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Gift Card (gift + card)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	50%

Selected Abstracts

Activating Seniors to Improve Chronic Disease Care: Results from a Pilot Intervention Study

JOURNAL OF AMERICAN GERIATRICS SOCIETY, Issue 8 2010
Dominick L. Frosch PhD
OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effect of an activation intervention delivered in community senior centers to improve health outcomes for chronic diseases that disproportionately affect older adults. DESIGN: Two-group quasi-experimental study. SETTING: Two Los Angeles community senior centers. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred sixteen senior participants. INTERVENTION: Participants were invited to attend group screenings of video programs intended to inform about and motivate self-management of chronic conditions common in seniors. Moderated discussions reinforcing active patient participation in chronic disease management followed screenings. Screenings were scheduled over the course of 12 weeks. MEASUREMENTS: One center was assigned by coin toss to an encouragement condition in which participants received a $50 gift card if they attended at least three group screenings. Participants in the nonencouraged center received no incentive for attendance. Validated study measures for patient activation, physical activity, and health-related quality of life were completed at baseline and 12 weeks and 6 months after enrollment. RESULTS: Participants attending the encouraged senior center were more likely to attend three or more group screenings (77.8% vs 47.2%, P=.001). At 6-month follow-up, participants from either center who attended three or more group screenings (n=74, 64%) reported significantly greater activation (P<.001), more minutes walking (P<.001) and engaging in vigorous physical activity (P=.006), and better health-related quality of life (Medical Outcomes Study 12-item Short-Form Survey (SF-12) mental component summary, P<.001; SF-12 physical component summary, P=.002). CONCLUSION: Delivering this pilot intervention in community senior centers is a potentially promising approach to activating seniors that warrants further investigation for improving chronic disease outcomes. [source]

Feasibility of an Interactive Voice Response Tool for Adolescent Assault Victims

ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE, Issue 10 2009
Mercedes M. Blackstone MD
Abstract Background:, Assault-injured adolescents who are seen in the emergency department (ED) are difficult to follow prospectively using standard research techniques such as telephone calls or mailed questionnaires. Interactive voice response (IVR) is a novel technology that promotes active participation of subjects and allows automated data collection for prospective studies. Objectives:, The objective was to determine the feasibility of IVR technology for collecting prospective information from adolescents who were enrolled in an ED-based study of interpersonal violence. Methods:, A convenience sample of assault-injured 12- to 19-year-olds presenting to an urban, tertiary care ED was enrolled prospectively. Each subject completed a brief questionnaire in the ED and then was randomly assigned to use the IVR system in differently timed schedules over a period of 8 weeks: weekly, biweekly, or monthly calls. Upon discharge, each subject received a gift card incentive and a magnetic calendar with his or her prospective call-in dates circled on it. Each time a subject contacted the toll-free number, he or she used the telephone's keypad to respond to computer-voice questions about retaliation and violence subsequent to the ED visit. Using Internet access, we added $5 to the gift card for each call and $10 if all scheduled calls were completed. The primary outcome was the rate of the first utilization of the IVR system. The numbers of completed calls made for each of the three call-in schedules were also compared. Results:, Of the 95 subjects who consented to the follow-up portion of the study, 44.2% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 34.0% to 54.8%) completed at least one IVR call, and 13.7% (95% CI = 7.5% to 22.3%) made all of their scheduled calls. There were no significant differences among groups in the percentage of subjects calling at least once into the system or in the percentage of requested calls made. The enrolled subjects had a high level of exposure to violence. At baseline, 85.3% (95% CI = 76.5% to 91.7%) had heard gunshots fired, and 84.2% (95% CI = 75.3% to 90.9%) had seen someone being assaulted. Twenty-eight adolescents (29.5%, 95% CI = 20.6% to 39.7%) were reached for satisfaction interviews. All of those contacted found the IVR system easy to use and all but one would use it again. Conclusions:, Interactive voice response technology is a feasible means of follow-up among high-risk violently injured adolescents, and this relatively anonymous process allows for the collection of sensitive information. Further research is needed to determine the optimal timing of calls and cost-effectiveness in this population. [source]

The perfect gift card: An exploration of teenagers' gift card associations

PSYCHOLOGY & MARKETING, Issue 1 2009
Tracy L. Tuten
This study provides new insights into the meaning and value of gift cards in gift exchange among teenagers who gave and/or received gift cards during the Christmas/Hanukkah season. From their reflections of the reasons for giving gift cards and their feelings about receiving gift cards from others, the social roles played out in buying gift cards as a gift selection strategy are assessed and the values associated with gift cards explored. The results suggest that givers playing the roles of acknowledger and pleaser are heavy gift card givers when buying gifts for difficult recipients. Acknowledgers incorporate gift cards into existing strategies for gift selection (especially "settle," "pawn off," and "buy relationship affirming gifts"), but for pleasers, buying gift cards may be part of a new gift selection strategy,"play it safe." Importantly, although gift cards can reflect economic, social, and functional value, the giving of gift cards seems to result in a new form of value for the recipients,the value of choice, which occurs when the control over gift selection is transferred from giver to receiver. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]