How Mobile Technology Can Improve Access to Healthcare Around the World

The potential of the spread of mobile technology is endless. Imagine a child in school using a cell phone to cope with stress and anxiety caused by exams and bullying. Or a doctor in a remote location in Tahiti showing a patient a video of how to perform a post-surgery exercise via a smart-phone. For these scenarios to become realities, mobile technology designers and developers must look beyond current usage to more inclusive, more utilitarian possibilities.

My research goals are two-fold, aiming to address mobile technology usage from two angles. First, I want to improve the way designers and developers?and now more than ever, even end users?create mobile applications and services so that they can be used by everyone, regardless of their physical abilities and cultural or educational backgrounds. Second, as a complementary goal, I believe that mobile technology (e.g., cell phones, smart phones, PDAs) has the potential to improve access to healthcare and am working toward increasing its use among patients and healthcare workers.

The ability to use and benefit from a mobile device is strongly related to its ease of use and the way its software functions. Accordingly, software creators and manufacturers must take into account the fact that mobile devices can be used anywhere, at anytime and, preferably, by anyone. Presently, this is certainly not the case. For example, with the growing tendency to use touch-only devices, blind users have severe difficulties using the available software. In part, designers are constrained by the difficulties that small devices pose and the unusual settings in which they might be used. Through various experiments, I have concluded that to overcome such limitations, software and mobile device designers must approach the design process from a different mindset. Designers must utilize new approaches that enable them to anticipate the context in which the device will be used, its purpose and, most importantly, the difficulties that the user might face. My research offers new guidelines on how to establish scenarios of use that take into consideration various dimensions (e.g., user's abilities, age, location, light, and noise) that can affect how a user utilises his/her device. These guidelines promote inclusion of neglected audiences and foment a global inclusive design paradigm. In addition, I am studying techniques that allow designers and end users to cooperate during the design process, improving the prototyping and experimentation stages by offering realistic means to simulate final applications and usage settings without increasing costs to developers and mobile manufacturers, thus resulting in better mobile applications.

A natural offshoot of my interest in extending the utility and inclusiveness of mobile device technology has been to improve its usefulness in the medical field. I am concerned not only with the ease of use but also with finding ways to adequately match mobile technology applications to the user's problems, disorder, or even therapy procedure. Amongst other factors, I have found that it is imperative to provide patients with support while they use their mobile devices to complete necessary activities (e.g., thought registration, speech exercises), especially when away from medical attention. In recent years, I have studied new and better ways to do this by extending the healthcare provider's reach outside hospital walls, providing means for therapists to offer guidance and aid to their patients even without being present. I reasoned that if a medical worker?for example, a doctor, psychologist, or physiotherapist?were able to create mobile software to offer advice and react according to an individual patient's behaviour, that healthcare provider could greatly increase his/her effectiveness and patient load. As a result, I developed MobPro and OmniSCOPE, which are two award-winning software development tools that medical staff can use to easily create accessible software that can then be used by patients on their mobile sets. Thus far, these tools have been used by therapists to create new therapy approaches for patients suffering from anxiety, depression, aphasia, and other types of disorders.

These successful case studies demonstrate the need to personalise technology according to our needs. I am currently working toward increasing the use and utility of mobile devices in other areas of healthcare.