Human–Computer Interaction and Its Applications in Healthcare

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue focuses on the growing intersection between human-computer interaction (HCI) and healthcare, aiming to explore how interactive technologies can improve healthcare delivery, clinical workflows, patient engagement, and overall user experience across a wide range of healthcare settings.

We invite high-quality, original research and review articles that address theoretical frameworks, empirical studies, system designs, case applications, and evaluation methodologies at the nexus of HCI and healthcare.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Human–computer interaction methodologies for healthcare;
• Design and usability evaluation of health technologies;
• AI-driven interfaces and conversational agents in clinical applications;
• Telemedicine and remote healthcare interaction design;
• Mobile health (mHealth) and ubiquitous computing in healthcare;
• Wearable and ambient health monitoring systems;
• Multimodal interaction (voice, gesture, touch) in healthcare environments;
• Assistive technologies and accessibility for elderly or disabled populations;
• Data visualization and interaction for clinical decision support;
• Privacy, ethics, and regulatory aspects in healthcare HCI;
• Augmented and virtual reality applications for therapy, training, and rehabilitation;
• Behavioral and cognitive aspects of interacting with health systems;
• User experience design for digital health tools;

The purpose of this Special Issue is to provide a dedicated forum for the latest interdisciplinary research that advances our understanding of how user-centered design and interaction paradigms can transform healthcare services. It aims to promote innovative solutions that are usable, safe, accessible, and personalized for all users, including patients, clinicians, and caregivers. By compiling diverse research contributions, this Issue will foster collaboration across HCI, health informatics, AI, and behavioral sciences. Although significant work has been conducted separately within the HCI and healthcare domains, there remains a need for research that holistically bridges these fields to address real-world healthcare challenges. The previous literature has explored areas such as usability of electronic health records (EHRs), telehealth design, or mobile health applications, but often lacks a cohesive focus on interaction paradigms, context-sensitive design, and user experience evaluation in diverse clinical and patient-centered environments.

Therefore, this Special Issue will supplement existing literature by

• Highlighting emerging interdisciplinary frameworks that combine HCI, healthcare, and AI;
• Providing insights into the design and evaluation of interactive systems in real-world healthcare scenarios;
• Addressing underexplored contexts such as aging populations, assistive technologies, and personalized health systems;
• Showcasing novel interfaces and technologies (e.g., conversational agents, multimodal input, immersive environments) that are reshaping digital health;
• Discussing ethical, legal, and trust-related challenges of human-computer systems in healthcare settings.

As such, it will fill a critical gap by serving as a reference point for researchers, designers, developers, and healthcare professionals working at the confluence of these disciplines.

Dr. Eleni Boumpa
Dr. Polat Goktas
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Electronics is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• human–computer interaction (HCI)
• digital health
• interactive systems
• usability and user experience (UX)
• telemedicine and remote care
• wearable and mobile health technologies
• AI-driven interfaces
• health data visualization
• accessibility in healthcare
• patient-centered design
• health informatics
• assistive technology
• multimodal interaction
• ethics in HCI for healthcare