PathMate: Effects of Ubiquitous Healthcare IS on Performance of Obesity Expert and Teenager Teams

PathMate

The PathMate project has the objective to build and evaluate a mobile healthcare information system that has direct effects on the performance of obesity expert and teenager teams and indirect effects on the outcomes of obesity programs in Switzerland.

Limited personnel resources and costs have a negative impact on the health supply in obesity therapy and prevention programs for teenagers. However, multi-professional and moderate to high-intensity interventions are strongly recommended to have positive effects on outcomes. This project has therefore the objective to build and evaluate a mobile healthcare information system (MHIS) that has direct effects on the performance of obesity expert and teenager teams and indirect effects on the outcomes of obesity programs in Switzerland.

It will be investigated how to design UHIS collaboratively with obesity experts and obese teenagers by applying design science research. During the evaluation phase, special emphasis is given to the investigation of direct effects of MHIS on the communication, collaboration and mutual understanding between obesity experts and teenagers. The effects on group performance are measured by group cohesion and group commitment. Furthermore, indirect effects on general obesity program outcomes will be investigated. Direct and indirect effects of the MHIS are evaluated by pre-tests and two in-depth longitudinal case studies with teenagers as part of an exiting individual obesity therapy at Ostschweizer Kinderspital in St. Gallen and an obesity prevention program at the Gymnasium du Bugnon in Lausanne led by the University of Lausanne.

Thus, the MHIS will be available in German- and French­speaking versions at the end of the project. Finally, recommendations are discussed for improved obesity programs and a special emphasis will be given on the broader impact of team performance enhanced by MHIS on therapy outcomes of other diseases.

Publications

Durrer, D., Kowatsch, T., l’Allemand, D., Büchter, D., Pletikosa Cvijikj, I., Maass, W., Schutz, Y. (2017) Mobile Health Information System Tailored for Obesity Prevention and Treatment (PathMate) in Teenagers, 8th Fribourg Obesity Research Conference (FORC-2015) Abstracts, Obesity Reviews 18 (Suppl. 1), p. 88 (PDF).

Büchter, D., Kowatsch, T., Brogle, B., Dintheer, A., Wiegand, D., Pletikosa Cvijikj, I., Durrer, D., Schutz, Y., Maass, W., Laimbacher, J., l’Allemand, D. (2017) Does a Health Information Technology System developed by Children and their Parents improve Obesity Therapy? 8th Fribourg Obesity Research Conference (FORC-2015) Abstracts, Obesity Reviews 18 (Suppl. 1), p. 88 (PDF).

Kowatsch, T., Büchter, D., Pletikosa Cvijikj, I., Xu, R., Brogle, B., Dintheer, A., Wiegand, D., l’Allemand, D., Maass, W. (2015) Design and Preliminary Evaluation of a Mobile Application for Obesity Experts and Children Teams, Obesity Reviews 16 (S1): Poster Abstracts from the 7th Fribourg Obesity Research Conference (FORC-2013) – Pathways from dieting to weight regain, to obesity and to the metabolic syndrome, p. 96. (PDF)

Xu, R., Pletikosa Cvijikj, I., Kowatsch, T., Michahelles, F., Büchter, D., Brogle, B., Dintheer, A., l’Allemand, D., Maass, W. (2014) Tell Me What to Eat – Design and Evaluation of a Mobile Companion Helping Obese Children and their Parents to Plan Nutrition Intake, in: Ambient Intelligence – European Conference, AmI 2014, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, November 11-13, 2014. Revised Selected Papers, E. Aarts, B. de Ruyter, P. Markopoulos, E. van Loenen, R. Wichert, B. Schouten, J. Terken, R. Van Kranenburg, E. Den Ouden and G. O’Hare (eds.), Springer, Berlin, Germany, pp. 100-113. (PDF).

Büchter, D., Kowatsch, T., Brogle, B., Dintheer, A., Wiegand, D., Pletikosa Cvijikj, I., Maass, W., l’Allemand, D., Laimbacher, J. (2014) Home Support of Obese Children and Adolescents by Means of Health Information Technology System: A Pilot Study for a Psychosomatic Based Therapy Concept, Supplement Pediatrics. Swiss Medical Weekly, 144(Suppl 203), p. 17. ***foederatio Paedo medico rum helveticorum (fPmh) Award of the Annual Congress 2014***(PDF)

Büchter, D., Kowatsch, T., Pletikosa Cvijikj, I., Schutz, Y., l’Allemand, D., Maass, W., Laimbacher, J. (2014) A Longitudinal Study Assessing an IT-supported Neurological Feedback in Obesity Intervention for Children and Adolescents Emotional Self Control, Supplement Pediatrics, Swiss Medical Weekly, 144(Suppl 203), p. 21. (PDF)

Büchter, D., Kowatsch, T., Pletikosa Cvijikj, I., Schutz, Y., l’Allemand, D., Maass, W., Laimbacher, J. (2014) A Longitudinal Study Assessing an IT-supported Neurological Feedback in Obesity Intervention for Children and Adolescents Emotional Self Control (Poster), Annual Congress of the foederatio Paedo medico rum helveticorum (fPmh), Bern, Switzerland. (PDF)

Kowatsch, T., Maass, W., Pletikosa Cvijikj, I., Xu, R., Büchter, D., Brogle, B., Dintheer, A., Wiegand, D., Durrer, D., Schutz, Y., l’Allemand, D. (2014) Design of a Health Information System Enhancing the Performance of Obesity Expert and Children Teams, European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS), Tel Aviv, Israel. (PDF)

Pletikosa Cvijikj, I., Kowatsch, T., Büchter, D., Brogle, B., Dintheer, A., Wiegand, D., Durrer, D., l’Allemand, D., Schutz, Y., Maass, W. (2014) Health Information System for Obesity Prevention and Treatment of Children and Adolescents, European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS), Tel Aviv, Israel. (PDF)

Maass, W. (2013) PathMate: Effects of Ubiquitous Healthcare Information Systems on Performance of Obesity Expert and Teenager Teams, Poster Presentation at the Swiss Inter- and Transdisciplinarity Day. Bern, Switzerland, 2013. (PDF)

Kowatsch, T., Büchter, D., Pletikosa Cvijikj, I., Xu, R., Brogle, B., Dintheer, A., Wiegand, D., l’Allemand, D., Maass, W. (2013) Design and Preliminary Evaluation of a Mobile Application for Obesity Experts and Children Teams, Poster presented at the 7th Fribourg Obesity Research Conference (FORC-2013) – Pathways from Dieting to Weight Regain, to Obesity & to Metabolic Syndrome, Fribourg, Switzerland. (PDF)

Kowatsch, T., Maass, W. (2013) Towards Empirically Validated Ubiquitous Information Systems: Results from a Pretest and Three Empirical Studies, 21th European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS), Utrecht, The Netherlands. (PDF)

Brogle, B. (2012) Mit «PathMate» neue Wege finden – Technologie-System gegen Übergewicht – für gesunden Lebensstil, Ostschweizer Kinderspital Fokus 2, S. 22 (PDF)

Press release, June 2012 (PDF)

Maass, W., and Varshney, W., (2012) Design and Evaluation of Ubiquitous Information Systems and Use in Healthcare, Decision Support Systems (54:1), 597-609.

Maass, W., Kowatsch, T., Janzen, S., Filler, A., (2012) Applying Situation-Service Fit to Physical Environments Enhanced by Ubiquitous Information Systems, 20th European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS 2012), Barcelona, Spain. (PDF)

Maass, W., Storey, V. C., Kowatsch, T. (2011) Effects of External Conceptual Models and Verbal Explanations On Shared Understanding in Small Groups, Conceptual Modeling, ER 2011, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Springer, 92-103. (PDF)

Janzen, S., Kowatsch, T. & Maass, W. (2010) A Methodology for Content-Centered Design of Ambient Environments, DESRIST 2010: Global Perspectives on Design Science Research, St. Gallen, Switzerland. (PDF)

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Working Group

Tobias Kowatsch, Wolfgang Maass, Elgar Fleisch

Budget

CHF 360.000

Runtime

March 2012 – Feb 2015

Partners
Ostschweizer Kinderspital St. Gallen
Funding
The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)
Contact