Main Research Projects

Keywords: Pervasive technology, Smart unobtrusive eCoaching, Dementia

Information 
The project Track, Trace & Trigger addresses how unobtrusive sensor technology and acoustic cues can be used to accurately identify individual persons and track, trace and trigger daily behaviors and communication of people with dementia, while preventing potential obtrusion and privacy breaching. The ultimate goal is to optimize staying at home and to influence health and wellbeing in a positive way for people with mild dementia.
The central idea of our unobtrusive sensing system is to analyze human behavior via a minimum set of sensors to 1) identify individuals; 2) to TRACK and TRACE specific behaviour (walking, gestures) in combination with monitoring of vital signs (voice, breath, heart frequency) to identify verbal (voice, pitch) and nonverbal communications to estimate individual mood. We will explore how the monitoring data can be used for unobtrusive coaching. Therefore, the monitoring system will be connected with a 'smart music box' which prompts acoustic cues (music) to 3) TRIGGER verbal and nonverbal communication and activity. We will explore to what extent unobtrusive sensing systems can meet the user's needs while respecting privacy and ethics issues. 
This project applies a participatory eHealth approach in which we will develop a framework for unobtrusive TeleResearch at Home, using the CEHRES Roadmap.
The project is funded by ZonMw.

Partners
ZonMw programme Create Health, De Posten, Nedap Healthcare. 

Duration 

2018-2021

Contact
Christian Wrede, MSc 
Dr. Annemarie Braakman-Jansen
Prof. Dr. J (Lisette) van Gemert-Pijnen

Keywords: Personalization, Engagement, eMental Health

Information 
Although many eMental Health (eMH) interventions have been found to be effective in treating e.g. depression and anxiety, large differences remain between individuals. Increasing evidence shows that 'one-size-fits-all' approach is not sufficient and that personalization is needed to overcome the increasing burden of mental health complaints on the society. However, reliable individual characteristics that predict effectiveness of treatments are not yet identified.
Studies investigating for whom a specific treatment works best often use a moderation model, which entails separate analyses for each different treatment. As eMH treatments can be seen as consisting of different combinations of intervention and technological factors (ITFs), searching for moderators of effectiveness for each of these combinations of ITFs separately, becomes an endless task because of the almost unlimited variety within these ITFs.
To overcome this issue and develop a useful personalization approach, in this Veni project I will focus on engagement as a mediator between ITFs and effectiveness, instead of focusing on moderators for specific interventions. Because engagement (emotional involvement or commitment with an intervention) is an independent predictor for effectiveness, individual, sensitive to different treatments, early measurable, and theory based, the personalization approach is independent of the used treatment and technology.

To develop and evaluate this personalization approach, my Veni project covers four phases:
1. Engagement as predictor: Focus on explicating and measuring the concept of engagement and its relationship to effectiveness of eMH interventions.
2. Engagement as mediator: Building an empirical model to investigate the strength of engagement as mediator; the influence of ITFs on engagement; and the direct effect of ITFs on effectiveness.
3. Pilot testing: Testing the feasibility of the personalization approach using engagement as an individual mediator.
4. Field validation: Investigate whether the personalization approach leads to increased effectiveness compared to an intervention with a random combination of ITFs.
This Veni project is funded by NWO. 

Partners
NWO

Duration 
2017-2021

Contact
Dr. Saskia Kelders

Keywords: Workplace health promotion, eCoaching, Self-monitoring

Information
The project Quantified Self @Work goes into the development of a mHealth application to enhance employees' stress management and resilience. The mHealth application will combine self-tracking via wearables and persuasive eCoaching. Self-tracking data from wearables (e.g., heart rate) and short mobile questionnaires about the context are continuous input for the automated eCoach to personalize suggestions. The CeHRes Roadmap is followed during development of the application, which includes intensively involving end-users and other important stakeholders during development and using business modelling approaches to create a fit between stakeholders' needs and the product.

Partners
Hanze University of Applied Sciences and Menzis.

Duration
2015-2019

Contact
Aniek Lentferink, MSc
Prof. Dr. J (Lisette) van Gemert-Pijnen

Keywords: Chronic diseases, Self-management, Mexico

Information
Supporting lifestyle behaviors is a cornerstone of prevention and treatment of chronic diseases, and eHealth has a lot of potential advantages to deliver this type of intervention in needed populations. Funded by the Mexican National Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT, in Spanish), this research project aims to integrate, optimize and apply principles of the latest guidelines, frameworks, and models in eHealth development and implementation. The goal is to contribute to the case of supporting self-management behaviors of chronic diseases in the Mexican population.

Partners
CONACYT

Duration
2017-2021

Contact
Roberto Cruz, MSc
Dr. Floor Sieverink
Prof. Dr. J (Lisette) van Gemert-Pijnen

Key words: Emotional eaters, Virtual Coach, Dialectical Behavior Therapy

Information
This project goes into the development of a personalized virtual coach for obese emotional eaters. This coach is based on mindfulness, emotion regulation and stress tolerance (Dialectical Behavior Therapy) and provides coaching based on dialectical strategies.

Partners
Hanze University of Applied Sciences

Contact
Aranka Dol, MSc
Dr. Christina Bode
Prof. Dr. J (Lisette) van Gemert-Pijnen

Keywords: Adherence, Embodied Conversational Agent, Online intervention, Coaching

Information
This projects focusses on the capabilities of Embodied Conversational Agents (abbreviated as ECA's also called Virtual Coaches) to take on an effective role as a coach for users of e-health interventions. Embodied Conversational Agents are human-like, animated visual representations of coaches that are presented on screen.
We compare the motivational effects of ECA's with that of other means to motivate users, such as textual information. 
The Affective Computing element as mentioned within the project title is about measuring the user's emotional-physiological state. Using this kind of information we can determine whether the user can benefit from a motivational intervention as provided by the ECA.
The ultimate goal of this project is to get insight in how to enhance user adherence to e-health interventions by means of deploying a unresponsive (i.e. unaware of the user's emotion) or responsive  (i.e. aware of the user's emotion and using this information to motivate the user) ECA.

Contact
Mark Scholten, MSc
Dr. Saskia Kelders
Prof. Dr. J (Lisette) van Gemert-Pijnen

Keywords: eHealth, Weight maintenance, Self-management

Information

The goal of the proposed study is to develop an eHealth application that closes the gap between knowing how to lose weight and actually maintaining the new weight. By developing, pilot-testing and evaluating an interactive eHealth program, the project will deliver a feasible and useful eHealth self-management intervention called eChange, promoting sustainable lifestyle changes for people struggling with obesity. The eChange project is a multi-center study with three Norwegian hospitals, led by Dr. Lise Solberg Nes at the Center for Shared Decision Making and Collaborative Care Research at Oslo University Hospital in Norway, in collaboration with University of Twente and other Norwegian and international partners.   

Partners
Oslo University Hospital, Vestfold Hospital Trust, Sorlandet Hospital Trust, Mayo Clinic, Karolinska Institutet, National association of obesity and other local and regional partners in Norway.

Duration
2017-2021

Contact
Rikke Aune Asbjørnsen, MSc
Dr. Jobke Wentzel
Prof. Dr. J (Lisette) van Gemert-Pijnen

Keywords: Sensor Data Analytics, Diabetic Foot, Self-Management

Information

Power4FitFoot aims to support cardiovascular patients with diabetic foot. Power4FitFoot follows a multidisciplinary development approach: researchers (medicine, computer and behavioral sciences) work together with patients, caregivers and industrial companies to develop personalized self-management products and services to prevent Diabetic Foot Ulcers (DFU) or amputations. Real-time sensor data analytics and big data are the key ingredients in our approach. The result will be an early warning system (EWS) on risk detection of deterioration, with feedback and coaching.
The project will start with the identification of the major risk factors using existing retrospective data sets. A smart monitoring system based on a smart sensor sock and shoe will enable personalized feedback via sensor data analytics. This will be enriched with external data sets from various sources (medical, lifestyle, geo-spatial) to further develop the prognostic models. This will then enable real-time coaching for the patients. Prognostic models will facilitate a dynamic and context aware heuristics for a self-management support system. 

Partners
NWO Data2Person, Commit2Data; University of Maastricht, ZGT, Thales, Reggeborgh, Diabetes Association

Duration
2019-2022

Contact
Prof. Dr. J (Lisette) van Gemert-Pijnen

Keywords: Orthopedic Shoes, Motivational Interviewing, Adherence

Information

This project is aligned with the Power4FitFoot project, supporting a multidisciplinary based approach of diabetic foot equipment and care: a novel fitting procedure for orthopaedic shoes, focussing on the health and economic effects of the equipment for diabetic foot care and behavioural aspects to personalize and tailor the orthopaedic equipment to patients. To examine the added value of the novel full care process we apply health economic methods to assess the effects on quality of life (risk complications, patient satisfaction) and economic outcomes (costs of equipment, costs of care process) and the effects on adherence to the equipment, using sensor technology built in shoes and a sensor bracelet to monitor adherence. The findings of the study will be implemented in the 200 locations for diabetic foot healthcare.

Partners
ZonMw, ZGT, HTSR, Voetencentrum

Duration
2018-2021

Contact
Prof. Dr. J (Lisette) van Gemert-Pijnen

Keywords: urinary incontinence, self-management, eHealth, mixed methods, implementation

Information
eHealth is an emerging clinical resource with potential advantages for the treatment of urinary incontinence. In particular, the use of apps may increase adherence to treatment and thereby reduce costs. The URinControl project aims to assess whether a purpose-developed app is non-inferior regarding effectiveness and cost-effective when used to treat women with urinary incontinence, as compared to care as usual in Dutch primary care. Additionally, expectations and experiences of important stakeholders (e.g. patients and care providers) regarding app usage will be explored. Moreover, app usage is monitored by two types of data; data filled in by the participant and automatically logged user data.
Combination of these results will provide insights into the contextual factors that influence the effectiveness of a mobile app in the treatment of UI and will provide useful information for the development, evaluation and implementation of future eHealth applications.
ZonMw and the P.W. Boer foundation funded the project.

Link to website

Partners
ZonMw, the P.W. Boer foundation, Universitair Medisch Centrum Groningen, and Rijksuniversiteit Groningen.

Duration
2015-2021

Contact
Anne Loohuis
Nienke Wessels 
Marco Blanker 
Prof. Dr. J (Lisette) van Gemert-Pijnen

Information

Big data will be analyzed to understand how data can be used for machine generated feedback systems. To better understand how big data impacts society, safety, healthcare and business, and what the critical factors are for using big data to personalize healthcare we investigate A) how to use data from large and complex datasets in an effective, efficient, secure and safe way, B) how the use of big data to personalize healthcare impacts attitudes and behaviors, and C) how to analyze and interpret in a sensible way in order to design real-time, accurate, persuasive and personalized feedback systems?

Contact 
Dr. Floor Sieverink
Prof. Dr. J (Lisette) van Gemert-Pijnen

Keywords: eHealth, forensic psychiatry, monitoring & coaching

Information
We are studying the development and use of these monitoring and coaching technologies within forensic psychiatry by means of several projects. Amongst other things, we are studying the participatory development of virtual reality (VR) as a coaching intervention. The goal of this project is not only the creation of a potentially effective VR application, but also the analysis and evaluation of the iterative, participatory development process, in which the perspectives of stakeholders, the forensic psychiatric context and the possibilities of the technology are continuously involved. Besides that, the project also focuses on biopsychosocial factors that play a part in reactive aggression in intimate relationships. Knowledge gained from literature and interviews with stakeholders will be used to determine the way in which these factors will be continuously monitored. Since multiple factors are important, and using multiple factors also will provide a more complete picture, several measuring methods will be used. The data that will be collected by the researchers will be used to develop a persuasive, user-centered coaching technology that will provide patients with real-time feedback on the factors that predict reactive aggression.
The project is funded by Stichting Vrienden van Oldenkotte. 

Partners
Transfore and Erasmus MC.

Duration
2016-2021

Contact
Hanneke Kip, Msc
Dr. Saskia Kelders
Prof. Dr. J (Lisette) van Gemert-Pijnen

Information
Cardiologists, neurologists, general practitioners, academics, entrepreneurs, and patients have joined forces. Our mission is to make healthy living fun. Rather than telling people how to behave, we make healthy lifestyle choices appealing: the carrot is mightier than the stick. We envisage a national ecosystem that combines evidence-based lifestyle interventions focused on the individual, with an innovative environmental system that incorporates rewarding everyday lifestyle and adherence behaviors. The ecosystem integrates care and non-care settings, connects public and private lifestyle partners, is financially sustainable, and is fueled by continuous scientific evaluation. We all BENEFIT!
If and how a patient portal can motivate and stimulate people to manage and maintain their lifestyle changes is subject of the research carried out by the UT in this project. We investigate how persuasive the accompanying portal is, how this translates in actual use, and with what effects. A holistic view (including stakeholder perspectives) is applied, to ensure a sustainable implementation of the platform and the benefit concept.

Partners
Leiden University and Vital10

Duration
2017-2020

Contact
Dr. Jobke Wentzel
Dr. Floor Sieverink
Prof. Dr. J (Lisette) van Gemert-Pijnen

Keywords: Advance Care Planning, chronic disease, web-based program

Information
The number of patients with a chronic disease is increasing. Although it is important for this population to speak about goals and preferences for future medical treatment and care, it can be difficult for patients, relatives as well as for caregivers to start these conversations. Advance Care Planning (ACP) stimulates people to define goals and preferences for future medical treatment and care, to discuss these goals and preferences with family and health-care providers, and to record and review these preferences if appropriate. In order to disseminate ACP in the Netherlands, this study develops, evaluates and implements a web-based program for Advance Care Planning for people with a chronic disease and their relatives. In preparation on the development of the website, patients with chronic diseases, their relatives and caregivers are interviewed and a scoping review is conducted to assess the (informational) needs of the target groups. Although the program still needs to be developed, it is expected that it will provide information on ACP, support the users in the first steps of ACP, and record the users' preferences. When the program has been developed, different aspects of ACP and the program will be evaluated, as ACP engagement and the usability. The website will be embedded in Thuisarts.nl. The project is funded by The Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development. 

Partners
Nederlandse Patiënten Vereniging (NPV), Nederlands Huisartsen Genootschap (NHG), Nierpatiënten Vereniging Nederland (NVN), NIVEL, Universiteit Twente, Stichting VitaValley, Vital Innovators, Stichting Agora and the Patiëntenvereniging Nederland.

Duration
2017-2020

Contact:
Doris van der Smissen
Ida Korfage  
Judith Rietjens  
Agnes van der Heide  
Prof. Dr. J (Lisette) van Gemert-Pijnen

Keywords: Informal caregiving, palliative care, co-design 

Information
The Caregiver balance project aims to develop and test an e-health tool for informal caregivers who care for a patient in the last phase of life. In close co-operation with the end-users, we will design a tool that will support caregivers in making balanced choices to combine caregiving with their own activities, and that will help them become aware of their goals and how to ask for help. This project is funded by ZonMw, in the Palliantie program, aimed at improving palliative care in the Netherlands.   

Link to ZonMw program details 

Partners
ZonMw, Palliatief Netwerk Ligare, Mezzo, Vilans and Zorgbelang.

Duration
2017-2021

Contact
Mariët Hagedoorn
Marrit Tuinman
Anne Looijmans
Prof. Dr. J (Lisette) van Gemert-Pijnen

Keywords: eHealth, Home based care 

Information
The demand for home care is growing both in number of people and in complexity of care. The increasing demand is the consequence of an ageing society as well as of the policy to encourage older people to stay at home, despite their need of care. Home care organisations have difficulties to cope with this increasing demand. Nurses are therefore inclined to focus on the enhancement of self-management of clients which can be supported by the use of eHealth. Unfortunately, eHealth in home care is not common practice yet and it is not known what inhibits or encourages nurses to make use of eHealth.
In the project 'eHealth in home care', we search for ways to support home care nurses with assessing of eHealth interventions during the assessment of care. The project will deliver:

• A tool for the home care nurses with information on eHealth applications fitting the way they assess care.
• Knowledge on the assessment of eHealth interventions during assessment of care, translated into a training method or tool
• Embedding these project results in nursing education and refresher courses

The consortium consists of home care organizations, national organizations for nurses and home care organizations, expertise center for long-term care, a client federation and the skills and training center of the region. This project received a grant from Regieorgaan SIA (NWO).

Partners
SIA (NWO), CarePool Thuiszorg, De ZorgZaak, Woonzorgcentrum IJsselheem, Regiocampus, Zorgtrainingscentrum Regio Zwolle, Actiz, V&VN, Vilans, Patiëntenfederatie Nederland, Thuisleefgids and VitaValley/VitaalThuis. 

Duration
2016 - 2018

Contact
Sander Holterman 
Prof. Dr. J (Lisette) van Gemert-Pijnen

Information
Structural telephonic support and telemonitoring can reduce the odds of death and hospitalization due to CHF. Many different forms of eHealth have been researched, suggesting telemonitoring to be effective in reducing mortality and rehospitalization with monitoring of blood pressure, heart rate, weight and ECG. However, these studies focus mainly on monitoring of symptoms and supporting patients using various telecommunication possibilities. Our goal is to support self-management of the CHF patient with the use of telemonitoring and personalized coaching. Therefore a platform is needed that supports the patient in self-management of CHF. For this goal the iMediSense telemonitoring & coaching technology, from now on: iMediSense, is developed by Thales in cooperation with the Twente TEACH consortium. The aim of this pilot study is to determine the use, usability and usefulness for practice of iMediSense and to provide recommendations to improve the technology.

Partners
ZGT, Vodafone, Menzis and Thales

Duration
2016-2017

Contact
Dr. Floor Sieverink    
Prof. Dr. J (Lisette) van Gemert-Pijnen

Information
Several projects were used to collect, analyze and visualize logdata from real-time usage of Personal Health records (PHRs) and its users to identify usage patterns and to determine user profiles. The profiles will be used to personalize feedback to needs and usage contexts of patients and professionals and to improve (the persuasiveness of) such applications. Furthermore, input will be used to identify how PHRs can be of added value for both patients and professionals in the current healthcare processes.

Link to thesis

Partners
Stichting Zorg Binnen Bereik

Duration
2013-2017

Contact
Dr. Floor Sieverink
Dr. Saskia Kelders
Prof. Dr. J (Lisette) van Gemert-Pijnen

Keywords: One-Health, game-based learning, smart Q&A system

Information 
This projects focusses on the development of an interactive “eZoon” platform to support effective risk- and crisis-communication about zoonoses between healthcare professionals in the humane-, veterinary-, and public-healthcare. On the one hand, this platform offers an eLearning game to create awareness about and improve professionals’ competences that are needed to prevent and contain an outbreak. On the other hand, the platform offers a question-and-answer system to offer both professionals and general public tailored information and to support self-management.

Partners
ZonMw and TXchange.

Duration
2014-2018

Contact
Dr. Nienke Beerlage-de Jong
Dr. Nadine Köhle
Dr. Annemarie Braakman-Jansen
Prof. Dr. J (Lisette) van Gemert - Pijnen

The INTERREG program "Eurhealth-1Health - Euregional Prevention Against Antibiotic Resistance and Infections" aims at one of the biggest challenges in health care: combating life-threatening infections caused by highly resistant microorganisms (HRMO). In a Euregional context, a OneHealth approach is used to prevent antibiotic resistance, improve infection prevention and stimulate intersectoral collaboration. At the Persuasive Health Technology lab, two subprojects are being executed "Supporting healthcare workers to limit antibiotic resistance in hospitals" and "An early warning system for nosocomial infection". Click on the titles below for more information about the subprojects. 

Link to website

Keywords: Antibiotic resistance, Infections, Healthcare workers

Information
As part of the EurHealth-1Health project we will develop an eHealth technology to support healthcare workers in hospitals to limit antibiotic resistance. Because limiting antibiotic resistance is a multifaceted and complex problem, the start of this study is to explore the current organizational and cultural processes. These are essential for the development of  meaning- and useful eHealth. Furthermore, stakeholders are involved throughout the whole development process, so that the eventual eHealth technology fits the users and context.

Partners
INTERREG VA, ZGT, LabMicTA, UKM (Universitätsklinikum Münster) and UMCG. 

Duration
2016-2020

Contact
Julia Keizer, MSc
Dr. Annemarie Braakman-Jansen
Prof. Dr. J (Lisette) van Gemert-Pijnen

Keywords: Early warning system, Hospital associated infection, Georisk factors

Information
This research will produce an early warning system (EWS) for nosocomial infection in healthcare settings. The EWS will make use of a prognostic prediction model based data features engineered using clinical-, haematological- and geospatial data. Risk factors and georisk factors will be identified from the data and compared with those in literature. The results will also be compared across various hospitals and external validation will be performed. The benefits of including georisk factors in the EWS will be assessed and the final model will be incorporated in an EWS to be used by healthcare workers.

Partners
INTERREG VA, Erasmus MC, UMCG and ZGT. 

Contact 
Magnus van Niekerk, MSc
Prof. Dr. J (Lisette) van Gemert - Pijnen

Keywords: Serious games, Hand hygiene, Children

Information 
This study aims to develop a prototype of a serious game to be a novel educational material that teaches and promotes hand hygiene behaviors to children. The overarching project Children's Hand Hygiene at Elementary Schools is a collaboration between the University of Twente and the Institute of Medical Microbiology from the University Hospital Münster (UKM) under the scope of the EurHealth-1Health (INTERREG VA) project.

Partners 
INTERREG VA, Institute of Medical Microbiology and University Hospital Münster (UKM)

Duration
2017-2018

Contact
Roberto Cruz, MSc
Prof. Dr. J (Lisette) van Gemert-Pijnen

Keywords: Virtual Reality, Sensor-based technology, Game-based learning, Surgical site infections, Zoonotic infection outbreaks

Information
The Health-i-Care project, part of the INTERREG-V-A-program, exists of 30 consortia working on the development of innovative products and technologies to protect the general population against infections and antimicrobial resistance. The persuasive health technology lab is partner in three of these consortia:

• Developing concepts for virtual reality technology to train surgical staff in following the guidelines to prevent surgical site infections; 
• Developing concepts for sensor-based technology to provide real-time feedback in order to support surgical staff in following the guidelines to prevent surgical site infections;
• Developing a game-based-learning environment for skills training and education of healthcare professionals in the fields of veterinary-, public-, and human-healthcare, to support inter-disciplinary cooperation and communication during zoonotic infection outbreaks.

In these projects, the CeHRes Roadmap will be used for the development and evaluation of the new concepts. Stakeholders will be involved to gain insight into the context of the problem and their needs and values, and prototypes of new concepts will be evaluated.

Link to website 

Partners
Coolminds, ELabbs, Universität Bielefeld and 8D Games

Duration
2016-2020

Contact
Christian Wrede, MSc
Dr. Floor Sieverink
Dr. Nienke Beerlage-de Jong
Prof. Dr. J (Lisette) van Gemert-Pijnen

Information
Information will follow soon.

Link to website

Contact
Dr. Nienke Beerlage-de Jong
Dr. Jobke Wentzel
Prof. Dr. J (Lisette) van Gemert-Pijnen

Links to thesis

• eHealth vs. Infection: participatory development of persuasive eHealth to support safe care - Nienke Beerlage-de Jong
• Keeping an eye on the context: participatory development of eHealth to support clinical practice - Jobke Wentzel
• Implementing antibiotic stewardship: involving stakeholders in eHealth - Maarten van Limburg

Information 
The Centre for eHealth and Wellbeing research (CeHRes) roadmap is a framework for the holistic and human centered development and implementation of eHealth. The roadmap consists of five iterative phases. During all phases, stakeholders will be involved and formative evaluation takes place. The CeHRes roadmap represents a way of thinking about eHealth design involving participatory development, persuasive design techniques, and business modelling.

Link 
A more detailed description of the CeHRes roadmap can be found via this link 

Contact 
Prof. Dr. J (Lisette) van Gemert-Pijnen

Digitalisering is meer dan de inzet van technologie, het gaat vooral om een andere manier van werken en daar is visie, lef en regie voor nodig. Juist nu er een opmars is van AI en data gestuurde zorg is regie, visie nodig van de overheid en een herziening van de financiering van data gestuurde zorg. Ook is aanpassing nodig in wet en regelgeving voor een effectieve data uitwisseling en data benutting in de gezondheidszorg.

In opdracht van VWS (MEVA) is onderzocht wat nodig is om technologie in de gezondheidszorg te implementeren en wat de rol van de overheid en partners (ZINNL, ZN etc.) zou moeten zijn om digitalisering te versnellen. Het rapport en bijlagen zijn openbaar, en ook te vinden bij PURE.

1. Eindrapport
2. Management summary
3. Aanbevelingen
4. Bijlagen bij eindrapport
5. Literatuur review

Information

This is the first book to provide a comprehensive overview of the social and technological context from which eHealth applications have arisen, the psychological principles on which they are based, and the key development and evaluation issues relevant to their successful intervention.

Integrating how eHealth applications can be used for both mental and physical health issues, it presents a complete guide to what eHealth means in theory, as well as how it can be used in practice. Inspired by the principles and structure of the CeHRes Roadmap, a multidisciplinary framework that combines and uses aspects from approaches such as human-centred design, persuasive technology and business modelling, the book first examines the theoretical foundations of eHealth and then assesses its practical application and assessment.

Including case studies, a glossary of key terms, and end of chapter summaries, this ground-breaking book provides a holistic overview of one of the most important recent developments in healthcare. It will be essential reading for students, researchers and professionals across the fields of health psychology, public health and design technology.

Contact

Prof. Dr. J (Lisette) van Gemert - Pijnen
Dr. Saskia Kelders
Hanneke Kip

Information
eHealth is the use of information and communication technologies to support health and healthcare. It is also a school of thought about connectivity, social participation and networked innovation. Policy makers, health care professionals, patients, insurers, researchers and citizens alike, believe that eHealth will contribute to the solution of today's health issues and to the innovation of health care systems.

In this book, specialists from the Center for eHealth and Wellbeing Research (University of Twente) and the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) explain what needs to be done to increase the impact and uptake of eHealth interventions. They do so by treating a range of hot subjects such as human centered design, business modelling, persuasive technology and current trends at the intersection of health, social sciences and technology. These topics converge in a holistic approach to the development and design of successful eHealth technologies.

Contact

Prof. Dr. J (Lisette) van Gemert-Pijnen

Information
Our course will focus on improving healthcare in an innovative way by combining psychology and the design of technology. This implies the use of a holistic perspective focused on the user, technology and context. In order to teach the learners about the theory behind, aim and application of eHealth, we will explain what eHealth is and what its main benefits and barriers are, based on holistic evaluation results from practice. Furthermore, the User Centred Design approach will be introduced, partly by using a theoretical framework - the CeHRes Roadmap. Attention will be paid to methods for increasing involvement and adherence; we will explain how to involve users by applying the Persuasive Systems Design Model. The course ends with a look at the future and its emerging technology. What are new, innovative possibilities for developing eHealth and improving healthcare?

Knowledge, insight and application will be achieved by providing small lectures and articles on theory, displaying cases from practice, and using exercises where learners can apply their newly acquired theoretical knowledge. The cases from practice and the exercises will be focused on three domains in which eHealth is important: selfcare and prevention, supportive care and societal health. 
During the course, the learner will take on three perspectives of persons involved with eHealth by means of cases and exercises. The first is the perspective of a patient that uses an application focused on depression or diabetes, the second type of user is the healthcare professional, and the third perspective is that of an eHealth developer. The user, context and technology will all play an important role in the cases and exercises.

Contact

Prof. Dr. J (Lisette) van Gemert-Pijnen (Lead educator)
Dr. Saskia Kelders (Educator)
Dr. Floor Sieverink (Educator)
Hanneke Kip (Coordinator)

Information
The eHealth Research Toolkit is created by the Centre for eHealth and Wellbeing research. This toolkit entails methodologies and techniques that can be used during development and implementation of eHealth technologies. The focus lies on applying a context driven and human centered approach. The suggested methodologies and techniques relate to existing theory, such as theories on health behavior change, persuasive technology and business modelling. The focus is on the involvement of end-users and key stakeholders during all stages of the development and implementation, and on creating user-engagement to increase the adoption of and adherence to (new) technologies. Business modelling is applied to develop technologies that are affordable and sustainable.

The toolkit provides methods and instruments to decide what works best for whom:

• Needs assessments end-users, stakeholders
• Stakeholder value maps (business model)
• Usability tests and interviews end user involvements
• Use and user profiling (logdata & machine learning)
• Persuasiveness and user preferences
• Fractional factorial designs
• Time series; What are the long term effects
• Health technology assessments; What are the cost/benefits
• Create stake to and involvement of end-users and key stakeholders during all stages of the development and implementation. Besides, the application of business modelling approaches for eHealth development and implementation are encouraged.

The eHealth Toolkit was updated in June (but still under construction), with the launch of the Centres novel health book: eHealth Technology, Theory, Development and Evaluation, a multidisciplinary approach (in press, launch 1th of June).

Contact 

Dr. Floor Sieverink
Hanneke Kip
Julia Keizer
Prof. Dr. J (Lisette) van Gemert-Pijnen

Information
The academische werkplaats implementatie is an initiative of BMS Health, and a cooperation between the University of Twente and UMCG. The aim is to provide and share knowledge and show cases about implementation of Health Technologies. A platform (dashboard) will be developed to support science, business; public healthcare with services for implementation (meetings, workshops, networks, methodology etc.). A needs assessments among partners (science, business, healthcare) has been conducted (2016) and based on that a the dashboard will be co-developed with partners and launched, 1th of June 2018. The academische werkplaats can be considered as an environment for valorization of health technologies and as an instrument to strengthen the implementation of health technologies in Nordic countries (The Netherlands, Scandinavia). 

The results provide concrete directions to strengthen implementation of health technology :

• Demonstrating best practices implementation
• Cooperation UT-UMCG (NFU-UMCs-citrienfonds sturen op kwaliteit)
• Establishment network Business-Science-Health
• Valorisation environment implementations 

Link to website (available soon) 

Contact
Prof. dr. Lisette van Gemert-Pijnen

Information

The Center for eHealth and Wellbeing Research of the University of Twente, in collaboration with the University Medical Center Groningen, annually organizes the supporting health by technology conference. 
The conference is interactive; demonstrating and discussing progress in development of eHealth interventions and introducing new methods and models for behaviour change using monitoring technologies. During several sessions (e.g., workshops, demo’s and presentations) participants gain new insights into the world of eHealth technologies for health and health care. Participants to the conference represent colleagues from research, health care, policy and innovative businesses.

Link to website 

Twitter
@HealthByTech

Contact

Prof. Dr. J (Lisette) van Gemert-Pijnen (general chair)
Dr. Floor Sieverink , Julia Keizer  (organizing chair) 
Hanneke Kip, Dr. Saskia Kelders (program chair) 
Dr. Nadine Köhle, Dr. Nienke Beerlage-de Jong (program chair + PR)
Marieke Smellink - Kleinsman (secretary) 

Information 
The International conference on Persuasive Technology is an annual event relevant for researcher and practitioner who works on designing, developing, evaluating or implementing persuasive technologies for health. Persuasive technology and behavior change support systems provide means of improving healthcare via co-creation with the end-users (caregivers, caretakers, family carers) and involved stakeholders (decision makers, policymakers and industrial organizations). Persuasiveness in healthcare can be achieved through the design of empathic technologies, adaptive to personalities and tailored to individual needs and skills, through mobile devices and ambient technologies. Persuasive strategies can be applied in empathic and person-adaptive designs for health to create trust, user-engagement and adherence. During several sessions (workshops, demo’s, and poster- and oral presentations), researchers and other professionals share state-of-the art knowledge and innovations of this field.

Link to website

Twitter
@perstech2017
@persuasive2018

Contact
Prof. Dr. J (Lisette) van Gemert-Pijnen

Information
See our twitter account for the current news from our lab: @ehealthtwente 

Information
A tool for supporting therapists and clients in discussing and determining the form of a blended treatment.

Downloads (in Dutch)

• Fit for blended care instrument
• Hardcopy
• Instructions

Contact
Dr. Jobke Wentzel
Prof. Dr. J (Lisette) van Gemert-Pijnen

Information

We develop and implement a platform to prevent and control infections (Germany, The Netherlands, www.Eursafety.eu)

Link to Infection Manager

Contact

Prof. Dr. J (Lisette) van Gemert – Pijnen

Information

A system to support registration of infections and antibiotics in nursing homes.

Link to the Prevalention app

Contact

Dr. Nienke Beerlage–de Jong
Prof. Dr. J (Lisette) van Gemert-Pijnen