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The conceptualisation and measurement of engagement in digital health

Lookup NU author(s): Madison Milne-Ives, Professor Edward MeinertORCiD

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).


Abstract

© 2024Digital tools are an increasingly important component of healthcare, but their potential impact is commonly limited by a lack of user engagement. Digital health evaluations of engagement are often restricted to system usage metrics, which cannot capture a full understanding of how and why users engage with an intervention. This study aimed to examine how theory-based, multifaceted measures of engagement with digital health interventions capture different components of engagement (affective, cognitive, behavioural, micro, and macro) and to consider areas that are unclear or missing in their measurement. We identified and compared two recently developed measures that met these criteria (the Digital Behaviour Change Intervention Engagement Scale and the TWente Engagement with Ehealth Technologies Scale). Despite having similar theoretical bases and being relatively strongly correlated, there are key differences in how these scales aim to capture engagement. We discuss the implications of our analysis for how affective, cognitive, and behavioural components of engagement can be conceptualised and whether there is value in distinguishing between them. We conclude with recommendations for the circumstances in which each scale may be most useful and for how future measure development could supplement existing scales.


Publication metadata

Author(s): Milne-Ives M, Homer S, Andrade J, Meinert E

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Internet Interventions

Year: 2024

Volume: 36

Print publication date: 01/06/2024

Online publication date: 11/03/2024

Acceptance date: 08/03/2024

Date deposited: 24/07/2024

ISSN (electronic): 2214-7829

Publisher: Elsevier B.V.

URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.invent.2024.100735

DOI: 10.1016/j.invent.2024.100735


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