CAREER: Mobile and Ubiquitous Computing Technologies for Young Children with Chronic Health Conditions

University Of California-Irvine, Irvine CA

Investigators

Abstract

An emergent area of impact and significance is the application of mobile and ubiquitous computing technologies to chronic healthcare. The long-lasting nature of chronic medical conditions makes record-keeping and long-term analysis of diagnostic and evaluative measures extremely important and challenging. Capture and access technologies, i.e., ubiquitous computing technologies that enable recording and access to recorded data, are particularly promising for monitoring the effectiveness of interventions for chronic conditions. Health and behavioral data can be captured, analyzed, and mined over time, providing valuable evidence for tracking the progress of interventions. This research will examine the role that novel mobile and ubiquitous computing technologies can play in record-keeping for chronic care of young children. Specifically, this research addresses three major challenges. First, technological interventions must be developed that support better record keeping and associated visualization and hypothesis testing to allow caregivers to understand the impacts of their pharmaceutical and behavioral interventions. Second, these interventions must be understood in the short-term to support testing of clinical efficacy and also over the lifetime of these patients whose chronic conditions can span several decades. Third, the focus of these technologies must be not only on capturing and allowing access to appropriate data but also in accomplishing these goals while easing the extensive burden on families.