title: Advancing the science of mHealth.
abstract: Mobile health (mHealth) technologies have the potential to greatly impact health research, health care, and health outcomes, but the exponential growth of the technology has outpaced the science. This article outlines two initiatives designed to enhance the science of mHealth. The mHealth Evidence Workshop used an expert panel to identify optimal methodological approaches for mHealth research. The NIH mHealth Training Institutes address the silos among the many academic and technology areas in mHealth research and is an effort to build the interdisciplinary research capacity of the field. Both address the growing need for high quality mobile health research both in the United States and internationally. mHealth requires a solid, interdisciplinary scientific approach that pairs the rapid change associated with technological progress with a rigorous evaluation approach. The mHealth Evidence Workshop and the NIH mHealth Training Institutes were both designed to address and further develop this scientific approach to mHealth.
authors.affiliation: Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA. nilsenwj@od.nih.gov
authors.forename: Wendy
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Nilsen
authors.forename: Santosh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Albert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shar
authors.forename: Carrie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Varoquiers
authors.forename: Tisha
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wiley
authors.forename: William T
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Riley
authors.forename: Misha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pavel
authors.forename: Audie A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Atienza
mesh_terms: D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D012107:Research Design; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000639:trends*; D059015:Wireless Technology / Q000639:trends*