Evaluating Patient-Centered Mobile Health Technologies: Definitions, Methodologies, and Outcomes

Area of Science:

• Digital Health
• Health Services Research
• Patient-Centered Care

Background:

• Current evidence on mobile health (mHealth) effectiveness for clinical outcomes like length of stay or readmissions is modest and often low-quality.
• Uncertainty exists regarding mHealth's impact on patient-centered outcomes, including engagement and satisfaction.
• A primary challenge in mHealth effectiveness research is the lack of a common understanding of relevant outcomes and measurement strategies in the digital health space.

Purpose of the Study:

• To advocate for interdisciplinary conceptual clarity in definitions, methodologies, and patient-centered outcomes within mHealth research.
• To address definitional inconsistencies and propose appropriate methodologies for measuring key mHealth outcomes.
• To establish a unified framework for evaluating mHealth technologies and guide future research and implementation.

Main Methods:

• A snowballing approach was employed to identify relevant definitions, outcomes, and methodologies in mHealth.
• Leveraged existing frameworks detailing definitions and measurements of patient engagement.
• Incorporated additional patient-centered care measures such as satisfaction, experience, and activation.

Main Results:

• Identified several definitional inconsistencies in key constructs within the mHealth literature.
• Differentiated various patient-centered care outcomes and outlined suitable measurement methodologies for each.
• Proposed a pathway linking definitions, outcomes, and methodologies for evaluating mHealth technologies.

Conclusions:

• Achieving conceptual clarity in mHealth research is crucial for accurate effectiveness evaluation.
• An interdisciplinary approach is recommended to standardize definitions, outcomes, and measurement methods.
• Recommendations are provided to enhance the advancement of mHealth research and its practical implementation.