Year: 2012
Type: dissertation
Abstract: to investigate two major informational issues relevant to societal and technological trends: 1) information behavior of Dutch citizens: information seeking/searching behavior, background variables, motivational variables, deployment of image and sound, consumer health vocabulary (e-) health literacy, the emerging on-demand health consumer; 2) information tools and services for citizens: support systems for a general public (idem for high risk and underserved populations; health disparities), evaluation methods, tailored health communication, search engines, integrating good examples, reaching the user (…)"The investigation of the first aim resulted in the thesis 'iHealth -Supporting Health by Technology', which was successfully defended by dr.Hans Ossebaard in June 2012.The second line of research is the topic of this thesis.In 2007, the aim of this part of the project was specified as: "to develop a virtual coach to support healthier behavior of populations at risk for chronic diseases.The system should be tailored to the needs of its users, to enable a "smooth flow of consumer-friendly information" and to encourage disease-management.Besides, the system should be consistent with high quality standards for electronic communication."Specific focus points that were identified in the research plan were, for example: justin-time preventive care; development of a virtual coach; an interactive system to support patient-system communication; and an adaptive system.The project started from a very broad point of view.Through advanced insights on the impact and uptake of eHealth technologies as seen, for example, in the work of Nijland presented in her thesis 'Grounding eHealth' and the study presented in Chapter 2 of this thesis, the focus has gradually become more specific towards the issue of non-adherence.Non-adherence (i.e.participants not following an intervention protocol) and, related, the gap in eHealth research on how to support patient-system interaction were seen in many eHealth interventions.More insight in, and ways to cope with these issues were considered a prerequisite to reach the aim of this part of the gettingBetter.nlproject and therefore became the focus of this thesis.Through the shifting and specification of the research goals, the intended target area of the research project (chronic disease) has been broadened to include lifestyle and mental Preface | 11 health.Nonetheless, many of the original goals are being addressed in the current thesis.For example, the web-based intervention "Living to the full", which is the case for Chapter 4-6, is a preventive intervention for people with mild to moderate depressive symptoms and is intended to provide 'just-in-time' care.Furthermore, the interactive system to support patient-system communication can be seen in the dialogue support category of the Persuasive System Design-model which has been found to be a main predictor of adherence in Chapter 3.
Author: Saskia M. Kelders
Language: English
Subfield: General Health Professions
Field: Health Professions
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W2117698425