Research Cluster Evaluation, Leibniz ScienceCampus Bremen Digital Public Health, Bremen, Germany.
Social Epidemiology, Prevention and Evaluation, Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology - BIPS, Bremen, Germany.
J Med Internet Res. 2022 Jun 28;24(6):e31921. doi: 10.2196/31921.
Digital public health is an emerging field in population-based research and practice. The fast development of digital technologies provides a fundamentally new understanding of improving public health by using digitalization, especially in prevention and health promotion. The first step toward a better understanding of digital public health is to conceptualize the subject of the assessment by defining what digital public health interventions are. This is important, as one cannot evaluate tools if one does not know what precisely an intervention in this field can be. Therefore, this study aims to provide the first definition of digital public health interventions. We will merge leading models for public health functions by the World Health Organization, a framework for digital health technologies by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, and a user-centered approach to intervention development. Together, they provide an overview of the functions and areas of use for digital public health interventions. Nevertheless, one must keep in mind that public health functions can differ among different health care systems, limiting our new framework's universal validity. We conclude that a digital public health intervention should address essential public health functions through digital means. Furthermore, it should include members of the target group in the development process to improve social acceptance and achieve a population health impact.
数字公共卫生是基于人群的研究和实践中的一个新兴领域。数字技术的快速发展提供了一种通过数字化手段改善公共卫生的全新理解，特别是在预防和健康促进方面。更好地理解数字公共卫生的第一步是通过定义数字公共卫生干预措施来对评估主题进行概念化。这很重要，因为如果不知道该领域的干预措施究竟是什么，就无法评估工具。因此，本研究旨在提供数字公共卫生干预措施的第一个定义。我们将合并世界卫生组织的公共卫生功能主导模型、国家卫生与保健卓越研究所的数字健康技术框架以及以用户为中心的干预措施开发方法。它们共同概述了数字公共卫生干预措施的功能和使用领域。然而，必须牢记，公共卫生功能在不同的医疗保健系统中可能有所不同，这限制了我们新框架的普遍有效性。我们的结论是，数字公共卫生干预措施应该通过数字手段解决基本的公共卫生功能。此外，它应该让目标群体成员参与到开发过程中，以提高社会接受度并实现对人群健康的影响。
