Qualitative evaluations of mHealth interventions: current gaps and future directions
Published in: Studies in Health Technology and Informatics - June 2020
Written by
Meghan Bradway, Kari Leibowitz, Kathleen A Garrison, Lauren Howe and Eirik Årsand
Summary
What we found: When new mobile health (mHealth) technologies are developed, studies evaluating their success often focus on tech aspects, such as how difficult the user interface of the app was to navigate, but neglect human aspects, such as what prevented people from making changes in their daily life based on the app.
Why it matters: Companies and healthcare organizations increasingly use mHealth technologies to encourage health and well-being. To ensure this use benefits employees and patients, researchers should expend greater effort studying what goes on inside people’s heads — what they think and feel — as they use these technologies (or choose not to).
What next: When adopting mHealth technologies for employees, companies should evaluate the success of these technologies by, for example, tracking employee use, assessing their emotions when using technologies, and surveying employees to understand barriers and missed opportunities.