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Although digital solutions for healthcare diagnostics, detention and prevention are growing at an exponential rate, there remains little research evidence for either the benefits or harms of many of these digital solutions.Ìý Consequently, it is extremely important to develop evidence-based insights for the integration and adoption of digital solutions particularly in medical care.Ìý This module will consider a number of research methods and tools along with the WHO guidance for digital health to help you understand the importance of designing your innovations in a manner that embeds efficacy assessment endpoints that establish the benefits of digital applications. This module provides a comprehensive engagement with the evidence-based approaches (data and literature review) which underpin research developments.

You will encounter a range of frameworks (ethical and legal), data sets and evidence bases which will develop your capacity to identify, interrogate and interpret digital health projects to draw conclusions that will inform their use.ÌýÌý You will have the opportunity to learn about different types of digital health innovations and the ways that researchers undertake studies involving digital health applications such as those used in a clinical setting, consumer health informatics and health apps, patient-generated health data, social media and wearable self-tracking devices.Ìý

You will also explore questions about safety and efficacy particularly as it concerns data privacy and security in terms of the impact it has on the design and conduct of studies for these technologies.Ìý There will also be readings on the legal, ethical and regulatory aspects of digital health innovations.Ìý Much of this understanding will come from conducting literature searches, critical reading, statistical analysis and evaluative reports.

The overarching aim of the module is to introduce students to a number of different research methods and tools that can be deployed for studies involving digital health technologies.Ìý Students will come to appreciate the ethical, legal, privacy and other issues that they may confront due to the use of digital health data.

At the end of this module students will be able to:

Subject-specific knowledge:

• Demonstrate a crucial understanding and evaluation of study designs and methods of evaluation for digital health projects
• Develop and justify a research approach and methodology to investigate a research topic within digital health area

Intellectual, Academic and Research Skills:

• Demonstrate systematic and creative approaches to research decisions
• Critically appraise published research studies based on a range of research methodologies and frameworks
• Complete a thorough literature search leading to a review of the literature relevant to digital health
• Demonstrate awareness and application of ethical issues in digital health research

Practical and Transferable Skills:

• Plan and design a research proposal which uses clear methods relevant to the study

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