UMass to Study Use of Wearables in Chronic Disease Management

Via Healthitanalytics

A $1.23 million grant from the National Institute of Nursing Research will allow the University of Massachusetts Amherst College of Nursing to study how wearable devices, handheld technology tools, and other strategies could improve chronic disease management. The grant will help establish a new research facility to address issues of fatigue and sleep problems.

Chronic disease management and wearable technology
The UManage Center to Build the Science of Symptom Self-Management is one of six new centers established by NIH grants in 2016, according to nursing professor and center director Cynthia Jacelon.

“The UManage Center will help individuals with chronic illness live healthier, more functional lives. Nurse-led interdisciplinary teams will use emerging technologies being developed on the UMass Amherst campus to help manage symptoms affecting millions of individuals with chronic conditions that interfere with living life to the fullest,” Jacelon said in a press release.

To help patients decide how and when to make lifestyle changes, studies will test the integration of wearables and handheld devices to monitor fatigue or sleep pattern changes. These technologies “will help (study subjects) stop and rest or change their sleep hygiene before it’s too late,” Jacelon stated.

Leveraging mHealth to improve sleep hygiene is already a pursuit of some of the largest companies in the tech industry. Last April, IBM and the American Sleep Apnea Association partnered to launch the SleepHealth app and SleepHealth Mobile Study.

The study, which runs through Apple’s ResearchKit platform, connects researchers with participating iPhone and Apple Watch users around the world. The app charts connections between users’ behaviors and sleep patterns, and provides health and sleep tips.

Jacelon will head an interdisciplinary team that includes multiple university researchers and experts from a variety of fields, including nursing, psychological and brain sciences, big data and health informatics.

The team will collaborate with industry partners on investigations, using labs and equipment from the Institute of Applied Life Sciences (IALS).

“This interdisciplinary work is the type of exciting new opportunity we envisioned that IALS infrastructure would catalyze,” said Stephen Cavanagh, Dean of the College of Nursing. “The program brings together a terrific research team that will create both innovation and impact.”

Learn more