The Digital Health Landscape in Addiction and Substance Use Research: Will Digital Health Exacerbate or Mitigate Health
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MOBILE HEALTH (K GARRISON, SECTION EDITOR)
The Digital Health Landscape in Addiction and Substance Use Research: Will Digital Health Exacerbate or Mitigate Health Inequities in Vulnerable Populations? Dina Hamideh 1,2 & Camille Nebeker 3,4,5
# Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Abstract Purpose of Review Novel and emerging digital health technologies are increasingly used in substance use and addiction-related self-management and treatment research. The promise of digital health is exciting, yet there are important factors regarding population characteristics to consider prior to using novel technologies with vulnerable populations. This paper reports a review of scientific literature published between 2015 and early 2020 on the use of digital health strategies in research focused on substance use and addiction in vulnerable populations. Recent Findings Using 13 search terms, three databases were screened for published literature meeting specific inclusion criteria. Common themes expressed across the 32 resulting publications included user acceptability, product reliability, and privacy and security concerns. Summary Implementation of evidence-based frameworks and guidelines is needed to guide future digital health research in vulnerable populations. Guidance should involve robust evaluations of acceptability, feasibility, and clinically meaningful use of digital health in diverse populations experiencing addiction-related health concerns. Keywords Digital health . Mobile health . Telemedicine . Underserved in biomedical research . Addiction . Substance use disorder . Research ethics
Introduction For nearly 60 years, the gradual adoption of telemedicine via information and communication technologies (ICTs) (e.g., tele and videoconferencing, email, wireless tools, phones) has created new opportunities to provide medical information This article is part of the Topical Collection on Mobile Health * Camille Nebeker [email protected] 1
Joint Doctoral Program, University of California, San Diego and San Diego State University, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
2
The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA
3
Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, School of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0811, USA
4
Research Center for Optimal Digital Ethics in Health (ReCODE Health), UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
5
The Design Lab, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
and services to underserved and hard to reach populations(e.g., racial and ethnic minorities, sexual and gender minorities, economically disadvantaged, rural populations) [1, 2]. The scope of telemedicine expanded with the emergence of novel tools like health information technologies (HIT) that utilize the patient’s electronic health record (EHR) to communicate with and about a patient without the need for face to face contact [2, 3••, 4]. ICT-based approaches in health research and healthcare, which include computer-based technologies or “eHealth,” and mobile technologies or “mHealth” and “digital heal
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