Digital Health and Wellbeing

Digital Transformation for Person-Driven Integrated Health and Wellbeing

It leverages digital technologies to empower individuals take control of their integrated health and wellbeing. It recognises that health is not just about physical wellness, but it also encompasses mental, emotional, and social aspects.

MOTIVATION

There is a growing body of evidence to support the effectiveness of an integrated approach to health and wellbeing that addresses all aspects of a person’s life, rather than just treating specific symptoms or diseases. This approach recognizes that physical health is interconnected with emotional, mental, social, and emotional health, and that all of these aspects must be in balance in order for an individual to achieve optimal health and wellbeing.

The motivation for a integrated approach also stems from a desire to empower individuals to take an active role in their own health and wellbeing. By focusing on prevention and self-care, individuals can better understand their health and wellbeing, make informed decisions, and make positive changes that can improve their overall quality of life.

Digital technologies can support integrated health and wellbeing by providing tools and platforms that, among others, promote healthy habits, encourage social connection, and support mental and emotional wellness.

More digital health and wellbeing activities can be found here.

Email info@ivi.ie/ marco.alfano@mu.ie for collaboration opportunities.

 

RESEARCH

Digital Transformation for Person-Driven Holistic Health and Wellbeing leverages digital technologies to empower individuals to take control of their integrated health and wellbeing. It is based on three fundamental components:

1. Integrated Health and Wellbeing Model

Suggested Solution: An integrated health and wellbeing model is a framework that takes into account all aspects of an individual’s life, including physical, mental, social, and emotional health. It recognizes that these different aspects of health are interconnected and must be in balance in order for an individual to achieve optimal health and wellbeing.

Activity: An integrated health and wellbeing model is being developed with its health dimensions (e.g., physical, mental, social, and emotional), health statutes (e.g., poor, fair, good), and health aspects/drivers (e.g., vital signs, food, physical activity, sleep). An example can be found at this address.

2. Digital Health and Wellbeing Environment

Suggested Solution: A digital health and wellbeing environment refers to a system that leverages digital technologies to support and enhance various aspects of health and wellbeing. It may include applications, devices, and online resources that provide information, tools, and services aimed at promoting and managing health.

Activity: A digital health and wellbeing environment is being created. It is an interconnected system of people, institutions,  applications/services, data, and infrastructure. It allows individuals to use technology for understanding, monitoring, and improving their overall health and wellbeing. An example of the environment can be found at the Co-health website.

3. Intelligent Empowering Agent

Suggested Solution: An intelligent empowering agent is a digital system that uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning algorithms to provide personalized guidance and support to individuals in all aspects of their health and wellbeing.

Activity: An intelligent empowering agent is being developed. It helps individuals understand their integrated health status, make informed choices, and keep/improve their quality of life by enabling connection/interaction with suitable people, apps, and data of the digital health and wellbeing environment. A prototype of the agent can be found at this address.

One of the key benefits of digital transformation for person-driven integrated health and wellbeing is the ability to personalize health and wellbeing objectives. Digital tools can collect data on an individual’s health and wellbeing, which can then be analyzed and used to provide personalized information and recommendations for diet, exercise, and lifestyle modifications. This approach empowers individuals to achieve their health and wellbeing goals in a way that is tailored to their unique needs and preferences.

Marco Alfano

Researchers:

Person-Driven, Health & Wellbeing Cluster Lead

Dr Marco Alfano

Director of Innovation Value Institute

Professor Markus Helfert

Maryam Nawaz

Simon Hanratty

Person-Driven, Health & Wellbeing Cluster Lead

Dr Marco Alfano

Dr. Marco Alfano is a Senior Researcher at the Innovation Value Institute (IVI), Maynooth University, and leader of the IVI Person-Driven, Health & Wellbeing research cluster. He is also affiliated with Lero, the SFI Research Centre for Software, and receives SFI funding for his research. He is currently working on responsible use of AI in health and well-being by facilitating person/patient empowerment and seamless communication within the healthcare system (http://cohealth.ivi.ie/). His research interests include Responsible AI, Digital Health Transformation, Patient Empowerment, Human-machine communication, Data analytics, Semantic Web, Smart cities, Cybersecurity, and Open Data/Big Data. He has authored more than fifty peer reviewed articles for journals, books, and conferences. He has participated in several European projects and has received grants from international bodies, such as the European Union (under the FP7 and H2020 framework programs), and national bodies, such as Science Foundation Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, and the National Research Council of Italy.

 

Director of Innovation Value Institute

Professor Markus Helfert

Markus Helfert is the Director of IVI and Director of Empower – the SFI funded Programme on Data Governance. He is also Professor of Digital Service Innovation and Director of the Business Informatics Group at Maynooth University. He is a Principle Investigator at Lero – The Irish Software Research Centre and at the Adapt Research Centre. His research is centred on Digital Service Innovation, Smart Cities and IoT based Smart Environments and includes research areas such as Service Innovation, Intelligent Transportation Systems, Smart Services, Building Information Management, FinTech, Data Value, Enterprise Architecture, Technology Adoption, Analytics, Business Process Managem ent. Prof. Helfert is an expert in Data Governance Standards and is involved in European Standardisation initiatives. Markus Helfert has authored more than 200+ academic articles, journal and book contributions and has presented his work at international conferences. Helfert has received national and international grants from agencies such as European Union (FP7; H2020), Science Foundation Ireland and Enterprise Ireland, was project coordinator on EU projects, and is the Project coordinator of the H2020 Projects: PERFORM on Digital Retail.

Maryam Nawaz

Maryam is a full-time healthcare Ph.D. researcher at IVI, affiliated with the School of Computing at Maynooth University. With a background in Computer Science, she is dedicated to a project on person empowerment in health within the Digital Health Cluster. Maryam’s research emphasizes using conversational agents to facilitate individual health empowerment, additionally brings valuable expertise from her background in software testing within the tech industry.

Simon Hanratty

Simon is currently studying for a PhD while on career break from Irish Life where he served as CIO. He has more than thirty years’ experience across a range of industries in IT, Strategy/Change and Operations roles including more than twenty years at managerial level. Simon holds a master’s in design Innovation from Maynooth University and is a graduate of INSEAD and the Smurfit Business School.

List of Publications:

General Public Articles

M. Alfano, How the internet can help us to stay healthy.RTE Brainstorm. 4 October 2019.

 

Scientific Publications

Digital Health Projects

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