Digital Health Intervention Design and Evaluation for Public Health Promotion

Dear Colleagues,

Digital health interventions have the potential to promote healthy behaviors among the public (e.g., increase physical activity, support healthier eating habits, encourage responsible use of antibiotics, promote smoking cessation or safe sex). While there is an abundance literature on the application of such interventions (e.g., mobile apps, websites, or social networking technologies have been frequently used) the majority of this literature, as expected, tends to focus on the evaluation of their effectiveness on health outcomes rather than the documentation of the design process itself. In addition, when evaluating effectiveness, the true effect of digital health interventions is frequently hindered because a) in many cases, digital technologies form part of larger interventions that involve also face to face counselling or other methods of health promotion; b) digital health interventions can consist of several design components (that serve different purposes ranging from behavior change and social interaction to group support and information sharing), making it difficult to understand the individual and systemic/collective effect of these components on health outcomes or the intervention’s usability, safety, and sustainability. Papers addressing these challenges are invited for this Special Issue. Submitted manuscripts should report original work combining empirical research with a practical focus on aspects related to the design and evaluation of digital health interventions for public health promotion.

Dr. Panos Balatsoukas
Dr. Isabel Sassoon
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2500 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.