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A.W.M. Evers

76 records found

Background
To improve lifestyle guidance within cardiac rehabilitation (CR), a comprehensive understanding of the motivation and lifestyle-supporting needs of patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) is required.

Objectives
This study's purpose is to evaluate p ...
Objectives: Placebo effects can relieve acute and chronic pain in both research and clinical treatments by learning mechanisms. However, the application of placebo-based treatment strategies in routine medical care is questioned. The current study investigated the opinions of pat ...

Open-label placebo hypoalgesia

What works for whom under which circumstances

Medication regimens using conditioning via variable reinforcement have shown similar or improved therapeutic effects as full pharmacological treatment, but evidence in patient populations is scarce. This proof-of-principle double-blind randomized clinical trial examined whether t ...

Brief lifestyle advice in cardiac care

An experimental study on message source and framing

Objective
Communicating risk information and offering lifestyle advice are important goals in cardiac rehabilitation. However, the most effective way and the most effective source to communicate this information are not yet known. Therefore, we examined the effect of source ( ...
Objective: Expectancies are known to shape pain experiences, but it remains unclear how different types of expectancies contribute to daily pain fluctuations in fibromyalgia. This combined experimental and diary study aims to provide insights into how experimentally-derived noceb ...

Human cues in eHealth to promote lifestyle change

An experimental field study to examine adherence to self-help interventions

eHealth lifestyle interventions without human support (self-help interventions) are generally less effective, as they suffer from lower adherence levels. To solve this, we investigated whether (1) using a text-based conversational agent (TCA) and applying human cues contribute to ...
[...] Psoriasis is associated with a number of comorbidities of which some can be positively influenced by lifestyle changes. It is also known that dietary and relaxation interventions could be promising in improving psoriasis severity and the quality of life of patients with pso ...
Background: Financial incentives are a promising tool to help people increase their physical activity, but they are expensive to provide. Deposit contracts are a type of financial incentive in which participants pledge their own money. However, low uptake is a crucial obstacle to ...
Negative expectations can increase pain sensitivity, leading to nocebo hyperalgesia. However, the physiological and psychological factors that predispose individuals to this phenomenon are still not well understood. The present study examined whether stress induced by a social st ...
Aims
Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) shows lower effectiveness and higher dropouts among people with a low socioeconomic position (SEP) compared to those with a high SEP. This study evaluated an eHealth intervention aimed at supporting patients with a low SEP during their waiting ...

Erasing stigmas through storytelling

Why interactive storytelling environments could reduce health-related stigmas

In this article we describe how designers can apply storytelling to reduce health-related stigmas. Stigma is a pervasive problem for people with illnesses, such as obesity, and it can persistently hinder coping, treatment, recovery, and prevention. Reducing health-related stigma ...
Stroke is a highly disabling condition, for which music therapy is regularly used in rehabilitation. One possible mechanism for the effects of music therapy is the motivational aspect of music, for example regarding treatment adherence based on improved mood. In this study, chang ...
Background: Self-help eHealth interventions provide automated support to change health behaviors without any further human assistance. The main advantage of self-help eHealth interventions is that they have the potential to lower the workload of health care professionals. However ...

Expectancies and Avoidance

Towards an Integrated Model of Chronic Somatic Symptoms

Somatic symptoms like pain, itch, and fatigue, can negatively affect daily functioning. In the acute phase, these somatic symptoms are adaptive as they push the body to protect itself from potential bodily threat. However, when these symptoms turn chronic, they may instead cause ...

Put your money where your feet are

The real-world effects of StepBet gamified deposit contracts for physical activity

Background: Gamification and deposit contracts (a financial incentive in which participants pledge their own money) can enhance effectiveness of mobile behavior change interventions. However, to assess their potential for improving population health, research should investigate i ...

Be more mindful

Targeting addictive responses by integrating mindfulness with cognitive bias modification or cue exposure interventions

This review provides an overview of the most prominent neurocognitive effects of cognitive bias modification (CBM), cue-exposure therapy and mindfulness interventions for targeting addictive responses. It highlights the key insights that have stemmed from cognitive neuroscience a ...
Objective eHealth is a useful tool to deliver lifestyle interventions for patients with cardiometabolic diseases. However, there are inconsistent findings about whether these eHealth interventions should be supported by a human professional, or whether self-help interventions are ...
Objective Up to 10% of the general population experiences persistent somatic symptoms (PSS). Numerous studies in a variety of health domains are dedicated to identifying factors that are associated with PSS onset. The present study aimed to provide an overview of predictors for P ...