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Strategies for mHealth Research: Lessons from 3 Mobile Intervention Studies

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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.

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Acknowledgments

This publication was made possible by Grants from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Grants Nos. R34 MH100195 (PI: Ben-Zeev), P20 MH090318 (PI: Mohr), and R34 MH095907 (PI: Mohr) from the National Institute of Mental Health, and Grant No. C1MS331052 (PI: Kane) from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and have not been approved by the Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute of Mental Health, or Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dartmouth Psychiatric Research Center, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, 85 Mechanic Rd, Lebanon, NH, USA

    Dror Ben-Zeev

  2. Department of Preventive Medicine, Center for Behavioral Intervention Technologies, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA

    Stephen M. Schueller, Mark Begale, Jennifer Duffecy & David C. Mohr

  3. The Zucker Hillside Hospital, Psychiatry Research, North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, Glen Oaks, NY, USA

    John M. Kane

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  1. Dror Ben-Zeev
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  2. Stephen M. Schueller
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  3. Mark Begale
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  4. Jennifer Duffecy
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  5. John M. Kane
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  6. David C. Mohr
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Correspondence to Dror Ben-Zeev.

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Ben-Zeev, D., Schueller, S.M., Begale, M. et al. Strategies for mHealth Research: Lessons from 3 Mobile Intervention Studies. Adm Policy Ment Health 42, 157–167 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-014-0556-2

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