Behavior Thinking Should Drive Design in Connected Health

Mar 12, 2018

By John Sharp, Senior Manager, PCHAlliance

At the Innovation Leaders Program at HIMSS18, Heather Cole-Lewis, Director of Behavior Science, Johnson and Johnson Health and Wellness, discussed advancing digital health with behavior science. She and her colleagues from the Society of Behavioral Medicine emphasized three principles in using behavior thinking in personal connected health:

  • People are different
  • Context matters 
  • Things change.

While this may appear as a simplified approach to changing health behavior, she fleshed out these ideas into a comprehensive approach. For instance, we must understand behavior in context. If a person's living situation does not support the behavior change, such as lack of healthy food or support from family, the attempt at change will not be successful. Next, we must focus on sustained behavior change. How can digital tools provide continuing support for long-term health behavior change? Also, we need evidenced-based strategies and calculated risks to spur innovation in digital health. The calculated risks do not necessarily mean a conservative approach but perhaps small innovation with minimal risk that may provide a significant benefit. 

In the design of health apps and devices, we must make sure that every action has a positive impact. Sometimes apps add unnecessary features which do not provide benefits and can lead the user to abandon the app or device. Also, we need to be able to measure success with precision and that does not mean downloads or sign-ins, but rather true changes in behavior and health outcomes. Cole-Lewis recommends creating personas to segment the target population since these different segments may use tech differently and be affected by social determinants of health in unique ways. This personalization leads to greater adoption and sustained use of the technology, increasing the likelihood of success. 

Finally, she recommends that developers document and test assumptions. Ask yourself, for which group did this work and why?

Cole-Lewis also presented with her colleagues from the Society of Behavioral Medicine: David Ahern, Ph.D. from the NIH, John Torous, MD, Beth Israel Medical Center and Amy Bucher from Mad*Pow. PCHAlliance is partnering with the Society of Behavioral Medicine to promote behavior thinking and behavior change in the development of consumer-facing digital health tools.