Health Improvement Path: Ontological Approach to Self-management Support in Personal Health Management Systems

Ontologies have been used for knowledge modeling and reasoning in healthcare domain (e.g., homecare, hospital clinical procedure, mHealth, etc.), but few in a context of self-management in healthcare with no sufficient reasoning rules to specify a systematic health management plan for an individual. In response to such needs, we aim to provide a generic ontology model for organizing the broad range of multidisciplinary knowledge required in personal health management by applying the ontology design patterns as well as for being extensible to more specific activity ontologies (e.g., physical exercises, diet, medication intake, etc.). The scope of a proposed ontology is to classify core concepts and relations in health self-management process and to build axioms for health improvement plans to meet an individual’s needs and health capability/maturity level. The proposed ontology is developed based on our previous work, health capability maturity model (HCMM) and can be integrated with existing health-related ontologies for further specification in health management processes

ProHealth eCoach: user-centered design and development of an eCoach app to promote healthy lifestyle with personalized activity recommendations

Background: Regular physical activity (PA), healthy habits, and an appropriate diet are recommended guidelines to maintain a healthy lifestyle. A healthy lifestyle can help to avoid chronic diseases and long-term illnesses. A monitoring and automatic personalized lifestyle recommendation system (i.e., automatic electronic coach or eCoach) with considering clinical and ethical guidelines, individual health status, condition, and preferences may successfully help participants to follow recommendations to maintain a healthy lifestyle. As a prerequisite for the prototype design of such a helpful eCoach system, it is essential to involve the end-users and subject-matter experts throughout the iterative design process. Methods: We used an iterative user-centered design (UCD) approach to understend context of use and to collect qualitative data to develop a roadmap for self-management with eCoaching. We involved researchers, non-technical and technical, health professionals, subject-matter experts, and potential end-users in design process. We designed and developed the eCoach prototype in two stages, adopting diferent phases of the iterative design process. In design workshop 1, we focused on identifying end-users, understanding the user’s context, specifying user requirements, designing and developing an initial low-fdelity eCoach prototype. In design workshop 2, we focused on maturing the low-fdelity solution design and development for the visualization of continuous and discrete data, artifcial intelligence (AI)-based interval forecasting, personalized recommendations, and activity goals. Results: The iterative design process helped to develop a working prototype of eCoach system that meets end-user’s requirements and expectations towards an efective recommendation visualization, considering diversity in culture, quality of life, and human values. The design provides an early version of the solution, consisting of wearable technology, a mobile app following the “Google Material Design” guidelines, and web content for self-monitoring, goal setting, and lifestyle recommendations in an engaging manner between the eCoach app and end-users. Conclusions: The adopted iterative design process brings in a design focus on the user and their needs at each phase. Throughout the design process, users have been involved at the heart of the design to create a working.publishedVersio

mHealth Business Model Framework for the Maternal and Baby Segment: A Design Science Research Approach

mHealth applications are increasingly used to track, evaluate and store health data. Besides technological developments and acceptance of such mHealth services, a holistic understanding of the business model is required. A business model framework specific to the context of such mHealth services will support companies in developing holistic business models. In this research in progress, we present the development of a business model framework for mHealth services in the context of maternal and baby healthcare. The development of the framework is based on the design science research approach that supports the rigorous development of the framework. The initial business model framework as well as future steps are discussed. With the aid of the business model framework, companies will be able to design, evaluate and classify mHealth business models

The Effectiveness of Self-Management of Hypertension in Adults Using Mobile Health: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: Effective treatment of hypertension requires careful self-management. With the ongoing development of mobile technologies and the scarcity of health care resources, mobile health (mHealth)–based self-management has become a useful treatment for hypertension, and its effectiveness has been assessed in many trials. However, there is a paucity of comprehensive summaries of the studies using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Objective: This systematic review aimed to measure the effectiveness of mHealth in improving the self-management of hypertension for adults. The outcome measures were blood pressure (BP), BP control, medication adherence, self-management behavior, and costs. Methods: A systematic search was conducted using 5 electronic databases. The snowballing method was used to scan the reference lists of relevant studies. Only peer-reviewed randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published between January 2010 and September 2019 were included. Data extraction and quality assessment were performed by 3 researchers independently, adhering to the validation guideline and checklist. Both a meta-analysis and a narrative synthesis were carried out. Results: A total of 24 studies with 8933 participants were included. Of these, 23 studies reported the clinical outcome of BP, 12 of these provided systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) data, and 16 articles focused on change in self-management behavior and medication adherence. All 24 studies were included in the narrative synthesis. According to the meta-analysis, a greater reduction in both SBP and DBP was observed in the mHealth intervention groups compared with control groups, −3.78 mm Hg (P<.001; 95% CI −4.67 to −2.89) and −1.57 mm Hg (P<.001; 95% CI −2.28 to −0.86), respectively. Subgroup analyses showed consistent reductions in SBP and DBP across different frequencies of reminders, interactive patterns, intervention functions, and study duration subgroups. A total of 16 studies reported better medication adherence and behavioral change in the intervention groups, while 8 showed no significant change. Six studies included an economic evaluation, which drew inconsistent conclusions. However, potentially long-term financial benefits were mentioned in all economic evaluations. All studies were assessed to be at high risk of bias. Conclusions: This review found that mHealth self-management interventions were effective in BP control. The outcomes of this review showed improvements in self-management behavior and medication adherence. The most successful mHealth intervention combined the feature of tailored messages, interactive communication, and multifaceted functions. Further research with longer duration and cultural adaptation is necessary. With increasing disease burden from hypertension globally, mHealth offers a potentially effective method for self-management and control of BP. mHealth can be easily integrated into existing health care systems. Trial Registration: PROSPERO CRD42019152062; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=15206

Trust and Willingness to Share Health Related Information: A Quantitative Study of Danish Students’ Use of mHealth Applications

mHealth technology has the potential to transform healthcare and realize the goal of precision medicine through systematic data collection and use. Meanwhile, mHealth applications developed during COVID-19 have had limited effect, as people have been reluctant to adopt them due to a lack of trust and willingness to share data. The aim of this empirical study is to provide insights into young people’s use, trust, and willingness to share data through mHealth apps as future users of healthcare services. A survey comprising 484 Danish students was conducted. It focuses on mHealth app use, willingness to share data, and trust. The findings show that the trustworthiness of the technology and data requesting organization is important for establishing trust in mHealth apps. These insights indicate how young people can be motivated to trust mHealth apps, which can be used to develop future apps and exploit the untapped potential of the collected data

The OCareCloudS project: toward organizing care through trusted cloud services

The increasing elderly population and the shift from acute to chronic illness makes it difficult to care for people in hospitals and rest homes. Moreover, elderly people, if given a choice, want to stay at home as long as possible. In this article, the methodologies to develop a cloud-based semantic system, offering valuable information and knowledge-based services, are presented. The information and services are related to the different personal living hemispheres of the patient, namely the daily care-related needs, the social needs and the daily life assistance. Ontologies are used to facilitate the integration, analysis, aggregation and efficient use of all the available data in the cloud. By using an interdisciplinary research approach, where user researchers, (ontology) engineers, researchers and domain stakeholders are at the forefront, a platform can be developed of great added value for the patients that want to grow old in their own home and for their caregivers

Citizen-Patient Involvement in the Development of mHealth Technology:Protocol for a Systematic Scoping Review

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A Systematic Assessment Framework for Higher-Education Institutions

The multiple criteria of ranking, rating and accrediting the higher education institutions in India and across globe have become de facto lens for viewing the institutions. There is an increasing number of assessment systems carried down by multiple agencies, with the public policy emphasis on higher education institutions getting assessed, it is necessary to use a systematic and systemic framework that is comprehensive for assessment. For this purpose, the paper proposes an ontological framework for assessment of higher education institutions.  The ontology’s dimensions, sub-dimensions, and their constituent elements are derived from higher-education assessment systems that are well known globally and in India. The framework can help higher-education institutions: (a) assess themselves systemically and systematically; (b) highlight the bright, light, blind, and blank spots in their performance; and (c) correct their trajectory to fulfil their vision. Such framework would assist in identifying the gaps and pathways to improve their position in assessments.Anilkumar, M.; Singai, C.; Ramaprasad, A. (2020). A Systematic Assessment Framework for Higher-Education Institutions. En 6th International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd'20). Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. (30-05-2020):527-534. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAd20.2020.11102OCS52753430-05-202

Wearables at work:preferences from an employee’s perspective

This exploratory study aims to obtain a first impression of the wishes and needs of employees on the use of wearables at work for health promotion. 76 employ-ees with a mean age of 40 years old (SD ±11.7) filled in a survey after trying out a wearable. Most employees see the potential of using wearable devices for workplace health promotion. However, according to employees, some negative aspects should be overcome before wearables can effectively contribute to health promotion. The most mentioned negative aspects were poor visualization and un-pleasantness of wearing. Specifically for the workplace, employees were con-cerned about the privacy of data collection