A Call to Digital Health Practitioners: New Guidelines Can Help Improve the Quality of Digital Health Evidence

Abstract

BackgroundDespite the rapid proliferation of health interventions that employ digital tools, the evidence on the effectiveness of such approaches remains insufficient and of variable quality. To address gaps in the comprehensiveness and quality of reporting on the effectiveness of digital programs, the mHealth Technical Evidence Review Group (mTERG), convened by the World Health Organization, proposed the mHealth Evidence Reporting and Assessment (mERA) checklist to address existing gaps in the comprehensiveness and quality of reporting on the effectiveness of digital health programs.ObjectiveWe present an overview of the mERA checklist and encourage researchers working in the digital health space to use the mERA checklist for reporting their research.MethodsThe development of the mERA checklist consisted of convening an expert group to recommend an appropriate approach, convening a global expert review panel for checklist development, and pilot-testing the checklist.ResultsThe mERA checklist consists of 16 core mHealth items that define what the mHealth intervention is (content), where it is being implemented (context), and how it was implemented (technical features). Additionally, a 29-item methodology checklist guides authors on reporting critical aspects of the research methodology employed in the study. We recommend that the core mERA checklist is used in conjunction with an appropriate study-design specific checklist.ConclusionsThe mERA checklist aims to assist authors in reporting on digital health research, guide reviewers and policymakers in synthesizing evidence, and guide journal editors in assessing the completeness in reporting on digital health studies. An increase in transparent and rigorous reporting can help identify gaps in the conduct of research and understand the effects of digital health interventions as a field of inquiry.

Establishing Standards to Evaluate the Impact of Integrating Digital Health into Health Systems

“… 1 Numerous systematic reviews have been conducted with the same conclusion—the available evidence is of low-to-moderate quality and rigorous methodologies are needed to evaluate digital health strategies in low-resource settings. 2 Despite this evidence deficit, global stakeholders' interest in implementing and scaling digital health strategies in these settings remains strong. 3 , 4 In this commentary, we summarize the key milestones in the rise of digital health, illustrating efforts to bridge gaps in the evidence base, a shifting focus to scale-up and sustainability, growing attention to the precise costing of these strategies, and an emergent implementation science agenda to better characterize the necessary ecosystem of scale—the social, political, economic, legal, and ethical context that supports digital health implementation.…”

Tecnologias Digitais E Recursos F�sicos Na Abordagem De Crian�as Com Transtorno Do Espectro Autista

“…Em contrapartida ao PECS, as funcionalidades inclusivas e potencialmente significativas das TDIC para o processo de aprendizagem e do cuidado integral das crianças com TEA. Estas ferramentas digitais valorizam formas lúdicas, instigam a curiosidade e proporcionam novas oportunidades para ensinar, aprender, cuidar e interagir em uma sociedade predominantemente digital em seus processos de comunicação 12,[14][15][16] .…”

Pregnant Users’ Perceptions of the Birth Plan Interface in the “My Prenatal Care” App: Observational Validation Study (Preprint)

“…During the development of personal health records, the human-centered design allows to the development team to focus on users' needs to increase the satisfaction with and acceptance of the system [12]. n this report, we intended to achieve comprehensiveness and quality on the effectiveness of digital programs proposed on the mHealth Evidence Reporting and Assessment (mERA) checklist, convened by the World Health Organization [30]. Our project aimed to introduce the BP as a personal health record, prepared by pregnant women in our community, assessed by a free and institutional app with a significant number of users.…”