BACKGROUND Although diabetes mellitus is of high concern in Iran, and the level of control is unacceptable, few qualitative studies have been carried out to reflect the experiences of patients on the barriers and motivators to self-care. This study aimed to explore a culturally based experience of Iranian diabetic patients regarding the personal and environmental barriers to and facilitating fa...

BACKGROUND Patients with stroke experience a number of environmental barriers, limiting their re-integration. Information regarding the barriers experienced by patients with stroke in a specific setting such as the Musanze district in Rwanda would assist with the development of rehabilitation programmes that would take into consideration the barriers experienced by the clients. OBJECTIVE To e...

Technologies for human benefit, such as information systems and information technology, have a key role to play in the realization of quality of life for all citizenry by modern societies. New forms of IS and IT can be developed and used creatively to improve education, health, social equity, environmental conditions, social and environmental sustainability, government and not-for-profit servic...

BACKGROUND Parents can influence the health behaviors of their children by engaging in supportive behaviors (e.g., playing outside with their child, limiting recreational screen time). How, and the extent to which parents engage in supportive behaviors may be influenced by perceived barriers. The purpose of this study is to explore whether the frequency, and types, of barriers to providing pare...

To gain an understanding of health-related practices and perceptions, Nashville REACH 2010 conducted focus studies among 5 community groups. Attitudes about health, personal risk behaviors, quality of health care, and models of personal behavior change were assessed. All focus-group sessions were transcribed and analyzed using a consensus panel methodology. A combined analysis of the focus grou...

OBJECTIVE To explore the experiences of athletes with spinal cord injury (SCI) in Korea with respect to dilemmas of participating in sports with regards to the facilitators and barriers, using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). METHODS The facilitators and barriers to sports participation of individuals with SCI were examined using 112 ICF categories...

Most people think climate change and sustainability are important problems, but too few global citizens engaged in high-greenhouse-gas-emitting behavior are engaged in enough mitigating behavior to stem the increasing flow of greenhouse gases and other environmental problems. Why is that? Structural barriers such as a climate-averse infrastructure are part of the answer, but psychological barri...

In this paper we construct an information-theoretic model of architectural drawings. This model is then used to quantify and measure the complexities and similarities of drawings. The approach is applied within a linear qualitative shape representation but can be generalized to other types of representation. The descriptive and analytic power of the proposed methods are demonstrated by studying...