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The Impact of Mobile Technology in the Battle against COVID-19:...
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The Impact of Mobile Technology in the Battle against COVID-19: Successes and Failures

A special issue of Healthcare (ISSN 2227-9032). This special issue belongs to the section "Coronaviruses (CoV) and COVID-19 Pandemic".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2022) | Viewed by 45783

Printed Edition Available!
A printed edition of this Special Issue is available here.

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Daniele Giansanti

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Centro Nazionale TISP, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy
Interests: biomedical engineering; robotics; artificial intelligence; digital health; rehabilitation; smart technology; cybersecurity; mental health; animal-assisted therapy; social robotics; acceptance; diagnostic pathology and radiology; medical imaging; patient safety; healthcare quality; health assessment; chronic disease
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Mobile technology has undergone rapid development in the last decade and immediately found fertile ground for use in digital healthcare applications.

The advantages for the patient can be many:

  • Promoting a healthy lifestyle and improving the awareness, active participation, and motivation of individuals regarding health issues.
  • Facilitating and speeding up doctor/patient communication and the personalization of treatments.
  • An increase in the autonomy and safety of the patient, who can be monitored and located remotely.
  • Improving the efficiency of the health system, reducing the costs of assistance and hospitalization, with remote analysis through monitoring and telemedicine.
  • Contribution to research, facilitating the collection of individual and environmental data.
  • The expansion of access to treatment, with the possibility of reaching users who otherwise would not have medical assistance.
  • The possibility of sharing clinical cases and requesting second opinions in real-time for doctors.

The additional benefits for citizens and health systems in the period of the COVID-19 pandemic are represented by:

  • The improvement of social distancing through technological tools in many activities.
  • The possibility of carrying out epidemiological monitoring through the apps for digital contact tracing.
  • Psychological support through the simple maintenance of social relations thanks to video conferencing and social apps.

Other important aspects to investigate are (a) the relationship of the mobile-born generation with mobile technology and their possible active roles during the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and (b) the impact of the digital divide that, in some cases, has limited the use of technology, caused either by the limitation of access to resources or by cultural and social barriers.

I invite you to contribute to this issue, which encompasses a broad spectrum ranging from the incredible and unique development of m-health in this period, in the design and development of apps for digital contact tracing, and telemedicine application and e-learning, to the problems hampering the wide diffusion of mobile technology for the fight against COVID-19 caused by the digital divide.

This Special Issue of Healthcare seeks commentaries, original research, short reports, and reviews on challenges in health systems focused on this field.

Dr. Daniele Giansanti
Guest Editor

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. Healthcare 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 2700 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.

Keywords

  • e-health
  • medical devices
  • m-health
  • COVID-19
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • m-health
  • mobile technology
  • smartphone
  • tablet
  • digital health
  • digital divide
  • digital contact tracing
  • app
  • contact tracing

Published Papers (15 papers)

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Editorial

Jump to: Research, Review, Other

4 pages, 195 KiB  
Editorial
The Role of the mHealth in the Fight against the Covid-19: Successes and Failures
by Daniele Giansanti
Healthcare 2021, 9(1), 58; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9010058 - 08 Jan 2021
Cited by 38 | Viewed by 2767
Abstract
[...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Impact of Mobile Technology in the Battle against COVID-19: Successes and Failures)

Research

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11 pages, 485 KiB  
Article
Behavioral and Emotional Changes One Year after the First Lockdown Induced by COVID-19 in a French Adult Population
by Sylvie Rousset, Aurélie Level, Florine François and Laurent Muller
Healthcare 2022, 10(6), 1042; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare10061042 - 03 Jun 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1357
Abstract
(1) Background: The lockdown had various consequences on physical activity and food consumption behaviors. The post-lockdown has been much less studied. The aim of this study is to compare behaviors one year after the first lockdown in a group of normal-weight (NW) or [...] Read more.
(1) Background: The lockdown had various consequences on physical activity and food consumption behaviors. The post-lockdown has been much less studied. The aim of this study is to compare behaviors one year after the first lockdown in a group of normal-weight (NW) or overweight French adults (OW). (2) Methods: Over a period of 4 days, both at the beginning of May 2020 (lockdown) and in June 2021 (free living post-lockdown), the same French adults used the WellBeNet smartphone application to record their sedentary behavior, physical activity (PA), food consumption and emotions. (3) Results: One year post first lockdown, the weight and body mass index increased (+1.1 kg; +0.4 kg.m−2, p < 0.01), and sedentary behaviors increased (+5.5%, p < 0.01) to the detriment of light-intensity activities (−3.3%, p = 0.10) in the whole group. Some food categories, such as alcohol, tended to be consumed more (+0.15 portion/day, p = 0.09), while fatty, salty and sugary products decreased (−0.25 portion/d, p = 0.02) but without a change in the food balance score. A higher number of both positive and negative emotions were scored per day (+9.5, p < 0.0001; +2.9, p = 0.03), and the positive ones were perceived stronger (+0.23, p = 0.09). Simultaneously, the desire to eat was lower (−11.6/100, p < 0.0001), and the desire to move remained constant. Sedentary/active behaviors and the desire to eat changed differently in NW and OW adults after the lockdown. (4) Conclusions: In general, the post-lockdown period was less favorable for physical activity practice and resulted in a similar food balance score but was more conducive to mental wellbeing. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Impact of Mobile Technology in the Battle against COVID-19: Successes and Failures)
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16 pages, 1501 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of the Patient Experience with the Mawid App during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Al Hassa, Saudi Arabia
by Eman AlAli, Reem AL-Dossary, Saja Al-Rayes, Naof Al-Ansary, Deema Alshawan, Salma Almulla, Fahad Alanezi, Zahraa Alakrawi, Norah Alnaim, Linah Saraireh, Razaz Waheeb Attar, Nouf Alaenzi, Hayathem bin Hasher, Bashair AlThani, Lojain Alsulaiman, Naif Alenazi, Beyan Hariri and Turki Alanzi
Healthcare 2022, 10(6), 1008; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare10061008 - 30 May 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2487
Abstract
(1) Introduction: The objective of this study was to evaluate the patient experience with the Mawid application during the COVID-19 pandemic in Al Hassa, Saudi Arabia. (2) Methodology: A quantitative cross-sectional survey was designed to evaluate the patient experience with the Mawid app [...] Read more.
(1) Introduction: The objective of this study was to evaluate the patient experience with the Mawid application during the COVID-19 pandemic in Al Hassa, Saudi Arabia. (2) Methodology: A quantitative cross-sectional survey was designed to evaluate the patient experience with the Mawid app during the COVID-19 pandemic in Al Hassa, Saudi Arabia. A total of 146 respondents completed the questionnaire. (3) Results: More than half of the participants (65.8%) opined that application was easy to use. Furthermore, 65.1% of the participants considered it to be very easy and easy to search for the required information; and 63.7% of the respondents reflected that it was easy to book an appointment. There was a statistically significant difference between the ease of searching for the required information (p-value = 0.006); the ease of undoing an unwanted move and gender (p-value = 0.049); the ease of searching for the required information and educational level (p-value = 0.048); the ease of booking an appointment and educational level (p = 0.049); and the ease of searching for the required information and the labor sector of the respondents (p value= 0.049) among the genders. No significant differences were identified among the age groups. (4) Conclusions: Overall, most participants suggested that the Mawid app was easy to use and had a potentially useful set of features to help mitigate and manage the COVID-19 pandemic in Al Hassa, Saudi Arabia. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Impact of Mobile Technology in the Battle against COVID-19: Successes and Failures)
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19 pages, 1617 KiB  
Article
The Impact of Using mHealth Apps on Improving Public Health Satisfaction during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Digital Content Value Chain Perspective
by Junwei Cao, Guihua Zhang and Dong Liu
Healthcare 2022, 10(3), 479; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare10030479 - 04 Mar 2022
Cited by 19 | Viewed by 5776
Abstract
The use of mobile technology and equipment has been found to be successful in the governance of public health. In the context of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, mobile health (mhealth) apps are expected to play an important role in the governance [...] Read more.
The use of mobile technology and equipment has been found to be successful in the governance of public health. In the context of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, mobile health (mhealth) apps are expected to play an important role in the governance of public health. This study establishes a structural equation model based on the digital content value chain framework, identifies the main values created by mhealth apps in the prevention and control of COVID-19, and surveys 500 citizens of China. The data were analyzed using an independent t-test and partial least squares structural equations (PLS-SEM). The results showed that people who use mhealth apps are more satisfied with public health governance than those who do not; the healthcare assurance value of mhealth apps and healthcare confidence positively influence the interaction between users and mhealth app functions, the interaction with information, and the interaction with doctors to improve users’ satisfaction with public health governance; and the parasocial relationships between doctors and users of mhealth apps positively affect the interactions between users and doctors to improve users’ satisfaction with public health governance. This study confirms the potential of mhealth apps toward improving public health governance during the COVID-19 pandemic from a new perspective and provides a new theoretical basis whereby mobile technology can contribute toward improving public health governance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Impact of Mobile Technology in the Battle against COVID-19: Successes and Failures)
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18 pages, 956 KiB  
Article
Usability of Telemedicine Mobile Applications during COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia: A Heuristic Evaluation of Patient User Interfaces
by Raniah N. Aldekhyyel, Jwaher A. Almulhem and Samar Binkheder
Healthcare 2021, 9(11), 1574; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9111574 - 18 Nov 2021
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 4175
Abstract
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has impacted the use of telemedicine application (apps), which has seen an uprise. This study evaluated the usability of the user interface design of telemedicine apps deployed during the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia. It also explored [...] Read more.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has impacted the use of telemedicine application (apps), which has seen an uprise. This study evaluated the usability of the user interface design of telemedicine apps deployed during the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia. It also explored changes to the apps’ usability based on the pandemic timeline. Methods: We screened ten mHealth apps published by the National Digital Transformation Unit and selected three telemedicine apps: (1) governmental “Seha”® app, (2) stand-alone “Cura”® app, and (3) private “Dr. Sulaiman Alhabib”®app. We conducted the evaluations in April 2020 and in June 2021 by identifying positive app features, using Nielsen’s ten usability heuristics with a five-point severity rating scale, and documenting redesign recommendations. Results: We identified 54 user interface usability issues during both evaluation periods: 18 issues in “Seha” 14 issues in “Cura”, and 22 issues in “Dr. Sulaiman Alhabib”. The two most heuristic items violated in “Seha”, were “user control and freedom” and “recognition rather than recall”. In “Cura”, the three most heuristic items violated were “consistency and adherence to standards”, “esthetic and minimalist design”, and “help and documentation” In “Dr. Sulaiman Alhabib” the most heuristic item violated was “error prevention”. Ten out of the thirty usability issues identified from our first evaluation were no longer identified during our second evaluation. Conclusions: our findings indicate that all three apps have a room for improving their user interface designs to improve the overall user experience and to ensure the continuity of these services beyond the pandemic. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Impact of Mobile Technology in the Battle against COVID-19: Successes and Failures)
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8 pages, 1575 KiB  
Communication
Patient Experiences with the Transition to Telephone Counseling during the COVID-19 Pandemic
by Augustine W. Kang, Mary Walton, Ariel Hoadley, Courtney DelaCuesta, Linda Hurley and Rosemarie Martin
Healthcare 2021, 9(6), 663; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9060663 - 02 Jun 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 4205
Abstract
Background: To identify and document the treatment experiences among patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) in the context of the rapid move from in-person to telephone counseling due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Participants (n = 237) completed a survey with open-ended [...] Read more.
Background: To identify and document the treatment experiences among patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) in the context of the rapid move from in-person to telephone counseling due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Participants (n = 237) completed a survey with open-ended questions that included the following domains: (1) satisfaction with telephone counseling, (2) perceived convenience, (3) changes to the therapeutic relationship, (4) perceived impact on substance use recovery, and (5) general feedback. Responses were coded using thematic analysis. Codes were subsequently organized into themes and subthemes (covering 98% of responses). Interrater reliability for coding of participants’ responses ranged from 0.89 to 0.95. Results: Overall, patients reported that telephone counseling improved the therapeutic experience. Specifically, 74% of respondents were coded as providing responses consistently indicating “positive valency”. “Positive valency” responses include: (1) feeling supported, (2) greater comfort and privacy, (3) increased access to counselors, and (4) resolved transportation barriers. Conversely, “negative valency” responses include: (1) impersonal experience and (2) reduced privacy. Conclusions: Telephone counseling presents its own set of challenges that should be investigated further to improve the quality of care and long-term patient outcomes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Impact of Mobile Technology in the Battle against COVID-19: Successes and Failures)
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12 pages, 970 KiB  
Article
Healthcare Professionals’ Role in Social Media Public Health Campaigns: Analysis of Spanish Pro Vaccination Campaign on Twitter
by Ivan Herrera-Peco, Beatriz Jiménez-Gómez, Juan José Peña Deudero, Elvira Benitez De Gracia and Carlos Ruiz-Núñez
Healthcare 2021, 9(6), 662; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9060662 - 02 Jun 2021
Cited by 22 | Viewed by 4707
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has generated a great impact worldwide both on the population health but also on an economic and social level. In this health emergency, a key element has been and still is the need for information, which has become a daily [...] Read more.
The COVID-19 pandemic has generated a great impact worldwide both on the population health but also on an economic and social level. In this health emergency, a key element has been and still is the need for information, which has become a daily concern for many people. Social media represent powerful tools for searching and gathering health-related information, thus becoming a new place where health authorities need to be present to disseminate information of preventive measures like vaccines against COVID-19, as well as try to block information against these public health measures. The main goal of this study was to analyze the role that healthcare professionals have in Twitter to support the campaign of public institutions on vaccination against COVID-19. To address this study, an analysis of the messages sent on Twitter containing the hashtag #yomevacuno, between 12 December 2020 was developed using the NodeXL software (Social Media Research Foundation, Redwood, CA, USA), focusing on content analysis of tweets and users’ accounts to identify healthcare professionals. The results show that healthcare professionals represent only 11.38% of users, being responsible for 6.35% of impressions generated by the network #yomevacuno. We can observe that traffic information generated by healthcare professionals is not significant in comparison with institutions (p = 0.633), but it is compared to common users (p = 0.0014). The most active healthcare professionals were pharmacists (40.17%), nurses (27.17%), and physicians (12.14%). Their activity (90.43% of messages) was mainly focused on sharing messages generated by other users’ accounts. From original content generated by healthcare professionals, only 78.95% had a favorable storytelling on the vaccine, but without sharing information about vaccines or vaccination. As a conclusion for this study, the participation of healthcare professionals in the dissemination and generation of information within the #yomevacuno communication strategy, led by the Spanish Ministry of Health, has been scarce. We emphasize the need to enhance communication skills in social networks to support public health campaigns through these increasingly important social media. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Impact of Mobile Technology in the Battle against COVID-19: Successes and Failures)
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10 pages, 1959 KiB  
Article
Dramatic Increases in Telehealth-Related Tweets during the Early COVID-19 Pandemic: A Sentiment Analysis
by Tiffany Champagne-Langabeer, Michael W. Swank, Shruthi Manas, Yuqi Si and Kirk Roberts
Healthcare 2021, 9(6), 634; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9060634 - 27 May 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2448
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a large expansion of telehealth, but little is known about user sentiment. Tweets containing the terms “telehealth” and “telemedicine” were extracted (n = 192,430) from the official Twitter API between November 2019 and April 2020. A random subset [...] Read more.
The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a large expansion of telehealth, but little is known about user sentiment. Tweets containing the terms “telehealth” and “telemedicine” were extracted (n = 192,430) from the official Twitter API between November 2019 and April 2020. A random subset of 2000 tweets was annotated by trained readers to classify tweets according to their content, including telehealth, sentiment, user type, and relation to COVID-19. A state-of-the-art NLP model (Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers, BERT) was used to categorize the remaining tweets. Following a low and fairly stable level of activity, telehealth tweets rose dramatically beginning the first week of March 2020. The sentiment was overwhelmingly positive or neutral, with only a small percentage of negative tweets. Users included patients, clinicians, vendors (entities that promote the use of telehealth technology or services), and others, which represented the largest category. No significant differences were seen in sentiment across user groups. The COVID-19 pandemic produced a large increase in user tweets related to telehealth and COVID-19, and user sentiment suggests that most people feel positive or neutral about telehealth Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Impact of Mobile Technology in the Battle against COVID-19: Successes and Failures)
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16 pages, 2211 KiB  
Article
The Digital Divide in the Era of COVID-19: An Investigation into an Important Obstacle to the Access to the mHealth by the Citizen
by Daniele Giansanti and Giulia Veltro
Healthcare 2021, 9(4), 371; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9040371 - 26 Mar 2021
Cited by 34 | Viewed by 4259
Abstract
In general, during the COVID-19 pandemic there has been a growth in the use of digital technological solutions in many sectors, from that of consumption, to Digital Health and in particular to mobile health (mHealth) where an important role has been [...] Read more.
In general, during the COVID-19 pandemic there has been a growth in the use of digital technological solutions in many sectors, from that of consumption, to Digital Health and in particular to mobile health (mHealth) where an important role has been played by mobile technology (mTech). However, this has not always happened in a uniform way. In fact, in many cases, citizens found themselves unable to take advantage of these opportunities due to the phenomenon of the Digital Divide (DD). It depends on multifaceted aspects ranging from the lack of access to instrumental and network resources, to cultural and social barriers and also to possible forms of communication disability. In the study we set ourselves the articulated goal of developing a probing methodology that addresses the problems connected to DD in a broad sense, capable of minimizing the bias of a purely electronic submission and evaluating its effectiveness and outcome. At the moment, we have submitted the survey both electronically (with an embedded solution to spread it inside the families/acquaintances) and using the wire phone. The results highlighted three polarities (a) the coherence of the two methods; (b) the outcome of the entire submission in relation to key issues (e.g., familiarity on contact tracing Apps, medical Apps, social Apps, messaging Apps, Digital-health, non-medical Apps); (c) a Digital Divide strongly dependent on age and in particular for the elderly is mainly evident in the use of mTech in general and in particular in mHealth applications. Future developments of the study foresee, after adequate data-mining, an in-depth study of all the aspects proposed in the survey, from those relating to access to resources, training, disability and other cultural factors. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Impact of Mobile Technology in the Battle against COVID-19: Successes and Failures)
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Review

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15 pages, 306 KiB  
Review
COVID-19 and the Infodemic: An Overview of the Role and Impact of Social Media, the Evolution of Medical Knowledge, and Emerging Problems
by Francesca Corinti, Daniela Pontillo and Daniele Giansanti
Healthcare 2022, 10(4), 732; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare10040732 - 14 Apr 2022
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2327
Abstract
The infodemic is an important component of the cyber-risk in regard to the poor and uncontrolled dissemination of information related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study was to perform a narrative review based on three points of view to allow [...] Read more.
The infodemic is an important component of the cyber-risk in regard to the poor and uncontrolled dissemination of information related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study was to perform a narrative review based on three points of view to allow for an overall picture of this issue. The points of view focused on: (a) the volume of use of social media (a key element of the infodemic) and the position of international health domain bodies; (b) the evolution of scientific production in the life sciences; (c) emerging issues. The research methodology was based on Google and PubMed searches and a qualification process based on a standard checklist and an evaluation of eligibility based on parameters with five score levels applied by two experts (plus one in case of discrepancy). The three points of view stressed the key role of social media as a dissemination tool of the infodemic among citizens. The impact on citizens depends on various social factors and involves indirect (e.g., vaccine avoidance) and direct risks such as mental problems and the risk of suicide. The widespread diffusion of social media, conveyed by mobile technologies, also suggests their use as countermeasures, calibrated based on citizens’ level of both technological and health literacy. Effective and promising countermeasures in this direction are based both on initiatives of contact by apps or SMS and the collection of data based on surveys and finalized to the particular intervention. The review also suggests as further areas of in-depth research: (a) to combat high-level infodemic produced by scientific publications that are not yet official (preprint) or that have undergone peer review with bias/distortion; (b) focusing on the impact of the infodemic considering its spread in different languages. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Impact of Mobile Technology in the Battle against COVID-19: Successes and Failures)
16 pages, 563 KiB  
Review
A Narrative Review of the Launch and the Deployment of Telemedicine in Italy during the COVID-19 Pandemic
by Daniele Giansanti, Giovanni Morone, Alice Loreti, Marco Germanotta and Irene Aprile
Healthcare 2022, 10(3), 415; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare10030415 - 23 Feb 2022
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 1889
Abstract
Telemedicine is making an important contribution to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and to supporting the health domain. Its use has registered initial problems with often-patchy practise. The objective of this study was to analyze the launch and deployment of telemedicine in [...] Read more.
Telemedicine is making an important contribution to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and to supporting the health domain. Its use has registered initial problems with often-patchy practise. The objective of this study was to analyze the launch and deployment of telemedicine in Italy through a narrative review. The narrative review faced two points of view: (a) the first point of view revised the institutional initiatives of the Italian government developed to promote the use of telemedicine; (b) the second point of view reviewed the evolution of scientific literature in the sector, with reference to the Italian situation. In the second point of view, we applied both a standard narrative checklist and an eligibility approach. The first point of view reported an analysis of national documents aimed at promoting, through indications and recommendations, the use of telemedicine. The second point of view analyzed 39 qualified references. The analysis highlighted: (a) that initially, there was a disorientation, followed by reflections that emerged immediately after; (b) a telemedicine application not only in the traditional sectors (e.g., diabetology, cardiology, oncology, neurology) but also in new and fields never explored before; and (c) a high level of acceptance and a desire to continue in the after-pandemic future (which emerged in some studies through dedicated questionnaires). The study offers stimuli for both stakeholders and scholars to improve the use of telemedicine during the pandemic and in the future. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Impact of Mobile Technology in the Battle against COVID-19: Successes and Failures)
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Other

3 pages, 183 KiB  
Reply
Reply to Giansanti et al. The Accessibility and the Digital Divide in the Apps during the COVID-19. Comment on “Cao et al. The Impact of Using mHealth Apps on Improving Public Health Satisfaction during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Digital Content Value Chain Perspective. Healthcare 2022, 10, 479”
by Junwei Cao, Guihua Zhang and Dong Liu
Healthcare 2022, 10(7), 1259; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare10071259 - 06 Jul 2022
Viewed by 1033
Abstract
Thank you for your suggestions for our article [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Impact of Mobile Technology in the Battle against COVID-19: Successes and Failures)
3 pages, 207 KiB  
Comment
The Accessibility and the Digital Divide in the Apps during the COVID-19. Comment on Cao et al. The Impact of Using mHealth Apps on Improving Public Health Satisfaction during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Digital Content Value Chain Perspective. Healthcare 2022, 10, 479
by Daniele Giansanti, Antonia Pirrera and Paola Meli
Healthcare 2022, 10(7), 1252; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare10071252 - 05 Jul 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1304
Abstract
We are writing to you as the corresponding author of the interesting study “The Impact of Using mHealth Apps on Improving Public Health Satisfaction during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Digital Content Value Chain Perspective” [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Impact of Mobile Technology in the Battle against COVID-19: Successes and Failures)
7 pages, 524 KiB  
Project Report
Technologies to Support Frailty, Disability, and Rare Diseases: Towards a Monitoring Experience during the COVID-19 Pandemic Emergency
by Daniele Giansanti, Antonia Pirrera, Paola Meli, Mauro Grigioni, Marta De Santis and Domenica Taruscio
Healthcare 2022, 10(2), 235; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare10020235 - 26 Jan 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1914
Abstract
This report illustrates the design and results of an activity of surveillance proposed by the National Centre for Innovative Technologies in Public Health and the National Centre for Rare Diseases of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità with the aim of monitoring the state-of-use [...] Read more.
This report illustrates the design and results of an activity of surveillance proposed by the National Centre for Innovative Technologies in Public Health and the National Centre for Rare Diseases of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità with the aim of monitoring the state-of-use of technologies by people with frailty, disabilities, and rare diseases. The results of the surveillance activity reported in this report are as follows: (a) An international Webinar; (b) A Full report published by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS); (c) an electronic survey tool, for periodic monitoring; (d) an initial summary of the survey (15 September–30 November 2020), giving an overall picture relating to the state-of-use of technologies by the interviewed; (e) an understanding of the needs that emerged, causing reflection on the current state-of-the-art and offering important stimuli for all the stakeholders involved. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Impact of Mobile Technology in the Battle against COVID-19: Successes and Failures)
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16 pages, 2130 KiB  
Opinion
The Vaccination Process against the COVID-19: Opportunities, Problems and mHealth Support
by Rossella Simeoni, Giovanni Maccioni and Daniele Giansanti
Healthcare 2021, 9(9), 1165; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9091165 - 06 Sep 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2799
Abstract
The vaccination against the COVID-19, finally available, has the potential to represent an important defence against the pandemic. The identification of both obstacles and tools to combat them are, at this moment, of strategic importance. Previous experiences on vaccinations have shown solutions and [...] Read more.
The vaccination against the COVID-19, finally available, has the potential to represent an important defence against the pandemic. The identification of both obstacles and tools to combat them are, at this moment, of strategic importance. Previous experiences on vaccinations have shown solutions and paths to take, also based on the behavioural sciences. The objective of the opinion is to face how mobile technology can help us both to fight these problems and to optimize the vaccination process. The opinion has four polarities. The first polarity consists in having detected the problems hampering an effective vaccination process. These problems have been grouped into the following four: Electronic and Informatic divide, Escape, Exposure risk, and Equity. The second polarity consists in having verified how the mobile technology can be useful to face the identified problems. The third polarity highlights the usefulness and importance of using electronic surveys. These tools are based on mobile technology. They are useful problem sensors for the stakeholders. The fourth polarity faces how mobile technology and mHealth can be of aid to optimize the flow of the vaccination process, from the first call up to the certification. This polarity is supported by an example based on the Italian national App IO. The study highlights: (a) on one side, the potential of mobile technology; on the other side, the need for interventions to reduce the digital divide with the purpose to increase its use. (b) How the role of mobile technology can be complementary to other intervention methods. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Impact of Mobile Technology in the Battle against COVID-19: Successes and Failures)
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