Publication Date

2015

Journal Title

Adm Policy Ment Health

Abstract

The capacity of Mobile Health (mHealth) technologies to propel healthcare forward is directly linked to the quality of mobile interventions developed through careful mHealth research. mHealth research entails several unique characteristics, including collaboration with technologists at all phases of a project, reliance on regional telecommunication infrastructure and commercial mobile service providers, and deployment and evaluation of interventions "in the wild", with participants using mobile tools in uncontrolled environments. In the current paper, we summarize the lessons our multi-institutional/multi-disciplinary team has learned conducting a range of mHealth projects using mobile phones with diverse clinical populations. First, we describe three ongoing projects that we draw from to illustrate throughout the paper. We then provide an example for multidisciplinary teamwork and conceptual mHealth intervention development that we found to be particularly useful. Finally, we discuss mHealth research challenges (i.e. evolving technology, mobile phone selection, user characteristics, the deployment environment, and mHealth system "bugs and glitches"), and provide recommendations for identifying and resolving barriers, or preventing their occurrence altogether.

Volume Number

42

Issue Number

2

Pages

157-167

Document Type

Article

Status

Faculty

Facility

School of Medicine

Primary Department

Psychiatry

Additional Departments

Molecular Medicine

PMID

24824311

DOI

10.1007/s10488-014-0556-2


Included in

Psychiatry Commons

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