to more than those who were seen by health professionals. Consider the alarm sounding before patients even arrived in the emergency room. Readiness and responsiveness could certainly improve and potentially save more lives. The increased potential to evaluate outbreaks or population health issues can be dramatically shifted with more information.

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to assess the impact and effectiveness of health data collection through consumer wearable health sources such as watches, heart monitors, or other devices synced to smart phones and made available for physician or research examination.

Research Question

RQ1: What is the impact of health data collection through consumer wearable health sources such as watches, heart monitors, or other devices synced to smart phones and made available for physician or research examination?

RQ2: How effective is health data collection through consumer wearable health sources such as watches, heart monitors, or other devices synced to smart phones and made available for physician or research examination?

References

Arigo, D. (2015). Promoting physical activity among women using wearable technology and

online social connectivity: A feasibility study. Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine, 3(1), 391-409.

Belsi, A., Papi, E., & McGregor, A. H. (2016). Impact of wearable technology on psychosocial

factors of osteoarthritis management: A qualitative study. BMJ open, 6(2), e010064.

Bonacaro, A., & Sookhoo, D. (2017). The effectiveness and usability of wearable devices in the

prevention of hospital readmission in patients with chronic conditions: a comprehensive literature review protocol.

Epic. (2016, February 22). Researcher Uses Epic to Expose Water Contamination. Retrieved

from Epic: https://www.epic.com/epic/post/722

Krohn, R., Metcalf, D., & Salber, P. (2017). Connected Health: Improving Care, Safety, and

Efficiency with Wearables and IoT Solution. Productivity Press.

Millings, A., Morris, J., Rowe, A., Easton, S., Martin, J. K., Majoe, D., & Mohr, C. (2015). Can

the effectiveness of an online stress management program be augmented by wearable sensor technology?. Internet Interventions, 2(3), 330-339.

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, H.R.3590 (111th Congress September 17, 2009).

Piwek, L., Ellis, D. A., Andrews, S., & Joinson, A. (2016). The rise of consumer health

wearables: Promises and barriers. PLoS medicine, 13(2).

Radhakrishnan, S., Duvvuru, A., & Kamarthi, S. V. (2014). Investigating discrete event

simulation method to assess the effectiveness of wearable health monitoring devices. Procedia Economics and Finance, 11(0), 838-856.

Ridgers, N. D., McNarry, M. A., & Mackintosh, K. A. (2016). Feasibility and effectiveness of

using wearable activity trackers in youth: A systematic review. JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 4(4), e129.

Stephenson, A., McDonough, S. M., Murphy, M. H., Nugent, C. D., & Mair, J. L. (2017). Using

computer, mobile and wearable technology enhanced interventions to reduce sedentary behaviour: A systematic review and meta-analysis. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 14(1), 105.

Zhang, M., Luo, M., Nie, R., & Zhang, Y. (2017). Technical attributes, health attribute,

consumer attributes and their roles in adoption intention of healthcare wearable technology. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 108, 97-109.

APPENDIX A

Research Design:

· RQ1: Qualitative

· RQ2: Quantitative

Research Method

· RQ1: Semi-structured interviews; focus groups

· RQ2: Online Survey

I chose a qualitative research design for research question 1. The mthod I will use is semi-structured interviews and focus groups. I will use semi-structured interviews because this will allow me to talk to individuals who use wearable technology in order to understand their impact. I will use focus groups to do the same, but these will allow for people to interact with one another and therefore more information may be shared to better understand the impact of wearables.

I chose quantitative research design for research question 2. The method I will use is an online survey. In order to measure the effectiveness of wearables, I will survey a larger number of people (approx. 200-250) and use validated measures. This will allow me to generalize to the larger population.