Customizable, scalable and reliable community-based mobile health interventions

Abstract

In pursuance of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set by United Nations in 2000, both Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) and Mobile Health (mHealth) have proved to be a great tool for advancements in patient monitoring, emergency care and community empowerment. Rapid proliferation of mobile telephony in low income, rural and underserved populations in the absence of other information and communication technology media have prompted the interests of researchers in public health sector. Exploiting mobile communication has resulted in formulation of a dependable and effective socio-technical ecosystem for public health. Whereas, involving academic researchers and community partners to collaborate and develop social and computational models, Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) approach targets building communication, trust and capacity, with the final goal of increasing community participation in the research process. CBPR is a collaborative approach to research which equitably involves all partners in the research process for betterment of the targeted community. In this paper we present a conceptual and implementation architecture for conducting mHealth assisted community-based interventions. The framework allows CBPR partners to customize the system and design interventions around locale, technology, geographic, scale, and nonetheless social and cultural aspects. We also present the design of our planned intervention addressing prenatal monitoring of underserved populations in the Andean regions of Perú.

Ciudadanos informados y empoderados: claves para el pleno ejercicio de los derechos en salud

“…Estos últimos puntos deben ser considerados al realizar intervenciones en nuestro país, donde aún existen brechas de acceso a los servicios de comunicación. Por otra parte, es fundamental que los mensajes informativos que se envíen a través de las diversas estrategias que involucren las TIC se validen previamente por la población objetivo, de tal manera que se consideren los diversos aspectos socioculturales y sociotécnicos (17) .…”

Promoting cardiovascular health and wellness among African-Americans: Community participatory approach to design an innovative mobile-health intervention

“…The use of mobile technologies, such as text messaging and physical activity monitoring devices, to address hypertension and obesity disparities in the AA community appears feasible and acceptable [26, 27]. Thus, mHealth lifestyle interventions, which are relatively low in cost and easily adaptable, could substantially impact the health of racial/ethnic minority communities, which are often medically underserved, disadvantaged, and underresourced [30–32].…”

MIAC: um modelo para autoria de intervenção apoiada por colaboração via dispositivos móveis

“…Com o objetivo de melhorar a qualidade da saúde de pessoas que vivem em regiões de difícil acesso. Kaushik et al (2014) apresentam uma arquitetura conceitual de intervenção para assistência à saúde em comunidades, e uma infraestrutura web-mobile correspondente. O modelo envolve colaboração entre pacientes, profissionais de saúde (que coletam dados e visitam pacientes), médicos (que diagnosticam e monitoram os pacientes) e parceiros (apoio técnico).…”