title: Leveraging design thinking to build sustainable mobile health systems.
abstract: Mobile health, or mHealth, technology has the potential to improve health care access in the developing world. However, the majority of mHealth projects do not expand beyond the pilot stage. A core reason why is because they do not account for the individual needs and wants of those involved. A collaborative approach is needed to integrate the perspectives of all stakeholders into the design and operation of mHealth endeavours. Design thinking is a methodology used to develop and evaluate novel concepts for systems. With roots in participatory processes and self-determined pathways, design thinking provides a compelling framework to understand and apply the needs of diverse stakeholders to mHealth project development through a highly iterative process. The methodology presented in this article provides a structured approach to apply design thinking principles to assess the feasibility of novel mHealth endeavours during early conceptualisation.
authors.affiliation: a Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship, Pennsylvania State University, Engineering Design , University Park , PA , USA.
authors.forename: Molly
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eckman
authors.affiliation: a Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship, Pennsylvania State University, Engineering Design , University Park , PA , USA.
authors.forename: Irena
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Gorski
authors.affiliation: a Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship, Pennsylvania State University, Engineering Design , University Park , PA , USA.
authors.forename: Khanjan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mehta
mesh_terms: D003256:Community Participation; D003906:Developing Countries; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012107:Research Design; D017216:Telemedicine; D015024:Zambia
keywords: Mobile health; design thinking; developing world; mHealth