Admission requirements
Open to all master students Psychology. The course provides a broad view on eHealth in a diverse range of health care settings.
Description
In ‘Innovations in eHealth care’, we provide students an introduction to eHealth, also referred to as digital health, and its impact on contemporary healthcare practices. Each lecture centers on a specific healthcare domain, spanning from mental healthcare to rehabilitation, from prevention and lifestyle modifications to managing chronic diseases and fostering self-care. Within each domain, we provide a comprehensive overview of the current landscape of eHealth tools and applications, exploring how they work, their effectiveness, and their integration into existing healthcare practices. This course encompasses a wide range of eHealth functionalities, including online treatments, smartphone applications, serious gaming, web portals, and blended eHealth solutions, thereby showing the innovations now shaping modern healthcare practices.
In addition to examining existing eHealth tools and applications, this course delves into the theoretical and practical foundations of eHealth development and design. We will explore crucial questions such as, "How do you ensure alignment with the needs and skills of your target group?" and "What strategies can be employed to facilitate the adoption and active usage of eHealth applications?". To bridge theory with practice, students will collaborate in small groups to develop an eHealth application prototype. Specifically, students will follow the steps outlined in the ‘CeHRes Roadmap’ to develop their own eHealth intervention prototype to help address a modern real-world healthcare challenge. By the end of this course, students will not only have gained comprehensive knowledge of eHealth, but also developed practical skills essential to conceptualise, design, and refine eHealth solutions tailored to specific healthcare challenges. Students will thus gain a forerunner position regarding developing innovative eHealth interventions and implementation strategies within the dynamic landscape of modern healthcare practices.
Course objectives
At the end of the course, the student can:
explain the basic principles of eHealth innovations.
give examples of a broad range of eHealth tools and applications – utilized across various healthcare domains related to Health-, Medical and Neuropsychology – and explain how they are used to improve healthcare.
explain how eHealth interventions can be developed, implemented and evaluated based on theoretical models and practical considerations.
analyze the determinants of a current real-world healthcare challenge among a certain target population based on theoretical models.
apply theoretical models regarding eHealth development to develop an eHealth intervention prototype addressing a current real-world healthcare challenge.
explore the needs and skills of a chosen target group to help develop and refine an eHealth intervention to fit their needs and skills.
Timetable
For the timetable of this course please refer to MyTimetable
Registration
Education
Students must register themselves for all course components (lectures, tutorials and practicals) they wish to follow. You can register up to 5 days prior to the start of the course.
Mode of instruction
The course consists of seven meetings, each lasting two hours. The first six meetings are lectures, while the seventh meeting is a presentation session. Additionally, students are expected to dedicate time outside of lecture hours to work on the design assignment, which will be an ongoing assignment throughout the duration of the course.
Course overview:
Six lectures of two hours: to cover the relevant literature and provide knowledge on eHealth applications in healthcare and discuss theory and practices on eHealth development, implementation and evaluation.
One presentation meeting of two hours: every subgroup presents their own eHealth intervention prototype.
Homework assignment throughout the course: to practice developing an eHealth intervention and evaluate and refine its content and design with the target group. Within subgroups, students make their own schedule on when and where to work on the assignment, guided by a concrete timeline provided in the course reader. Feedback will be provided on the proposal by the course coordinators and further support is provided during the lectures to discuss questions or problems.
Assessment
Grading will be based on three assessments:
1. Writing a group report on the developmental process of the eHealth intervention, incorporating scientific literature (grade);
2. Group presentation of the eHealth intervention prototype during the last session of the course (grade);
3. Individual short report presenting a plan for operationalisation and evaluation of the developed intervention prototype. (grade).
Grading will be based on the presentation (20%), the group report (60%) and the individual report (20%). All assignments need to be ≥ 5.0 or retaken after feedback (because the assignment is the same a maximum grade 6 can be obtained). No resits are available when the final grade is > 5.5.
The Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences has instituted that instructors use a software programme for the systematic detection of plagiarism in students’ written work. All students are required to take and pass the Scientific Integrity Test with a score of 100% in order to learn about the practice of integrity in scientific writing. Students are given access to the quiz via a module on Brightspace. In case of fraud disciplinary actions will be taken. Please see the information concerning fraud.
Reading list
- eHealth Research, Theory and Development: a multidisciplinary approach (2018). 1st edition. Routledge: Oxford (freely online available via University Library)
Contact
Dr. Linda Breeman & Dr. Sylvia van Beugen ehealth@fsw.leidenuniv.nl