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Auditory hallucinations (“hearing voices”) are a relatively common experience, which is often highly distressing and debilitating. As mental health services are under increasing pressures, services have witnessed a transformative shift with the integration of technology into psychological care. This study aims to narratively synthesise evidence of technology-enhanced psychological assessment and treatment of distressing voices (PROSPERO 393831).

This review was carried out according to the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Embase, MEDLINE, PsycINFO and Web of Science were searched until 30th May 2023. The Effective Public Health Practice Project (EPHPP) tool assessed methodological quality of studies.

Searching identified 9,254 titles. Fourteen studies (two assessment studies, twelve treatment studies, published 2010–2022, n = 1,578) were included in the review. Most studies were conducted in the UK, the USA or Canada. Technologies included avatar therapy, mobile apps, virtual reality, a computerised Web-based programme and a mobile-assisted treatment. Overall, technology-enhanced psychological assessments and treatments appear feasible, acceptable and effective, with avatar therapy the most used intervention. EPHPP ratings were “strong” (n = 8), “moderate” (n = 5) and “weak” (n = 1).

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first systematic review to investigate these technologies, specifically for distressing voices. Despite the relatively small number of studies, findings offer promising evidence for the clinical benefits of these technologies for enhancing mental health care for individuals with distressing voices. More high-quality research on a wider range of technologies is warranted.

Social avoidance disorders can be disruptive to the individual as they begin to over-manage their lives, at times avoiding social and work commitments. A potential therapeutic approach is exposure therapy and a virtual reality (VR) treatment approach, gameChange VR, has been developed. This provides an opportunity to test their fears in virtual environments. This study aims to investigate the feasibility of using this VR approach to treat people with social avoidance problems within a secure mental health setting.

Nine participants completed the gameChange VR sessions. Participants received 30-minute VR sessions for up to six weeks using selected scenarios at five levels of difficulty. Patients’ comments and behaviours were noted and clinical staff also provided feedback on their observations of patients’ use and experience with VR.

Overall, patients felt that the gameChange VR helped them to build their confidence and reduce their overall anxiety as they became more comfortable with the equipment. Both patients and staff generally found the intervention easy to use and the staff reported an overall high level of engagement among the participants. The key issues raised largely related to technical and safety issues.

While a previous study was carried out using gameChange VR with an outpatient cohort, this was the first using an inpatient group in a secure mental health setting. It has demonstrated that the intervention is viable in this setting, although further studies are required to identify the specific patient population that would benefit optimally from the therapy.

In this current review, we aimed to understand technology addiction interventions and provide guidelines for IS scholars to use IT to prevent or attenuate technology addiction.

We systematically reviewed articles associated with technology and substance addiction interventions. These articles included review articles, peer-reviewed articles, conference proceedings, and online articles.

We propose a roadmap for technology addiction intervention development and testing based on the review. Next, we summarize the similarities and differences between substance addiction and technology addiction in terms of antecedents, negative consequences, and neurobiological mechanisms. Based on this, two types of potential interventions for substance addiction were reviewed to explore how they can be used for technology addiction. To conclude, IT-mediated interventions were summarized, and promising avenues for future research were highlighted.

Technology addiction has a broad range of adverse impacts on mental health and well-being. With the knowledge and insight from this review, the Information Systems community can become part of the solution to technology addiction.

Disasters and pandemics pose challenges to health-care provision. Accordingly, the need for adopting innovative approach is required in providing care to patient. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to present telehealth as an innovative approach for providing care to patients and reducing spread of the infection and advocates for the adoption of telehealth for digitalized treatment of patients.

An integrative review methodology of existing evidence was conducted to provide implications for integration of telehealth for digitalized treatment of patients. This paper draws on Technology Organization Environment (TOE) framework to develop a model and propositions to investigate the factors that influence telehealth adoption from the perspective of the supply side and the demand side of medical services.

Findings from this study discuss applications adopted for telehealth and recommendations on how telehealth can be adopted for medical-care delivery. More importantly, the findings and propositions of this study can act as a roadmap to potential research opportunities within and beyond the pandemic. In addition, findings from this study help provide guidelines on how health practitioners can rapidly integrate telehealth into practice for public health emergencies.

This study identifies the social, technological and organizational factors that influence telehealth adoption, and opportunities of adopting telehealth during the public health emergencies. This study concludes that specific policy changes to improve integration of interoperable solutions; data security; better physical infrastructures; broadband access; better transition and workflow balance; availability of funding and remuneration; regulations and reimbursement; awareness; and training will improve telehealth adoption during public health emergencies.

This study investigates human resource (HR) professionals' experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The study involves in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 37 HR professionals purposefully selected based on their prior involvement in managing pandemic-related challenges.

The findings reveal that HR professionals faced intensified organizational demands, leading to expanded job roles, increased workload, a change in pace and emotional pressures. However, participants exhibited resilience by drawing from and creating various job resources to cope with these demands. Our findings also show that despite HR professionals being central to creating workplace support and wellness initiatives, their well-being needs were often overlooked as they prioritized supporting others.

The study contributes to research on the experiences of HR professionals during the pandemic and to job-demands resources (JD-R) theory by incorporating context-specific demands, resources and coping strategies specific to HR professionals.

Lessons learned for organizations and HR professionals are discussed in relation to creating conditions of organizational support and resource availability for HR professionals.

This study extends research on the mental health and well-being of HR professionals during the pandemic by providing a novel lens on linkages between job demands, job resources and self-regulation strategies.

This systematic review (SR) aims to evaluate and summarize the effectiveness of using eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) intervention among individuals diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as well as to highlight the standardized EMDR-based interventional protocol.

This SR is guided according to preferred reporting items for SRs and meta-analyses standards. Several online databases were used in searching for eligible studies in peer-reviewed journals relevant to the study keywords. The included studies were SRs and clinical trials that used EMDR interventions among patients experiencing PTSD symptoms, older than 18 years and were published in English language from 2015 to 2022. Three researchers independently contributed to study selections, data extraction and study evaluations from different aspects, including quality assessment, risk of bias and study synthesis.

A total of eight published studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in this SR; four articles were randomized controlled trials and four were SR and meta-analysis studies. In all included studies, the EMDR was used as a primary psychotherapy intervention for PTSD symptoms. The results of this extensive and comprehensive review showed that EMDR is an effective psychotherapeutic intervention to reduce and control the severity of symptoms among individuals with PTSD.

It is important to acknowledge several limitations inherent in this study. First and foremost, it is noteworthy to mention that only studies conducted in the English language were included in this review, potentially restricting the overall scope and diversity of the findings. Furthermore, the number of studies incorporated into this review was limited, which may have implications for the comprehensiveness and generalizability of the results. Finally, it is worth noting that certain studies within this review had a relatively small sample size, which could potentially limit the statistical power and precision of the conclusions drawn.

This paper, a review of the literature, gives an overview of EMDR effectiveness, provides baseline information and plays a significant role in decreasing the gap in Jordanian literature regarding using EMDR as the strongest evident psychotherapy approach for PTSD treatment to help psychiatrists, psychologists and psychiatric nurses in the health-care sectors to design comprehensive strategies to enhance and improve the quality of health care and patients’ status.

EMDR intervention offers significant alternative treatment opportunities for individuals suffering from PTSD, depression and anxiety. The implementation of EMDR for depression, anxiety and PTSD improves patient outcomes as compared to standard therapeutic modalities in PTSD.

This SR gives an overview and explains strong supportive evidence for the effectiveness of EMDR interventions among individuals with PTSD. Therefore, EMDR therapy could be assumed as one standard treatment option for PTSD, aiming at reducing treatment duration and cost of treatment and restoring the mental well-being and functionality of those suffering from PTSD.

This study aims to support the global initiatives that advocate for ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for everyone, regardless of age, while allowing people to stay at their homes as long as they desire. The built environment (BE) plays a crucial role in achieving this, but in some countries, such as the UK, the housing stock has been found to require extensive adaptations to support resident’s health and well-being. While much research has been done on care provisions and later living housing, these solutions are unsuitable for low-population density areas (LPDAs).

The study is encompassed by investigations around a systematic product development guided by the Double-Diamond Design Framework. This research focused on the “Discovery” phase, which involved online in-depth interviews, incorporating elements from the Human-Activity-Space-Technology Model, supplemented by an interactive board to discover key activities, elements and actors involved in supporting strategies for ageing in place.

This paper presents strategies to help people age in place, focusing on LPDAs. The interventions identified in this paper encompass fundamental elements such as layout design and smart home technologies.

The results provide contextualised BE interventions applicable to creating age-friendly communities, focusing on house design and service delivery from a product design approach.

This study aims to conduct a comprehensive review of scholarly literature on the educational impacts of the metaverse, systematically identifying emerging themes, challenges and implications for metaverse education.

The study uses systematic literature review techniques using the Scopus database to investigate empirical studies and systematic reviews specifically examining the convergence of the metaverse and education.

The study shows that the metaverse has a substantial influence on education, emphasising immersive learning, real social interactions and the transformation of traditional frameworks. This paper identifies nine themes, illuminating the growing relevance of metaverse tools in academic institutions, influencing learning methods, outcomes and positive student dispositions.

This study provides a foundation for further investigations into the metaverse’s potential to disseminate knowledge and enhance comprehension of metaverse technologies. It explores the metaverse’s potential in relation to progress, upcoming trends and cultural awareness while highlighting obstacles that must be addressed for effective metaverse teaching.

This research paper makes a substantial scholarly contribution by undertaking a systematic analysis of empirical studies and identifying emerging themes in the area of metaverse education. It offers substantial insights into the transformative potential of metaverse education and its implications for pedagogical and instructional approaches in the digitised era through the analysis of fundamental inquiries.

This paper argues that the psychological impact of mobile phone loss and compromised personal information necessitates a comprehensive approach to mental health and data security. It advocates for the development of robust coping strategies, including digital detox practices and enhanced security measures, to mitigate the adverse effects.

This position paper explores the psychological implications of mobile phone loss, particularly focusing on depression and information access anxiety resulting from compromised personal information. The paper synthesizes existing literature and theoretical frameworks to examine the multifaceted impact of mobile phone loss on mental health and proposes strategies to mitigate these effects. This paper uses a qualitative approach, analyzing data from various studies that have investigated mobile phone addiction, data breaches and the psychological effects of mobile phone loss. The analysis focuses on identifying common themes and patterns related to emotional distress, anxiety and coping mechanisms. The psychological impact is contextualized within the broader framework of digital dependency and mental health.

The phenomenon of information access anxiety, especially in the context of mobile phone loss, represents a major concern in the digital age. Information access anxiety describes the psychological distress and anxiety experienced by individuals when they are unable to access indispensable information or digital communication tools, typically due to the loss or theft of a mobile device.

This study acknowledges several limitations that should be considered when interpreting its findings. First, the analysis is based predominantly on secondary data sources and literature reviews, which may not fully capture the nuanced experiences of individuals suffering from the psychological impacts of mobile phone loss. Future research could benefit from primary data collection, such as surveys or interviews, to provide a more comprehensive understanding of these phenomena.

This position paper contributes to the burgeoning discourse surrounding the psychological ramifications of mobile phone loss, with a particular emphasis on the manifestation of depression and information access anxiety stemming from compromised personal information.

A key feature of human rights in health is access to safe, effective and affordable medicines. Pharmacovigilance is advocated for monitoring intended/unintended effects of medicines to assure their safety. The purpose of this paper is to synthesize knowledge about supply chain impediments to safe medicines in developing nations and contribute to future development of research in this field.

This paper conducts a structured literature review based on Preferred Reporting Items for the Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. It aims at profiling supply chain impediments to safe medicines in developing nations by reviewing 46 recent pharmacovigilance-specific papers published between 2005 and 2020.

Analysis of reviewed articles identified criticality of supply chain impediments that affect constituents across pharmaceutical in developing nations, which still struggle to maintain robust national pharmacovigilance systems due to lack of awareness, policy and practices.

Research results can be applied by pharmaceutical industry decision-makers and drug safety professionals in developing nations. Because the review is qualitative in nature, its implication ought to be tested after actual implementation.

This review can help identify underinvestigated impediments and methods to aid in developing new pharmacovigilance knowledge areas in developing nation context.

The review uncovers gaps in global health equity dialogue in developing nations. It also recognizes that macrolevel supply chain impediments exist due to unfair disease burden and health inequities in developing nations.

The paper examines supply chain impediments to safe medicines in developing nations with insights for future pharmacovigilance research. Identifying and classifying supply chain impediments through this review is the first step toward creating effective interventions for these impediments to safe medicines.