mHealth Research Challenges

Wendy Nilsen, PhDOffice of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research

National Institutes of Health

Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) Mission… to stimulate behavioral and social science

research throughout NIH and to integrate these areas of research more fully into others of the NIH health research enterprise, thereby improving our understanding, treatment, and prevention of disease.

Moving “Hype” to Productivity

Continuum of mHealth tools

Rapid Explosion of Inputs & Data• Continuous data integration with:

▫Genetic data▫Electronic medical record data ▫Behavioral Sensors (e.g. actigraphy, sleep sensors)▫Environmental Sensors (e.g., personal & fixed sensors)▫ Location Sensors (e.g. GIS, GPS)▫Contextual Sensors (e.g. passive sensing of sound, noise,

interpersonal nearness)▫Ecological momentary sampling of symptoms, QOL, etc.

• High throughput analyses needed for complex, streaming data

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Research/Funding Challenges

• Technology development (rapid) versus NIH funding process (slow) timelines.

• Interdisciplinary research teams needed versus traditional academic model.

• Research methodology for data collection/analysis.

• NIH study sections – grant reviewers.• IRBs/HIPAA.• Getting to know who to talk to at NIH

Workshop on mHealth Evidence•Collaboration between Robert Wood Johnson,

McKesson foundation, NSF and NIH•Randomized control trials are challenging in the

fast-paced world of technology. Need alternate methods

•Workshop to assess the design and analytic possibilities for developing evidence in mHealth

•August 16, 2011 at NIH•http://obssr.od.nih.gov/scientific_areas/

methodology/mhealth/mhealth-workshop.aspx   

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2011 NIH mHealth Training InstitutesNeed

Improved use of mHealth products in clinical and behavioral research

Increased collaboration and cross-fertilization across disciplines

Plan5-day training for 28 participantsDevelop skills to improve the design and

research of mobile technologies