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eHealth: Combining Psychology, Technology and Health

4.7 (14 reviews)

How can technology make you healthy? Learn about the design, application, implementation and evaluation of eHealth.

28,012 enrolled on this course

A smart watch and iPhone running health apps

  • Duration

    6 weeks

  • Weekly study

    3 hours
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eHealth refers to the use of technologies to improve well-being, health, and healthcare. It is an umbrella term that captures concepts about the health context, technology, and people.

In this free online course, we will provide you with insight into the domain of eHealth, describe methods to develop eHealth, and explain theories that enable behaviour change and facilitate implementation. You will also understand how eHealth technologies are developed and used in practice, by means of a variety of case studies, assignments and examples.

This course pays attention to the perspectives of the eHealth developers, patients, healthcare professionals and healthy people who want to improve or maintain their health and wellbeing. These perspectives are applied to the three main topics of this course:

  • During Weeks 1 and 2, we will introduce eHealth and show you how eHealth technologies are used to enable or improve self-care and prevention, supportive care, and societal health.
  • Weeks 3 and 4 will focus on design. You will learn how to design eHealth that fits the user and the context, and is able to seduce or support people into changing their behaviour.
  • In Weeks 5 and 6, we focus on the diffusion and evaluation of eHealth technologies within the intended context, and among users and other relevant stakeholders.

After finishing this course, you will have new knowledge about eHealth, acquired relevant eHealth skills, and gained insight into the use of eHealth in practice.

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Skip to 0 minutes and 10 seconds How can technology make you healthy? eHealth combines psychology, technology, and health care in order to improve our health and well being. During our six week open online course, you’ll learn what the possibilities of eHealth are, how to develop eHealth technologies, and how to make sure these will actually be used and are effective. The first two weeks of this course show the possibilities of eHealth. For example, eHealth can be used during daily life to improve health and well being. It’s also used in a health care setting. For instance, to assist nurses in doing their job. In weeks three and four, we’ll explain how to design eHealth technologies that take the perspective of the user and the context into account.

Skip to 0 minutes and 56 seconds You’ll acquire the skills to create a lo-fi prototype and conduct a usability test with prospective users. The fifth and sixth week of this course will make you think about ensuring that eHealth technology will actually be used in practice. We will also explain how to investigate whether eHealth is effective. This course combines theory with practice. You’ll gain new knowledge on eHealth and also acquire practical skills by means of cases. To provide you with insight, we’ll show lots of interesting and innovative real life examples. The motto of the University of Twente is high tech, human touch. We believe this is the way to create effective eHealth technologies, combining the human, health care, and technological perspective.

Skip to 1 minute and 45 seconds I hope that you are as enthusiastic as I am about all the new and exciting possibilities that eHealth offers. I invite you to join this course.

What topics will you cover?

  • Meaning and application of eHealth
  • Different domains of eHealth
  • Human Centered Design
  • Usability testing
  • Values and requirements
  • Behaviour change
  • Persuasive technology
  • Implementation of eHealth technology
  • Formative and summative evaluation
  • Log data analysis

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Explain the term eHealth, give examples of possible forms of eHealth, and identify possible benefits and barriers
  • Apply and recognize theoretical principles from Human Centred Design, behaviour change theory and the Persuasive Systems Design Model when designing an eHealth technology
  • Identify the most important principles and theories from eHealth implementation and recognize implementation methods
  • Describe how the phases and principles of the CeHRes Roadmap are used in the development of eHealth technologies
  • Explain the rationale behind formative and summative evaluation and recognize methods from both forms of evaluation

Who is the course for?

This course is suitable for everyone who wants or needs to know more about eHealth and all of its possibilities. No specific knowledge or education background is assumed, since all concepts that are discussed will be briefly explained. For learners who desire more depth, further reading is available.

Who will you learn with?

Saskia Kelders

I’m assistant professor at the University of Twente and teach eMental Health to psychology students. My research focuses on using technology and design to increase involvement in eHealth interventions

Floor Sieverink

I am a PhD student at the University of Twente. My research focuses on the use and implementation of online platforms for chronic and mental healthcare.

Hanneke Kip

My research focuses on the development of eHealth technologies that monitor and coach aggressive behaviour of forensic psychiatric patients. I am a teacher in Health Psychology & Technology as well.

Lisette van Gemert-Pijnen

I'm a professor Persuasive Health Technology at the University of Twente. My research & tuition focuses on persuasive designs to increase trust, engagement and adherence to technologies.

Who developed the course?

University of Twente

As a young and entrepreneurial university in the Netherlands, the University of Twente prepares young people to tackle the grand challenges the world will be facing during the coming decades.

Learning on FutureLearn

Your learning, your rules

  • Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
  • Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
  • Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

Join a global classroom

  • Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
  • Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
  • Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

Map your progress

  • As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
  • Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
  • Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate

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