mHealth research simply means that you are leveraging a digital solution to remotely capture data in your research study. Therefore, in mHealth research, you will either use an existing digital solution or you will create a digital solution for use in your research study.
Leveraging existing digital solutions
- Leveraging existing WashU Enterprise-level Digital Solutions (approved for use in studies capturing PHI):
- Survey Data Collection / Electronic Data Capture
- Qualtrics for Sensitive Data
- eSignature
- File Storage
- Box or Box Part 11
- SMS Text Messaging
*Note: There may be costs associated with use of these platforms.
For more information on approved use for WashU digital solutions, please check out the WashU Information Security webpage, Recommended IT Services for Confidential or Protected Information.
2. Building technology partnerships to leverage existing external (3rd party) digital solutions.
- You can review a list of the WashU Preferred Suppliers , as this may help you determine an existing external digital solution to leverage in your research study.
- If you’ve selected the digital solution you would like to use, but you’re not sure of next steps, please check out the mHRC Online Navigation Tool: WashU Resources.
- Feel free to reach out to request a FREE mHRC consultation to discuss the digital solutions you’re considering or have already selected for use in your research and to determine the most appropriate next steps.
Creating a digital solution
(1) Developing technology partnerships with WashU Resources
(2) Developing technology partnership with external (3rd party) vendors
- If you’ve selected the digital solution you would like to use, but you’re not sure of next steps, please check out the mHRC Online Navigation Tool: WashU Resources.
- Feel free to reach out to request a FREE mHRC consultation to discuss the digital solutions you’re considering or have already selected for use in your research and to determine the most appropriate next steps.
Resource for Navigating a Partnership with a Technology Vendor:
The mHRC has found the following steps helpful when trying to choose the 3rd Party platform of best fit for your project:
- Identify your priority minimal viable product, and identify vendors that meet that need
- Establish communication with the product representative
- Request a demo
- Ask to review the company’s relevant product use cases
- If appropriate, contact or request to contact at least 1 to 2 clients who are currently using the product
- Determine how long the product has been in use (aka: on the market)
- Ask how the product has been tested before it went “live”
- Explore the product maintenance plan (for software updates and bug fixes)
- Find out about the license agreement or cost modeling for using the product
- Determine where the data will be stored (at the University or in a cloud based server/database)
- Establish who will have oversight for vetting the compliance of the technology to the regulations that govern the study