The 9th Workshop on Adults' Use of Information and Communication Technologies in Healthcare (auICTH)

Call for Papers

The continuous evolution of ICTH progressed into a multi-faceted digitization of healthcare, providing for new potential for promoting health and well-being for individuals and society. Innovation in consumer- and patient-centered technological solutions, such as smartphone apps, health gadgets (such as smart watches) and specific social media platforms indicate the increasing shift to self- initiated and self-coordinated health measures supporting the preservation and retention of people’s physical, psychological, and social well-being through electronic data collection, self-diagnosis, remote monitoring etc. (see e.g., Rozenkranz et al. 2013).

Technological innovations like digital services can support patient care and well-being, at the same time, they are on the way to reshape healthcare sectors globally. In the last years, digitalization has opened fascinating innovation opportunities for institutions and organizations aiming at improving healthcare and well-being (Cohen et al., 2017; Nambisan, 2017; Yoo et al., 2010). For instance, ubiquitous technologies like smartphones and wearables have been turned into medical devices for multiple vital signs. These devices create data that can be used by digital services to generate or enable valuable health insights for the individual user. Moreover, the data can be used for developing new treatments as well as for improving existing clinical pathways. Artificial intelligence and natural language understanding can be used to improve screening capabilities. Blockchain technology may enhance secure exchange of health-related data between multiple providers. Robotic process automation and AI improves operational efficiency of healthcare and (corporate) well-being services. The availability and potential of these technologies also allows tech firms and other companies such as health insurance or telecom companies, to enter the market with value-added services and challenge existing providers. These new competitors may help to improve the overall quality of digital services for healthcare and well-being.

However, to date, evidence is scarce as to whether digitally enabled healthcare services live up to the promises and the expected benefits from technological innovations have yet to be realized. It seems like providers, patients, and customers face many challenges, questions, new uncertainties. On the one side, they are challenged to adapt to the changes induced by digital technologies and might have issues to adapt (e.g., due to a lack of digital literacy or concerns). On the other hand, they see digital technologies to enable them to design and use new digital services that take advantage of the benefits provided.

The aim of this workshop is to address challenges related to design, adoption and use of digital innovations in the field of healthcare and well-being. To better understand the challenges of the design and use of digital services to empower healthcare and wellbeing and approaches to address them, this workshop provides a forum for the exchange of research ideas and completed research in the context of health information technologies (HIT). auICTH aims to bring together people from both academia and industry for original discussions and to discuss and advance our knowledge on drivers and inhibitors on adoption, usage, or resistance and discontinued usage of digital health services.

Topics of interest

This workshop is open to all types of research, conceptual or empirical in the field of design and use of digital healthcare services. Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):

• Mobile health apps
• Support for behavioral change and adherence with therapy plans
• Apps and services for health monitoring
• Smart systems for patient care
• AI for (self-) diagnostic
• Data mining on health data
• Augmented and virtual reality applications for wellbeing
• Digital health platform
• Services for public health intervention and disaster management