Wendy Nilsen*, National Institutes of Health/Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, Bethesda, United States Track: Research Presentation Topic: Mobile & Tablet Health Applications Presentation Type: Oral presentation Submission Type: Single Presentation Building: Joseph B. Martin Conference Center at Harvard Medical School Room: Auditorium Date: 2012-09-15 02:45 PM – 03:30 PM Last modified: 2012-09-12

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This session will focus on current issues in developing the empirical base for mHealth applications. The use of mobile technologies to more rapidly and accurately assess and modify behavior, biological states and contextual variables (e.g., current activities, mood, and environmental factors), has the potential to improve health and transform how health research is conducted. In addition, these technological advances can also help elucidate mechanisms underlying health and behavior change. For health interventions, mobile technologies provide an opportunity for researchers to develop scalable methods that can be individualized and operate in real time. In healthcare settings, mobile technologies offer a potential source of information, patient-and family-doctor communication and continuation of care beyond the clinic. Despite the tremendous promise of these technologies, researchers using mobile technologies face challenges when utilizing traditional evaluation models. Conducting lengthy randomized clinical trials is a challenge when using consumer electronics that have a shelf life of two years. To address these issues in mobile health research, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health held a meeting to determine the factors needed to successfully move mHealth from promise to potential. This session will address the methodological issues in mHealth evidence generation, as well as potential funding for these efforts. The session will include the rage of considerations that need to be addressed to establish mHealth as a science. Areas to be addressed include: validating and exploring the stability of continuous assessments; comparisons to constructs “less than gold” standards; utilization of the appropriate design for the project goals and stage of development; harnessing engineering models in project development and evaluation; and, exploring new technology-enabled deigns. Because quality mHealth evaluation requires resources, this session will also highlight current funding and training opportunities across the NIH Institutes and Centers, as well as ongoing activities designed to facilitate mobile health technology research.