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#TechniHealth – Health Promotion in the

Digital Era

Techniquest

Stuart Street, Cardiff CF10 5BW

Monday 27 February 2017

Evaluation Summary Report

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#TechniHealth – the Role of Apps

and Technology in Health

Promotion

Evaluation Summary Report

Sorin Annuar

March 2017

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Introduction

Public Health Network Cymru is required to organise three

seminars annually. This marked the first seminar of 2017, with a

specific focus on the use of apps and technology in health

promotion and health care.

The seminar was chaired by Dr Tracey Cooper, Chief Executive of

Public Health Wales during the morning sessions and by Malcolm

Ward, Principal Health Promotion Specialist for Public Health Wales

in the afternoon. It was held on 27 February 2017 at Techniquest in

Cardiff.

Dr Cooper commenced proceedings and introduced herself as

well as the speakers for the day. She provided her reflections on

the digital health environment, and how we need to embrace the

digital world and use it to our advantage in the context of health

care. She raised the questions of addressing how this technology

connects to our health space and how it will affect policies.

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Overview of Presentations

The first presentation was from Peter Jones, Deputy Director in

Digital Health and Care for the Welsh Government. Peter is the

policy lead on information management and technology in DHSS

and accountable in Welsh Government for NWIS (National Health

Service Wales Informatics Service). He has been involved in

developing the digital strategy and launching related businesses

in the media industry, as well as leading digital and business

transformation projects for the Welsh Government.

Dr Tracey Cooper and Peter Jones

His presentation focused on the Welsh Government’s health

strategy going forward, including enabling members of the public

to take ownership of their own health and wellbeing. This was part

of the integration agenda between health and social services. He

also touched on getting professionals the information and tools

they needed, and of taking the information out of the realm of

GPs and into secondary care. Technology funding to support the

strategy was a point for consideration, and he spoke of Horizon

2020, the initiative to plan for the future and the Welsh community

care information system.

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The second presentation featured two speakers, Dr Kelly

Mackintosh and Dr Melitta McNarry, both senior lecturers in Sports

Science at Swansea University. Kelly received a BSc (Hons) degree

in Sport and Exercise Science from the University of Bath in 2008

followed by an MSc in Sports Science from Loughborough

University in 2009. She then completed her PhD at Liverpool John

Moores University in 2012. Kelly was appointed as a Lecturer at

Swansea University in July 2012, and progressed to Senior Lecturer

in October 2013. Melitta specialises in cardiorespiratory fitness

across the health, fitness and lifespan with a particular interest in

paediatric populations. Her recent work has focused on the

development of non-pharmacological intervention strategies,

such as inspiratory muscle training and high intensity interval

training, for people with asthma and cystic fibrosis.

Dr Mackintosh spoke of physical activity amongst children, and

the guidelines on sedentary behaviour. This featured a study of the

BMI changes in 3 year olds over time in a specific geographical

location. She also spoke of the evolution of humans into

obesogenic environments. She finished with a presentation on the

Mission Possible project, whereby a pilot study was conducted in

3D printing exercise results for children so that they had tangible

feedback for their efforts.

Dr Kelly Mackintosh

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Dr McNarry focused on the concept of using commonly available

game console technology such as Microsoft’s Kinect camera for

the Xbox for interventions with a focus on cystic fibrosis high

intensity exercises, including a non-axial accelerometer,

magnetometer and gyroscope called the slamtracker and the

systems thinking that went with it.

Dr Melitta McNarry

Dr Pelham Carter, lecturer in Applied Psychology from Birmingham

City University spoke for the third presentation, which was on the

research paradigm for taking theory through to targeted app

based interventions. A Lecturer in Psychology at Birmingham City

University. Pelham joined in January 2013 and currently teaches on

a range of Cognitive, Biological and Behavioural Psychology

undergraduate modules.

Dr Carter’s presentation touched on the issues to do with app and

technology interventions, their impact and the Stern Report. He

provided suggested stages and paradigms, and described

example projects.

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Dr Pelham Carter

Following a break for lunch, Malcolm Ward chaired the afternoon

session. The presentations resumed with Julia Bailey, who discussed

the potential of digital media for sexual health promotion.. Julia is

a clinical senior lecturer in Primary Care at UCL, and a speciality

doctor in community sexual health.

Julia Bailey

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Julia showed examples of mobile phone and Internet interventions

which can be imaginative ways to present sexual health

information (e.g. personalised online advice; educational quizzes;

videos; animations; interactive infographics; online decision aids;

sex therapy; support groups and virtual worlds). Internet and

mobile phone interventions can be effective (e.g. improving

knowledge, sexual behaviour, choice of reliable contraception,

medication reminders), but there are some important points for

those developing or commissioning interventions:

Work with target users to define their needs and preferences

Don’t reinvent the wheel – learn from what has been done

before, combine forces

Collaborate with others to plan the content and design using

research evidence and behaviour change theory

Think about implementation from the start – ideally

incorporate digital interventions into routine patient

pathways

The final speaker of the day was David Crane, a researcher from

UCL. He provided insight into the design and study of a smoke free

app, as well as his previous work on an alcohol consumption app.

David’s background is in web and app development. Prior to

starting his PhD he created the very successful smoking cessation

app, Smoke Free, for his MSc thesis.

He spoke of app development, including determining user needs

through behaviour science and the study of other apps. He

stressed the importance of usability studies and to focus on the

benefits to the user, including credibility, and nonjudgmental and

friendly tones in addressing users. A study of user reviews for the

apps developed was also given to show the importance of

understanding user needs, as well as the ongoing development

cycle of apps even after they go live.

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David Crane

Q&A and Panel Session

Following the final session, the speakers fielded questions from

those present as well as discussing the pros and cons of using

Apps and Technology for Health Promotion.

The discussion covered groups that were at higher risk online; the

accessibility available via mobile to younger people; the risk of

misdiagnosis through apps; the stress on reliability, data security

and the responsibility of app developers. There was also talk of the

juxtaposition of physical activity versus app use and the role of

‘gamification’. The panel also discussed the closing down of

libraries as social hubs and in some cases the main source of

internet access for small communities. The speakers discussed

what was and wasn’t reasonably measurable and able to be

monitored, such as sexual health compared to physical activity.

The need for consistency across health boards and the coverage

they provided in terms of digital health services was also touched

upon. A final point raised was that of instead of building a

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platform for discussion, to instead use a pre-existing platform

where users already have a presence, such as Facebook.

The speakers' panel discussion

Attendance Numbers and Organisations/Sectors

Invitations to the seminar were offered to all members of Public

Health Network Cymru. It was also publicised in the Public Health

Wales ebulletin. In total 84 participants registered to attend and 44

delegates attended on the day. A further 70 joined the live feed

via Twitter.

Evaluation Form

Quantitative Results

Participants were asked to complete evaluation feedback forms

at the end of the seminar. 18 evaluation forms were completed

from the 44 delegates.

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One of the questions asked delegates to rank from one to five

(with one being least useful and five being most) how useful they

found the seminar.

The table below shows that the majority of responses were in the

higher percentile of 4 and 5.

Rating 1 2 3 4 5

No. of

responses

0 0 2 11 5

Qualitative Results

Further questions on the evaluation form looked for a qualitative

response and are detailed below:

What was your main motivation for attending this event?

“To learn and understand more about what developments are

happening with technology and how we can influence health

behaviours by using them.”

“Wishing to learn about how technology can help to evaluate

public health interventions.”

“To know more about utilising digital medicine in health

promotion.”

Was there anything that was of notable interest?

“Every speaker discussed different areas that are of interest – PA &

C+YP and sexual health.”

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“Technology promoting active youths; digital media – sexual

health promotion (main interest topic) and how to keep people

engaged with an app.”

“Stop smoking app speaker.”

“Systems thinking; behaviour change theory.”

How do you plan to utilise the learning gained at this event?

“Take it back to local team and leads for cluster/partnerships in

and around Cardiff & Vale – look how we can utilise it further.”

“Discussing the potential for app creation with researchers.”

“Raise awareness of the technology available to support

behaviour change and promote health.”

What seminar/conference topics would you like to see delivered

in the future?

“Physical activity as ‘treatment’ for chronic conditions.”

“Lifestyle behaviours research – how are we doing?

(Wales/locally); new initiatives we can look at to motivate

populations to be more healthy.”

“Topics related to sexual and reproductive health.”

One word to sum up how you feel about the event?

“Excellent”; “engaging”; “great”; “interesting”; “worthwhile”.

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Further Information

All presentations are available on request from Public Health

Network Cymru by emailing publichealth.network@wales.nhs.uk.

Farsight Creative attended on the day to film the seminar. The

event was also live streamed via PHNC’s Twitter and Facebook

pages. Archived footage of the day can be seen on both the

aforementioned social media sites and also on the PHNC website.