prof.dr. M.M.R. Hutten (Miriam)

My research focuses on personalized eHealth services for patients with chronic diseases and older adults. The main focus is to investigate how ambulant measured physiological data combined with behavioral change techniques, contextual information and motivational strategies can lead to personalized buddy systems that effectively enable people to manage their health themselves, whether or not supported by professional guidance.

Within the chair it is investigated how physiological data can be fed back to patients in order to improve their knowledge about the disease/health, but also how this physiological data can be used to coach the patient, either directly through technology or through professional support, to manage their disease/health. 

With regard to direct patient coaching through technology, it is investigated how information obtained in daily life can be used in personalized feedback strategies that motivate people to change , but also to maintain those changes for the longer term. For professional guidance, the research focuses on intelligent recommender systems in which holistic patient information is translated into treatment recommendations

An important aspect within the chair is that technology does not stand on its own, but is always considered within the possible context(s) of use. This means that a sociotechnical approach is used and that end-users and other stakeholders are always strongly involved

In addition to research into strategies, evaluation and implementation are important areas of research. Evaluation is always part of research, starting with a narrow focus on technical accuracy at low TRL levels to a multilevel and multi-stakeholder evaluation at higher TRL levels. Since standard clinical studies are often not suitable for complex eHealth interventions, there is a focus on developing new evaluation methodologies that provide sufficient evidence for the added value of the technology within the context of use.

Nourished by the 'second valley of death' that eHealth interventions suffer from, research is performed into successful implementation strategies. The focus is on strategies that support not only the patient to change, but also the professional, the organization or even partnerships.

Organisations

• Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science (EEMCS), Biomedical Signals and Systems (BSS)