JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Living labs in the health and wellbeing domain have become increasingly common over the past decade but vary in available infrastructure, implemented study designs and outcome measures. Increased transnational collaboration and harmonization can further improve research quality. The Horizon 2020 Project ‘Virtual Health and Wellbeing Living Lab Infrastructure’ (VITALISE) unites 19 partners across 11 countries. VITALISE aims to harmonize Living Lab procedures and open Living Lab Infrastructures to facilitate and promote research activities in the health and wellbeing domain in Europe and beyond. To do so, the VITALISE consortium will conduct joint research activities (JRAs) in the fields included in the care pathway of patients: rehabilitation, transitional care and everyday living environments for the elderly. In line with the expertise of the involved Living Labs, the current protocol will describe the design of the rehabilitation JRA, focusing on the use of innovative technology both for rehabilitation interventions and data collection in a rehabilitation context.

Objective:

With this JRA, we primarily aim to gain insight in each Living Lab’s infrastructure and procedures in order to harmonize health and wellbeing Living Lab procedures and infrastructures in Europe and beyond, in particular in the context of rehabilitation. Secondly, we aim to investigate the potential of innovative technologies for rehabilitation through Living Lab methodologies.

Methods:

The study has a mixed-methods design comprising multiple phases. There are two main phases of data collection, co-creation (phase 1) and small-scale pilots (phase 2), which are preceded by a preliminary harmonization of procedures between the different international Living Labs. An intermediate phase further allows to implement minor adjustments to the intervention or protocol depending on the input that was obtained in the co-creation phase. Six small-scale pilots using innovative technologies for intervention or data collection will be performed across four countries. A third and final phase involves Delphi procedures to reach consensus on harmonized procedures and protocols.

Results:

Phase 1 data collection will begin in March 2022 and phase 2 data collection will begin in June 2022. Results will include output of the co-creation sessions, small-scale pilots and advice on harmonizing procedures and protocols for health and wellbeing Living Labs focusing on rehabilitation.

Conclusions:

The knowledge gained by the execution of this research will lead to harmonized procedures and protocols in a rehabilitation context for health and wellbeing Living Labs in Europe and beyond. In addition to the harmonized procedures and protocols in rehabilitation, we will also be able to provide new insights for improving implementation of innovative technologies in rehabilitation.