The Center for Connected Health today announced the launch of a first-of-its-kind research tool to help companies, device manufacturers, startups and investors better understand what consumers want from — and how they actually use — personal health technologies. The cHealth Compass mobile platform creates customized surveys targeting a large research panel of U.S. adult healthcare consumers, patients, caregivers and healthcare professionals, to answer questions to support the design, testing and implementation of connected health technologies and products.
cHealth Compass Overview
Led by Kamal Jethwani, MD, MPH, Corporate Manager for Research and Innovation at the Center for Connected Health, cHealth Compass will be used to create a research panel of U.S. adult healthcare consumers, patients, caregivers and healthcare professionals. Participants will complete monthly surveys to provide longitudinal data on their health and to shed insight on how various individual, family and community-level factors influence health behaviors, severity of medical conditions, lifestyle change and self-management of medical conditions, and technology adoption. The cHealth Compass tool, in addition to administering brief surveys to participants, can be used to quickly identify and recruit participants for research studies.
“So often, we see companies develop a device or program in a vacuum, without access to the individuals who could benefit from the product, ” added Jethwani. “cHealth Compass enables companies, developers and startups to listen to and learn from the people who will ultimately use their product or service — patients, health consumers, providers, caregivers and others. We deliver actionable insights that can help to save valuable time to market, money and resources by answering specific business questions, facilitating real-world testing or providing targeted market analysis unique to connected health technologies.”
How it Works
Based on a company’s objectives and areas of interest, study subjects may be invited to focus group discussions, one-on-one interviews, or participate in-person usability testing and feedback or other data collection activities. In addition to qualitative methods, participants may also be asked to complete questionnaires specific to a research question and topic. cHealth Compass can provide:
– Product Design identifies and tests key design specifications, usability and user feedback
– Product Evaluation assesses adoption, engagement and potential health and wellness outcomes
– Needs Assessment defines use cases, potential applications, challenges, opportunities and feasibility
– Product Testing evaluates the technical design, clinical applications, workflow issues, and usability
The cHealth Compass team includes healthcare providers, research scientists, clinical psychologists, business analysts, developers and UI/UX experts with deep experience implementing connected health solutions across an array of technologies, communication platforms, patient populations and care settings.
