mHealth in Practice

Therehasrecentlybeenanexplosionofinterestaroundtheapplicationofmobilecommunicationtechnologiestosupporthealthinitiativesindevelopingcountries(mHealth).Asaresult,thereisaneedtopromoteandsharerigorousresearchforbetterinformedpolicy,programming,andinvestment.Thereare,however,fewplatformsfortheexchangeofinformationandprovenpracticebetweenpractitionersandresearchers.Thesubtopicofprevention,well-being,andhealthpromotionwithinmHealthisparticularlyripefordeeperexploration.Whilemanyreportstoutthepotentialofmobilestoinfluencebehaviourchangeforhealth,thereislimitedknowledgeaboutwhatworks(andwhatdoesnotwork),andabouthowtoevaluatecurrentandfutureprograms.Thisisafocusededitedvolumewithcontributionsfromleadingresearchersandpractitionerstoidentifybestpracticesinusingmobiletechnologiestopromotehealthybehaviours(andreduceunhealthyones)inresource-constrainedsettingswithaspecialfocusondevelopingcountries.Thistopicisinherentlyinterdisciplinary.Thoughtheopportunitiestoleveragemobilephonesforhealtharenew,thechallengesconfrontingresearchersandpractitionersarewell-establishedandtheoreticallycomplex,withrootsindecadesofworkonmediatedbehaviourchangecampaignsandtheories.,