The project plans to create unmatched expertise in public
health informatics and data science, driving an era of databased insight, accurate public health, and near-real-time assessment.
Receiving individual routine data from user terminals
allows researchers to study broader determinants of
health. This can help quasi-experimental and disease
surveillance studies of public health interventions and
increase individual awareness of health and care.
Stakeholder Goals
To collect questionnaires on the public health and psycho-physical
To collect personal routine data
User Group
Scots aged 18-45
Sample recruiter
18 interviews
Problem
The Scottish e-cohort database where patient data of Scottish citizens
is collected. To access this data, researchers have to
make a research proposal after which a government
committee consisting of doctors, lawyers and ethicists
decide whether access to the data requested is given. This process takes quite a lot of time.
Besides, the researchers hoped to collaborate with doctors in Scotland, but this was not possible due to ethical and legal issues.
Others
Users are reluctant to share personal data
Users are concerned about personal privacy issues
The process of completing the questionnaire is tedious
Solution
Design an application which enables real-time collection of PROMs and health data. In the future, this data will be linked to the Scottish
birth e- Cohort.
The initial user group for the project was 18-45 years old, a range that was too broad and vague. In order to attract users to the app and increase retention rates, the target group had to be identified first.
Narrowing the User Base
1. People who are used to doing exercises to record data
2. People with chronic diseases
Step count
Heart rate
Blood pressure
Medical examination records
...
The picture above is a feature that enables direct talk between the users and the researchers who are using the data. This feature was designed to fulfill three user requirements. First, this serves to provide a transparent research process. Second, it allows for direct communication with researchers. Third, the users can receive study outcomes.
One of the central parts of the system is the ability of users to fill out health questionnaires. From the client side, the main requirement is that validated questionnaires can be integrated. From the perspective of the users, it is important to deliver a simple and clean interface with clear instructions on what to do.
What is more, to improve user experience as well as privacy protection, users can choose whether to share data in the settings and also set a preference for the periodicity of completing the questionnaire.
Next to the questionnaires, the clients also wanted users to be able to log other health data to enrich the e-cohort and aid research, Users were interested in this feature just as much. They indicated thate they would like to track their health over time and this data will also be key to providing prevent feedback and educational materials.
The users use Bluetooth to paire searchable smart devices via the process depicted as above. Once connected, users are also able to disconnect the device. This page has a quite prominent place within our app to give the users the sense of control they asked for. The crucial feature is that the users have the choice between recording their data automatically or manually, which was requested by some users.