@Article{info:doi/10.2196/mhealth.2927,
author="Forjuoh, Samuel N
and Ory, Marcia G
and Wang, Suojin
and des Bordes, Jude KA
and Hong, Yan",
title="Using the iPod Touch for Patient Health Behavior Assessment and Health Promotion in Primary Care",
journal="JMIR Mhealth Uhealth",
year="2014",
month="Mar",
day="21",
volume="2",
number="1",
pages="e14",
keywords="iPod touch; behavior change; health behavior assessment; health promotion and disease prevention; patient-physician communication; mobile health technology; mHealth",
abstract="Background: There is a growing recognition of the importance of lifestyle behavior change for health promotion and disease prevention, as well as the concomitant influence of patient--physician communication on effective behavior change. Mobile technology is increasingly being recognized as an important and efficient tool to collect patients' health behavior data and facilitate patient--physician communication. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of an iPod touch-based health behavior assessment (HBA) tool in enhancing patient--physician collaborative goal-setting for health promotion in primary care. Methods: A total of 109 patients from three primary care clinics in central Texas completed a brief HBA, which was programmed on an iPod touch device. An instant feedback report was generated for the patient and their physician simultaneously to facilitate collaborative goal-setting. Within approximately 7 days of the HBA, the patients were phoned for a follow-up survey for their feedback on the iPod touch--based HBA and resultant patient--physician communication. Results: Patients were able to complete an HBA on the iPod touch with ease. Among those who completed the follow-up survey (n=83), 30{\%} (25/83) reported that their physicians discussed the HBA report with them, while 29{\%} (24/83) established behavior change goals with them. More than 90{\%} (75/83) of the patients reported positive experiences with the iPod touch--based HBA. Conclusions: It is feasible to use mobile tools for HBA in the primary care setting. The HBA also facilitated patient--physician communication on behavior change. However, more research is needed on the effectiveness of large scale dissemination of mobile-based HBA technology on health communication and behavior change for preventing or managing lifestyle-related chronic conditions, such as obesity, diabetes, cancer, or heart diseases. ",
issn="2291-5222",
doi="10.2196/mhealth.2927",
url="http://mhealth.jmir.org/2014/1/e14/",
url="https://doi.org/10.2196/mhealth.2927",
url="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25100308"
}