Grand Challenges in Human Factors and Digital Health

We live in a world where the potential of technology continues to expand. Every year computers become more powerful, smaller, and cheaper, and the amount of data created and stored increases. Technology is quickly entering and transforming various areas of our life, and health and healthcare are no exceptions. However, many of the promises offered by digital health—personalized care, scalable interventions, cost-effective approaches, reduced disparities (1)—are unmet. Although it has been noted that digital health can contribute to the so-called triple aim of health care reform (2)—improved patient experience, population health, and cost—healthcare often remains disjointed, significant health problems and health disparities exist, and healthcare costs continue to increase. Thus, digital health remains high on promise and potential, but low on impact and benefit, and yet research on digital health continues to expand. Much of this research, however, is problematic. A review of clinical trials of digital health found rapid growth but most studies were small with few reporting findings even among those completed or terminated (3). Thus, we have an urgent need to revamp digital health research to ensure the promise and potential of this field can be realized. Increased consideration of human factors offers the potential to improve and advance digital health research and maximize its impact in the various fields that contribute to this work, and on people’s lives. Human factors reference human emotions, behaviors, and cognitions related to the design, adoption, usage, and implementation of health technologies. As such, human factors and digital health lie at the intersection of several areas of scholarship including clinical science, human-computer interaction, implementation science, public health, and healthcare communication. Although many researchers and providers are approaching the same problems from different fields, we have an increased need to recognize ways to better work together to reach mutual goals. For example, the appreciation that the study of digital health requires addressing issues beyond the technology itself and addressing socio-technical considerations (4) aligns strongly with the socio-ecological model emphasized by the consolidated framework for implementation research (5). As such, I suggest that one grand challenge facing research related to human factors and digital health is that we have to re-think this area of study by adopting three critical reframes.