Designing personalised mHealth solutions: An overview

Introduction: Mobile health, or mHealth, is based on mobile information and communication technologies and provides solutions for empowering individuals to participate in healthcare. Personalisation techniques have been used to increase user engagement and adherence to interventions delivered as mHealth solutions. This study aims to explore the current state of personalisation in mHealth, including its current trends and implementation. Materials and Methods: We conducted a review following PRISMA guidelines. Four databases (PubMed, ACM Digital Library, IEEE Xplore, and APA PsycInfo) were searched for studies on mHealth solutions that integrate personalisation. The retrieved papers were assessed for eligibility and useful information regarding integrated personalisation techniques. Results: Out of the 1,139 retrieved studies, 62 were included in the narrative synthesis. Research interest in the personalisation of mHealth solutions has increased since 2020. mHealth solutions were mainly applied to endocrine, nutritional, and metabolic diseases; mental, behavioural, or neurodevelopmental diseases; or the promotion of healthy lifestyle behaviours. Its main purposes are to support disease self- management and promote healthy lifestyle behaviours. Mobile applications are the most prevalent technological solution. Although several design models, such as user-centred and patient-centred designs, were used, no specific frameworks or models for personalisation were followed. These solutions rely on behaviour change theories, use gamification or motivational messages, and personalise the content rather than functionality. A broad range of data is used for personalisation purposes. There is a lack of studies assessing the efficacy of these solutions; therefore, further evidence is needed. Discussion: Personalisation in mHealth has not been well researched. Although several techniques have been integrated, the effects of using a combination of personalisation techniques remain unclear. Although personalisation is considered a persuasive strategy, many mHealth solutions do not employ it. Conclusions: Open research questions concern guidelines for successful personalisation techniques in mHealth, design frameworks, and comprehensive studies on the effects and interactions among multiple personalisation techniques

Mobile Phone Apps for Quality of Life and Well-Being Assessment in Breast and Prostate Cancer Patients: Systematic Review

Background: Mobile phone health apps are increasingly gaining attention in oncological care as potential tools for supporting cancer patients. Although the number of publications and health apps focusing on cancer is increasing, there are still few specifically designed for the most prevalent cancers diagnosed: breast and prostate cancers. There is a need to review the effect of these apps on breast and prostate cancer patients’ quality of life (QoL) and well-being. Objective: The purposes of this study were to review the scientific literature on mobile phone apps targeting breast or prostate cancer patients and involving QoL and well-being (anxiety and depression symptoms) and analyze the clinical and technological characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses of these apps, as well as patients’ user experience with them. Methods: We conducted a systematic review of peer-reviewed literature from The Cochrane Library, Excerpta Medica Database, PsycINFO, PubMed, Scopus, and MEDLINE to identify studies involving apps focused on breast and/or prostate cancer patients and QoL and/or well-being published between January 1, 2000, and July 12, 2017. Only trial studies which met the inclusion criteria were selected. The systematic review was completed with a critical analysis of the apps previously identified in the health literature research that were available from the official app stores. Results: The systematic review of the literature yielded 3862 articles. After removal of duplicates, 3229 remained and were evaluated on the basis of title and abstract. Of these, 3211 were discarded as not meeting the inclusion criteria, and 18 records were selected for full text screening. Finally, 5 citations were included in this review, with a total of 644 patients, mean age 52.16 years. Four studies targeted breast cancer patients and 1 focused on prostate cancer patients. Four studies referred to apps that assessed QoL. Only 1 among the 5 analyzed apps was available from the official app store. In 3 studies, an app-related intervention was carried out, and 2 of them reported an improvement on QoL. The lengths of the app-related interventions varied from 4 to 12 weeks. Because 2 of the studies only tracked use of the app, no effect on QoL or well-being was found. Conclusions: Despite the existence of hundreds of studies involving cancer-focused mobile phone apps, there is a lack of rigorous trials regarding the QoL and/or well-being assessment in breast and/or prostate cancer patients. A strong and collective effort should be made by all health care providers to determine those cancer-focused apps that effectively represent useful, accurate, and reliable tools for cancer patients’ disease management.European Union's Horizon 2020 No 72201

Gamification Strategy on Prevention of STDs for Youth

Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and especially chlamydia is a worrying problem among North-Norwegian youngsters. Gamified web applications should be valued for sexual health education, and thus STDs prevention, for their potential to get users engaged and involved with their healthcare. Aiming to achieve that youngsters become more aware of STDs we have developed “sjekkdeg.no”, a gamified web application focused on sexual health targeting North-Norwegian youngsters. Gamification techniques like avatars, achievement-based gifts and social network sharing buttons have been implemented in the site that includes educational content on sexual health and a STDs symptom checker. Preliminary results show that the game-style web app could be useful to encourage users to learn more on sexual health and STDs and thus changing their risky behaviors and preventing sexually transmitted diseases

Prognostic value of cutaneous reinnervation with GAP-43 in oxaliplatin-induced neuropathy.

Background and purpose: Oxaliplatin-induced neuropathy (OIN) implies axonal damage of both small and large sensory nerve fibers. We aimed at comparing the neurophysiological changes occurred after treatment and the capability to recovery based on histological marker of re-innervation GAP-43. Methods: 48 patients with cancer were assessed before and after chemotherapy (at 3 months and 12 months if available). We recorded ulnar and sural sensory nerve action potentials (SNAP), determined quantitative sensory thresholds for warm and cold (WDT, CDT), pain thresholds and collected a distal biopsy of skin to assess the intra-epidermal nerve fiber density (IENFD) with PGP9.5 and GAP-43 markers (in a subgroup of 19 patients). Results: Increased WDT and CDT as well as diminished IENFD at distal leg were already found in 30% of oncologic patients before treatment. After oxaliplatin, there was a significant increase in thermal thresholds in 52% of patients, and a decrease of SNAP amplitude in the sural nerve in 67% patients. IENFD was reduced in 47% and remained unchanged in 37% after oxiplatin. The density of GAP-43 + fibers and GAP-43/PGP 9.5 ratio was similar before and after treatment showing that cutaneous re-innervation is preserved despite no clinical recovery was observed after one year. Conclusion: Non-selective axonal loss affects sensory fibers in OIN. However, the presence of intra-epidermal regenerative sprouts detected by GAP-43 may reduce the impact of neurotoxicity in the small fibers with long-term sequelae mostly on myelinated nerve endings. Pre-oxaliplatin GAP-43 failed to identify patients with higher risk of damage or worse recovery after treatment

Ethical Considerations for Participatory Health through Social Media: Healthcare Workforce and Policy Maker Perspectives

Objectives: To identify the different ethical issues that should be considered in participatory health through social media from different stakeholder perspectives (i.e., patients/service users, health professionals, health information technology (IT) professionals, and policy makers) in any healthcare context. Methods: We implemented a two-round survey composed of open ended questions in the first round, aggregated into a list of ethical issues rated for importance by participants in the second round, to generate a ranked list of possible ethical issues in participatory health based on healthcare professionals’ and policy makers’ opinions on both their own point of view and their beliefs for other stakeholders’ perspectives. 1 Introduction Nowadays, individuals have more autonomy, access to information, and human capital to support their health decisions than previously fathomable [1, 2]. These informed, connected, and socially supported health consumers (or patients) are leading a shift in the way healthcare is approached, delivered, and governed. This very notion lies at the heart of participatory health, which centers on collaboration and shared-decision making [2, 3]. Results: Twenty-six individuals responded in the first round of the survey. Multiple ethical issues were identified for each perspective. Data privacy, data security, and digital literacy were common themes in all perspectives. Thirty-three individuals completed the second round of the survey. Data privacy and data security were ranked among the three most important ethical issues in all perspectives. Quality assurance was the most important issue from the healthcare professionals’ perspective and the second most important issue from the patients’ perspective. Data privacy was the most important consideration for patients/service users. Digital literacy was ranked as the fourth most important issue, except for policy makers’ perspective. Conclusions: Different stakeholders’ opinions fairly agreed that there are common ethical issues that should be considered across the four groups (patients, healthcare professionals, health IT professionals, policy makers) such as data privacy, security, and quality assurance

Analysing Sentiment and Topics Related to Multiple Sclerosis on Twitter

The MIE2020 conference planned end of April 2020 has been cancelled due to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemyBackground and objective: Social media could be valuable tools to support people with multiple sclerosis (MS). There is little evidence on the MSrelated topics that are discussed on social media, and the sentiment linked to these topics. The objective of this work is to identify the MS-related main topics discussed on Twitter, and the sentiment linked to them. Methods: Tweets dealing with MS in the English language were extracted. Latent-Dirilecht Allocation (LDA) was used to identify the main topics discussed in these tweets. Iterative inductive process was used to group the tweets into recurrent topics. The sentiment analysis of these tweets was performed using SentiStrength. Results: LDA’ identified topics were grouped into 4 categories, tweets dealing with: related chronic conditions; condition burden; disease-modifying drugs; and awarenessraising. Tweets on condition burden and related chronic conditions were the most negative (p<0.001). A significant lower positive sentiment was found for both tweets dealing with disease-modifying drugs, condition burden, and related chronic conditions (p<0.001). Only tweets on awareness-raising were most positive than the average (p<0.001). Discussion: The use of both tools to identify the main discussed topics on social media and to analyse the sentiment of these topics, increases the knowledge of the themes that could represent the bigger burden for persons affected with MS. This knowledge can help to improve support and therapeutic approaches addressed to them.V Plan Propio de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla, Spai

Social Media in health. What are the safety concerns for healthcare consumers?

Recent literature has discussed the unintended consequences of clinical information technologies (IT) on patient safety, yet there has been little discussion about the safety concerns in the area of consumer health IT. This paper presents a range of safety concerns for consumers in social media, with a case study on YouTube. We conducted a scan of abstracts on 'quality criteria' related to YouTube. Five areas regarding the safety of YouTube for consumers were identifi ed: (a) harmful health material targeted at consumers (such as inappropriate marketing of tobacco or direct-to-consumer drug advertising); (b) public display of unhealthy behaviour (such as people displaying self-injury behaviours or hurting others); (c) tainted public health messages (i.e. the rise of negative voices against public health messages); (d) psychological impact from accessing inappropriate, offensive or biased social media content; and (e) using social media to distort policy and research funding agendas. The examples presented should contribute to a better understanding about how to promote a safe consumption and production of social media for consumers, and an evidence-based approach to designing social media interventions for health. The potential harm associated with the use of unsafe social media content on the Internet is a major concern. More empirical and theoretical studies are needed to examine how social media infl uences consumer health decisions, behaviours and outcomes, and devise ways to deter the dissemination of harmful infl uences in social media.La literatura reciente ha analizado las consecuencias no intencionadas de las tecnologías de información clínica (TI) sobre la seguridad del paciente, sin embargo, ha habido poco debate sobre los problemas de seguridad en el área de la salud de los consumidores de TI. Este trabajo presenta una serie de preocupaciones de seguridad para los consumidores de medios de comunicación social, con un estudio de caso en YouTube. Se ha realizado un análisis de los resúmenes de los criterios de calidad relacionados con YouTube. Se identificaron cinco áreas relacionadas con la seguridad de YouTube para los consumidores: (a) los materiales nocivos para la salud orientada a los usuarios (tales como la comercialización inadecuada de tabaco o directamente al consumidor de drogas de publicidad), (b) la exhibición pública de las conductas poco saludables, (c) los mensajes contaminados de salud pública (es decir, el surgimiento de voces negativas en contra de mensajes de salud pública), (d) el impacto psicológico del acceso a contenidos inapropiados, ofensivos de los medios de comunicación social sesgados, y (e) el uso de los medios sociales para distorsionar la política y los programas de financiación de la investigación. Los ejemplos presentados deben contribuir a una mejor comprensión acerca de cómo promover un consumo seguro y la producción de medios de comunicación social para los consumidores, y un enfoque basado en la evidencia para el diseño de intervenciones en los medios sociales para la salud. El daño potencial asociado con el uso de los contenidos inseguros de los medios de comunicación social en Internet es una preocupación importante. Són necesarios más estudios empíricos y teóricos para examinar cómo influyen en los medios de comunicación social las decisiones de salud de los consumidores, los comportamientos y resultados, y encontrar formas de disuadir a la difusión de la influencia perjudicial en los medios sociales.La literatura recent ha analitzat les conseqüències no intencionades de les tecnologies d'informació clínica (TI) sobre la seguretat del pacient, però hi ha hagut poc debat sobre els problemes de seguretat en l'àrea de la salut dels consumidors de TI. Aquest treball presenta una sèrie de preocupacions de seguretat per als consumidors de mitjans de comunicació social, amb un estudi de cas a YouTube. S'ha realitzat una anàlisi dels resums dels criteris de qualitat relacionats amb YouTube. Es van identificar cinc àrees relacionades amb la seguretat de YouTube per als consumidors: (a) els materials nocius per a la salut orientada als usuaris (com ara la comercialització inadequada de tabac o directament al consumidor de drogues de publicitat), (b) l'exhibició pública de les conductes poc saludables, (c) els missatges contaminats de salut pública (és a dir, el sorgiment de veus negatives en contra de missatges de salut pública), (d) l'impacte psicològic de l'accés a continguts inapropiats, ofensius dels mitjans de comunicació social esbiaixats, i (e) l'ús dels mitjans socials per distorsionar la política i els programes de finançament de la recerca. Els exemples presentats han de contribuir a una millor comprensió sobre com promoure un consum segur i la producció de mitjans de comunicació social per als consumidors, i un enfocament basat en l'evidència per al disseny d'intervencions en els mitjans socials per a la salut. El dany potencial associat amb l'ús dels continguts insegurs dels mitjans de comunicació social a Internet és una preocupació important. Fan falta més estudis empírics i teòrics per examinar com influeixen en els mitjans de comunicació social les decisions de salut dels consumidors, els comportaments i resultats, i trobar formes de dissuadir a la difusió de la influència perjudicial en els mitjans socials

Xarxes socials i portals de salut, setembre 2013

Recurs d'aprenentatge de la Universitat Oberta de Catalunya.Recurso de aprendizaje de la "Universitat Oberta de Catalunya".Learning material of the "Universitat Oberta de Catalunya"

Social Media in health. What are the safety concerns for healthcare consumers?

Recent literature has discussed the unintended consequences of clinical information technologies (IT) on patient safety, yet there has been little discussion about the safety concerns in the area of consumer health IT. This paper presents a range of safety concerns for consumers in social media, with a case study on YouTube. We conducted a scan of abstracts on 'quality criteria' related to YouTube. Five areas regarding the safety of YouTube for consumers were identifi ed: (a) harmful health material targeted at consumers (such as inappropriate marketing of tobacco or direct-to-consumer drug advertising); (b) public display of unhealthy behaviour (such as people displaying self-injury behaviours or hurting others); (c) tainted public health messages (i.e. the rise of negative voices against public health messages); (d) psychological impact from accessing inappropriate, offensive or biased social media content; and (e) using social media to distort policy and research funding agendas. The examples presented should contribute to a better understanding about how to promote a safe consumption and production of social media for consumers, and an evidence-based approach to designing social media interventions for health. The potential harm associated with the use of unsafe social media content on the Internet is a major concern. More empirical and theoretical studies are needed to examine how social media infl uences consumer health decisions, behaviours and outcomes, and devise ways to deter the dissemination of harmful infl uences in social media.La literatura reciente ha analizado las consecuencias no intencionadas de las tecnologías de información clínica (TI) sobre la seguridad del paciente, sin embargo, ha habido poco debate sobre los problemas de seguridad en el área de la salud de los consumidores de TI. Este trabajo presenta una serie de preocupaciones de seguridad para los consumidores de medios de comunicación social, con un estudio de caso en YouTube. Se ha realizado un análisis de los resúmenes de los criterios de calidad relacionados con YouTube. Se identificaron cinco áreas relacionadas con la seguridad de YouTube para los consumidores: (a) los materiales nocivos para la salud orientada a los usuarios (tales como la comercialización inadecuada de tabaco o directamente al consumidor de drogas de publicidad), (b) la exhibición pública de las conductas poco saludables, (c) los mensajes contaminados de salud pública (es decir, el surgimiento de voces negativas en contra de mensajes de salud pública), (d) el impacto psicológico del acceso a contenidos inapropiados, ofensivos de los medios de comunicación social sesgados, y (e) el uso de los medios sociales para distorsionar la política y los programas de financiación de la investigación. Los ejemplos presentados deben contribuir a una mejor comprensión acerca de cómo promover un consumo seguro y la producción de medios de comunicación social para los consumidores, y un enfoque basado en la evidencia para el diseño de intervenciones en los medios sociales para la salud. El daño potencial asociado con el uso de los contenidos inseguros de los medios de comunicación social en Internet es una preocupación importante. Són necesarios más estudios empíricos y teóricos para examinar cómo influyen en los medios de comunicación social las decisiones de salud de los consumidores, los comportamientos y resultados, y encontrar formas de disuadir a la difusión de la influencia perjudicial en los medios sociales.La literatura recent ha analitzat les conseqüències no intencionades de les tecnologies d'informació clínica (TI) sobre la seguretat del pacient, però hi ha hagut poc debat sobre els problemes de seguretat en l'àrea de la salut dels consumidors de TI. Aquest treball presenta una sèrie de preocupacions de seguretat per als consumidors de mitjans de comunicació social, amb un estudi de cas a YouTube. S'ha realitzat una anàlisi dels resums dels criteris de qualitat relacionats amb YouTube. Es van identificar cinc àrees relacionades amb la seguretat de YouTube per als consumidors: (a) els materials nocius per a la salut orientada als usuaris (com ara la comercialització inadequada de tabac o directament al consumidor de drogues de publicitat), (b) l'exhibició pública de les conductes poc saludables, (c) els missatges contaminats de salut pública (és a dir, el sorgiment de veus negatives en contra de missatges de salut pública), (d) l'impacte psicològic de l'accés a continguts inapropiats, ofensius dels mitjans de comunicació social esbiaixats, i (e) l'ús dels mitjans socials per distorsionar la política i els programes de finançament de la recerca. Els exemples presentats han de contribuir a una millor comprensió sobre com promoure un consum segur i la producció de mitjans de comunicació social per als consumidors, i un enfocament basat en l'evidència per al disseny d'intervencions en els mitjans socials per a la salut. El dany potencial associat amb l'ús dels continguts insegurs dels mitjans de comunicació social a Internet és una preocupació important. Fan falta més estudis empírics i teòrics per examinar com influeixen en els mitjans de comunicació social les decisions de salut dels consumidors, els comportaments i resultats, i trobar formes de dissuadir a la difusió de la influència perjudicial en els mitjans socials