scholarly journals A Cardiovascular Clinic Patients’ Survey to Assess Challenges and Opportunities of Digital Health Adoption During the COVID-19 Pandemic Digital Health Survey During COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lilas Dagher ◽  
Saihariharan Nedunchezhian ◽  
Abdel Hadi El Hajjar ◽  
Yichi Zhang ◽  
Orlando Deffer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Survey ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities

scholarly journals Co-creating a large-scale adolescent health survey integrated with access to digital health interventions

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roshini Peiris-John ◽  
Lovely Dizon ◽  
Kylie Sutcliffe ◽  
Kristy Kang ◽  
Theresa Fleming
Keyword(s):  
Adolescent Health ◽  
Health Survey ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Health Interventions ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Health Providers ◽  
Health And Wellbeing ◽  
The Impact

Aim This paper describes how we engaged with adolescents and health providers to integrate access to digital health interventions as part of a large-scale secondary school health and wellbeing survey in New Zealand. Methods We conducted nine participatory, iterative co-design sessions involving 29 adolescents, and two workshops with young people (n = 11), digital and health service providers (n = 11) and researchers (n = 9) to gain insights into end-user perspectives on the concept and how best to integrate digital interventions in to the survey. Results Students’ perceived integrating access to digital health interventions into a large-scale youth health survey as acceptable and highly beneficial. They did not want personalized/normative feedback, but thought that every student should be offered all the help options. Participants identified key principles: assurance of confidentiality, usability, participant choice and control, and language. They highlighted wording as important for ease and comfort, and emphasised the importance of user control. Participants expressed that it would be useful and acceptable for survey respondents to receive information about digital help options addressing a range of health and wellbeing topics. Conclusion The methodology of adolescent-practitioner-researcher collaboration and partnership was central to this research and provided useful insights for the development and delivery of adolescent health surveys integrated with digital help options. The results from the ongoing study will provide useful data on the impact of digital health interventions integrated in large-scale surveys, as a novel methodology. Future research on engaging with adolescents once interventions are delivered will be useful to explore benefits over time.

scholarly journals One year later: Highlighting the challenges and opportunities in disseminating a breathing-retraining digital behaviour change intervention

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 205520762093644
Author(s):  
Ben Ainsworth ◽  
Anne Bruton ◽  
Mike Thomas ◽  
Lucy Yardley
Keyword(s):  
Behaviour Change ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Controlled Trial ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Breathing Retraining ◽  
One Year ◽  
Randomised Controlled

Digital behaviour change interventions can provide effective and cost-effective treatments for a range of health conditions. However, after rigorous evaluation, there still remain challenges to disseminating and implementing evidence-based interventions that can hinder their effectiveness ‘in the real world’. We conducted a large-scale randomised controlled trial of self-guided breathing retraining, which we then disseminated freely as a digital intervention. Here we share our experience of this process after one year, highlighting the opportunities that digital health interventions can offer alongside the challenges that must be addressed in order to harness their effectiveness. Whilst such treatments can support many individuals at extremely low cost, careful dissemination strategies should be proactively planned in order to ensure such opportunities are maximised and interventions remain up to date in a fast-moving digital landscape.

scholarly journals Institutional Entrepreneurship for Digital Public Health Promotion: Challenges and Opportunities

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (2_suppl) ◽  
pp. 30S-36S ◽  
Author(s):  
Gastón de los Reyes
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Communication ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Chicago School ◽  
Institutional Entrepreneurship ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Media Companies ◽  
Business Regulation ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Public Health Promotion

This commentary highlights the challenges and opportunities facing institutional entrepreneurship in the digital public health realm. The institutional entrepreneurship of public health researchers concerns the opportunity to improve the norms regulating social media companies by engaging the public and private sectors. Beyond the clarification of concepts, the contribution of the commentary is to demonstrate why public health researchers committed to institutional entrepreneurship should mind the mental model they employ to think about business regulation. The popular Chicago School model negates the legitimacy of corporate policy making that trades profits for public health. Thinking this way obscures the relevance of institutional entrepreneurship by stipulating that corporations should answer to shareholders and government but not civil society. Though digital health communication is consistent with the Chicago School picture, the alternative public–private model reinforces opportunities for digital health communication as well as institutional entrepreneurship. The commentary proposes a toolkit for public health researchers to consciously open up to opportunities for institutional entrepreneurship in digital public health.

scholarly journals Identifying and Overcoming Policy-Level Barriers to the Implementation of Digital Health Innovation: Qualitative Study

10.2196/14994 ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (12) ◽  
pp. e14994 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Desveaux ◽  
Charlene Soobiah ◽  
R Sacha Bhatia ◽  
James Shaw
Keyword(s):  
Health System ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Qualitative Description ◽  
System Level ◽  
Health Innovation ◽  
Innovation Activities ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
The Government

Background High-level policy barriers impede widespread adoption for even the most well-positioned innovations. Most of the work in this field assumes rather than analyzes the driving forces of health innovation. Objective: The aim of this study was to explore the challenges and opportunities experienced by health system stakeholders in the implementation of digital health innovation in Ontario. Objective The aim of this study was to explore the challenges and opportunities experienced by health system stakeholders in the implementation of digital health innovation in Ontario. Methods We completed semistructured interviews with 10 members of senior leadership across key organizations that are engaged in health care–related digital health activities. Data were analyzed using qualitative description. Results A total of 6 key policy priorities emerged, including the need for (1) a system-level definition of innovation, (2) a clear overarching mission, and (3) clearly defined organizational roles. Operationally, there is a need to (4) standardize processes, (5) shift the emphasis to change management, and (6) align funding structures. Conclusions These findings emphasize the critical role of the government in developing a vision and creating the foundation upon which innovation activities will be modeled.

scholarly journals The Service of Research Analytics to Optimize Digital Health Evidence Generation: Multilevel Case Study (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quynh Pham ◽  
James Shaw ◽  
Plinio P Morita ◽  
Emily Seto ◽  
Jennifer N Stinson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Single Case ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Health Interventions ◽  
Data Infrastructure ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Log Data Analysis ◽  
Evidence Generation

BACKGROUND The widespread adoption of digital health interventions for chronic disease self-management has catalyzed a paradigm shift in the selection of methodologies used to evidence them. Recently, the application of digital health research analytics has emerged as an efficient approach to evaluate these data-rich interventions. However, there is a growing mismatch between the promising evidence base emerging from analytics mediated trials and the complexity of introducing these novel research methods into evaluative practice. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to generate transferable insights into the process of implementing research analytics to evaluate digital health interventions. We sought to answer the following two research questions: (1) how should the service of research analytics be designed to optimize digital health evidence generation? and (2) what are the challenges and opportunities to scale, spread, and sustain this service in evaluative practice? METHODS We conducted a qualitative multilevel embedded single case study of implementing research analytics in evaluative practice that comprised a review of the policy and regulatory climate in Ontario (macro level), a field study of introducing a digital health analytics platform into evaluative practice (meso level), and interviews with digital health innovators on their perceptions of analytics and evaluation (microlevel). RESULTS The practice of research analytics is an efficient and effective means of supporting digital health evidence generation. The introduction of a research analytics platform to evaluate effective engagement with digital health interventions into a busy research lab was ultimately accepted by research staff, became routinized in their evaluative practice, and optimized their existing mechanisms of log data analysis and interpretation. The capacity for research analytics to optimize digital health evaluations is highest when there is (1) a collaborative working relationship between research client and analytics service provider, (2) a data-driven research agenda, (3) a robust data infrastructure with clear documentation of analytic tags, (4) in-house software development expertise, and (5) a collective tolerance for methodological change. CONCLUSIONS Scientific methods and practices that can facilitate the agile trials needed to iterate and improve digital health interventions warrant continued implementation. The service of research analytics may help to accelerate the pace of digital health evidence generation and build a data-rich research infrastructure that enables continuous learning and evaluation.

scholarly journals Co-creating a large-scale adolescent health survey integrated with access to digital health interventions

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roshini Peiris-John ◽  
Lovely Dizon ◽  
Kylie Sutcliffe ◽  
Kristy Kang ◽  
Theresa Fleming
Keyword(s):  
Adolescent Health ◽  
Health Survey ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Health Interventions ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Health Providers ◽  
Health And Wellbeing ◽  
The Impact

Aim This paper describes how we engaged with adolescents and health providers to integrate access to digital health interventions as part of a large-scale secondary school health and wellbeing survey in New Zealand. Methods We conducted nine participatory, iterative co-design sessions involving 29 adolescents, and two workshops with young people (n = 11), digital and health service providers (n = 11) and researchers (n = 9) to gain insights into end-user perspectives on the concept and how best to integrate digital interventions in to the survey. Results Students’ perceived integrating access to digital health interventions into a large-scale youth health survey as acceptable and highly beneficial. They did not want personalized/normative feedback, but thought that every student should be offered all the help options. Participants identified key principles: assurance of confidentiality, usability, participant choice and control, and language. They highlighted wording as important for ease and comfort, and emphasised the importance of user control. Participants expressed that it would be useful and acceptable for survey respondents to receive information about digital help options addressing a range of health and wellbeing topics. Conclusion The methodology of adolescent-practitioner-researcher collaboration and partnership was central to this research and provided useful insights for the development and delivery of adolescent health surveys integrated with digital help options. The results from the ongoing study will provide useful data on the impact of digital health interventions integrated in large-scale surveys, as a novel methodology. Future research on engaging with adolescents once interventions are delivered will be useful to explore benefits over time.

scholarly journals Towards reimbursement of mobile digital health applications? An international comparison of practices

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
A Degelsegger-Márquez ◽  
D Panteli
Keyword(s):  
Business Models ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Public Health Perspective ◽  
Health Apps ◽  
Care Processes ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Mobile Health Apps ◽  
Global Nature ◽  
Digital Healthcare ◽  
Health Applications

Abstract Background The hitherto largely unregulated market of mobile digital health applications is undergoing significant changes, particularly concerning the growing segment of apps that aim at integrating care processes or replacing traditional forms of diagnosis or therapy. The inclusion in the benefit basket of statutory health systems is of relevance when exploring viable business models for app developers. Description of the problem So far, countries largely limit coverage to apps developed by authorities within the statutory health system, or provide guidance for payers in the form of app lists or quality assessment criteria. However, there are new regulatory efforts aiming to promote innovation for mobile digital health applications by creating pathways to general reimbursement, as exemplified by the 2019 German Digital Healthcare Act. Results Our contribution illustrates how evidence-based reimbursement decisions can be configured for mobile digital health applications. We will compare frameworks from different contexts, including the new German regulation, the UK's NHS App Store and the Evidence Standards Framework for Digital Health by NICE as well as the work of the French National Health Authority (Haute Autorité de Santé). Building on case studies, we will provide a typology of practices, which covers elements spanning consumer guidance to assessment approaches to full reimbursement decision-making. Conclusions Based on the proposed typology, we will discuss challenges and opportunities of reimbursement systems for mobile health apps from a public health perspective and seek to refine the typology by incorporating input from session participants and profiting from the global nature of the conference.

scholarly journals Building Capacity and Training for Digital Health: Challenges and Opportunities in Latin America

10.2196/16513 ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (12) ◽  
pp. e16513 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter H Curioso
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Training Programs ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Unmet Need ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Resource Constrained ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
And Training

Tackling global health challenges demands the appropriate use of available technologies. Although digital health could significantly improve health care access, use, quality, and outcomes, realizing this possibility requires personnel trained in digital health. There is growing evidence of the benefits of digital health for improving the performance of health systems and outcomes in developed countries. However, significant gaps remain in resource-constrained settings. Technological and socio-cultural disparities between different regions or between provinces within the same country are prevalent. Rural areas, where the promise and need are highest, are particularly deprived. In Latin America, there is an unmet need for training and building the capacity of professionals in digital health. This viewpoint paper aims to present a selection of experiences in building digital health capacity in Latin America to illustrate a series of challenges and opportunities for strengthening digital health training programs in resource-constrained environments. These describe how a successful digital health ecosystem for Latin America requires culturally relevant and collaborative research and training programs in digital health. These programs should be responsive to the needs of all relevant regional stakeholders, including government agencies, non–governmental organizations, industry, academic or research entities, professional societies, and communities. This paper highlights the role that collaborative partnerships can play in sharing resources, experiences, and lessons learned between countries to optimize training and research opportunities in Latin America.

scholarly journals Prescribing Behavior Change: Opportunities and Challenges for Clinicians to Embrace Digital and Mobile Health (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anish Agarwal ◽  
Mitesh Patel
Keyword(s):  
Behavior Change ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Chronic Medical Conditions ◽  
Behavioral Strategies ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Prescribing Behavior ◽  
Healthy Behaviors ◽  
Digital Devices ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Potential Synergy

UNSTRUCTURED Individual behaviors impact physical and mental health. Everyday behaviors such as physical activity, diet, sleep, and tobacco use have been associated with a range of acute and chronic medical conditions. Educating, motivating, and promoting sustained healthy behaviors can be challenging for clinical providers attempting to manage their patients’ health. The ubiquity and integration of mobile and digital health devices (eg, wearable step counters, smartphone-based apps) allow for individuals to generate and record enormous amounts of patient-generated health data. Research studies have begun to reveal how mobile and digital devices offer promise in motivating individual behavior change but they have not had consistent results. In this viewpoint, we discuss the potential synergy of digital health modalities and behavioral strategies as an approach for clinicians to prescribe, motivate, monitor, and sustain healthy behaviors. We discuss the strengths, challenges, and opportunities for the future of promoting health behaviors.

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