Research Group Digital Health at WI 2023

Last week, the research group showcased their work at the WI 2023 conference in Paderborn, presenting two papers:

Navigating within the Digitalization Journey: Results and Implications of the First Maturity Assessment of German Public Health Agencies: The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the urgency for Public Health Agencies to advance their digital maturity. To assist these agencies in their digitalization efforts, a Public Health Agency Maturity Model (PHAMM) was developed, evaluated, and implemented by 366 institutions. It aimed to assess their digital maturity and prioritize actions within digitalization projects. This paper delves into the digital maturity of German public health institutions and provides initial insights across the PHAMM dimensions.

Notably, this paper involved contributions from Katja Bley from the Chair of Wirtschaftsinforamtik, especially Information Systems in Industry and Trade, as well as our project partners from Fraunhofer FIT in Bayreuth. We are particularly delighted to highlight the publication efforts of our students, Nick Heidmann and Felix Reinsch, who contributed to this paper.

Building Habits in the Digital Age: Incorporating Psychological Needs and Knowledge from Practitioners to Inform the Design of Digital Therapeutics: Many interventions for noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) necessitate behavior change. In this context, cultivating habitual behaviors (i.e., habits) is deemed effective in promoting behavioral changes. Forming habits can be challenging, but digital support can aid in habit formation. This paper scrutinizes the prerequisites for habit formation and conducts a content analysis of how these prerequisites are implemented in habit-forming applications.

This paper represents an internal group effort, involving our student Felix Reinsch. The research group is thrilled to have had the opportunity to share these insights at the WI 2023 conference and looks forward to future collaborations and research endeavors.

In addition to the presentation of the two research papers, the Digital Health specialist group of the Gesellschaft für Informatik (German Informatics Society) invited to the annual specialist group meeting at WI 2023. Dr Hannes Schlieter as co-spokesperson of the group, together with Prof Daniel Fürstenau, gave a review of the last year. In addition to positively developing membership figures, the specialist group is pleased that it was able to establish its "theme salons" - a format conceived as a digital lunch break - in the digital health community. Furthermore, the commentary on the BMG's digitisation strategy, the commentary on the Health Data Usage Act (Gesundheitsdaten-Nutzungs-Gesetz - GDNG), the contribution in the GI-Radar on the topic of "App auf Rezept" (app on prescription) as well as the corresponding article in the Bundesgesundheitsblatt are outstanding results of the group and its members.