[AISWorld] [AJIS] New Section: Research on Health Information Systems

[Ajis Editor]

Hi,


The *Australasian Journal of Information Systems* has just published its
latest special section.

Research on Health Information Systems
The aim of this special section is to bring together leading research in
mobile healthcare, describing approaches relevant to the context of
developing countries. The objective is to examine diverse issues of social,
economic, cultural and technological context related to public healthcare,
clinical healthcare, healthcare management, hospital management and other
healthcare informatics. With a developing nations focus, we seek different
methods, models, constructs, solution applications or specific
architectures and theories related to M-health research and practice. The
topics broadly cover decision-making, strategic improvement, operational
management, user access and other behavioural, organisational and
governmental administration issues, as well as technological issues around
mobile infrastructure, organisational information systems and app designs.

*Preface*

Miah, S., Shen, J., Lamp, J., Kerr, D., & Gammack, J. (2019). Emerging
Insights of Health Informatics Research: A Literature Analysis for
Outlining New Themes. *Australasian Journal of Information Systems, 23*.
doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.3127/ajis.v23i0.2137

This paper presents a contemporary literature review to provide insights
into the current health informatics literature. The objective of this study
is to identify emerging directions of current health informatics research
from the latest and existing studies in the health informatics domain. We
analyse existing health informatics studies using a thematic analysis, so
that justified sets of research agenda can be outlined on the basis of
these findings. We selected articles that are published in the Science
Direct online database. The selected 73 sample articles (published from
2014 to 2018 in premier health informatics journals) are considered as
representative samples of health informatics studies. The analysis revealed
ten topic areas and themes that would be of paramount importance for
researchers and practitioners to follow. The findings provide an important
foundational understanding for new health informatics studies.

*Papers*

Vlahu-Gjorgievska, E., Nagapuri, S., & Win, K. (2019). Tele-monitoring
Technology as a Tool for Monitoring and Management of Patients with
Congestive Heart Failure. *Australasian Journal of Information Systems, 23*.
doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.3127/ajis.v23i0.1816

Telehealth interventions are designed to facilitate the remote exchange of
information and data between patients and health care providers, improving
the quality and safety of the patients and increasing efficiency and
cost-effectiveness of health care providers. The development of
telecommunications and virtual technology allowed a number of telehealth
systems to be applied in different health care areas. These technologies
can provide an alternative monitoring and solutions for decreasing the
hospital readmission rates for patients with congestive heart failure
(CHF). In this paper, a systematic literature review regarding
tele-monitoring and its use in the management of patients with CHF is
conducted. The result indicated that a standardized tele-monitoring design
would reduce a length of hospitalization and re-hospitalization rate. The
other factors that moderate the effectiveness of the tele-monitoring
intervention include quality of life, mortality rate, and disease-specific
knowledge (health literacy). All these factors align with the
consumer-centred principle of The Australian Safety and Quality Framework
for Health Care.



Ghandour, N., & Ghandour, A. (2019). The Experiences of Three Different
User Groups Using Personally Controlled Health Record for Multidisciplinary
Care Team. *Australasian Journal of Information Systems, 23*. doi:
http://dx.doi.org/10.3127/ajis.v23i0.1900

Personally Controlled Health Records (PCHR) are patient-centric tools which
allow individuals to own, manage, access and share their health information
online from anywhere, at any time. Patient-centric tools have received
considerable interest and investment in recent years worldwide. These tools
are thought to have the potential to increase individuals’ self-management
and involvement in their own health, as well as improve healthcare
efficiency and delivery. The aim of this study is to report and analyse the
experiences of three different user groups using PCHR for Multidisciplinary
Care Team (MDCT) including the advantages, disadvantages, barriers and
obstacles, and the current state of PCHR. In order to achieve the aim of
this study, sixteen interviews with key informants from three different
user groups were conducted in Dunedin, New Zealand. Interviews were
transcribed and analysed with thematic analysis. The key findings of this
research showed that those who can benefit the most from PCHRs are the
least able to use it. It suits those who have basic knowledge about
computers and the internet and those who can afford to use them. PCHR is
also best suited for individuals who are motivated about their health
despite their health condition. However, more research is needed in the
future with a larger sample, an easier to use PCHR, different population
other than community health workers, patients with different chronic
illnesses, and healthy patients. This research can be used as a basis and
tested in future research on PCHR adoption.



Burmeister, O., Ritchie, D., Devitt, A., Chia, E., Dresser, G., & Roberts,
R. (2019). The impact of telehealth technology on user perception of
wellbeing and social functioning, and the implications for service
providers. *Australasian Journal of Information Systems, 23*. doi:
http://dx.doi.org/10.3127/ajis.v23i0.1501

The aim of the project was to evaluate the use of telehealth equipment in
the homes of older community-dwelling people, and to review its social and
economic impact. A mixed methods approach was adopted, involving
interviews, observation and Depression Anxiety Stress Scales. Overall, the
greatest benefit was apparent in those participants with a low familiarity
with technology and low digital literacy, where changes in behaviours to
prevent an exacerbation of their condition was possible. The user interface
design reduced concern about using the technology. Changes achieved were
through better compliance with medication and associated understanding of
the impact on their vital signs and hence daily activities. This
represented an improved health literacy and the economic benefits appear to
be linked to that. Less benefit was observed by those who had been
self-monitoring previously. A greater focus on specific conditions and
improved self-management could strengthen the evidence for targeted
economic benefits.



Poulsen, A., & Burmeister, O. (2019). Overcoming carer shortages with care
robots: Dynamic value trade-offs in run-time. *Australasian Journal of
Information Systems, 23*. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.3127/ajis.v23i0.1688

A rising elderly population and diminishing number of family and
professional carers has led to calls for the intervention of care robots.
This leaves the quality of robot-delivered care to be determined by
designers, for profit companies, nursing codes of practice and conduct,
potential user sample groups, etc. What is missing is the carer who
consciously makes good ethical decisions during practice. Good care is
‘determinative in practice’. That is, a carer can make good decisions
because they are making them within the carer-patient relationship. If a
robot is to be capable of good care ethics on the same level as humans, it
needs to be conscious and able to make dynamic decisions in practice.
Moreover, a care robot must conduct patient interactions in appropriate
ways, tailored to the person in its care, at run-time. This is because good
care, as well as being determinative in practice, is tailored to the
individual. The introduction of robotic care determined by limited
stakeholders leaves customised care in danger and instead could potentially
turn the quality of elderly care into ‘elderly management’. This study
introduces a new care robot framework—the attentive framework—which
suggests using care centred value sensitive design (CCVSD) for the design
process, as well as a computationally conscious information system (IS) to
make practice-determinative decisions in run-time with extrinsic care value
ordering. Although VSD has been extensively researched in the IS
literature, CCVSD has not. The results of this study suggest that this new
care robot framework, which is inspired by CCVSD, is competent in
determining good, customised patient care at run-time. The contribution of
this study is in its exploration of end-user willingness to trust known AI
decisions and unwillingness to trust unknown AI decisions. Moreover, this
study signifies the importance of, and desire for, good, customised
robot-delivered care.



Eze, E., Gleasure, R., & Heavin, C. (2019). Understanding the Factors that
Influence the Primary Appraisal of mHealth Tools in Developing Countries:
An Exploratory Case-Study in Nigeria. *Australasian Journal of Information
Systems, 23*. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.3127/ajis.v23i0.1815

Shortages of health workers, infrastructural deficiencies, limited access
to medical care are just a few of the many barriers to care in developing
countries. The integration of smartphones and mobile devices into
healthcare systems has been proposed to address some of the physical
barriers to care and service delivery. These mHealth solutions extend the
reach of medical care into rural areas of developing countries. However, it
is not clear how mHealth solutions designed and tested in one developing
region can be positively appraised for use in others. This study frames
this problem using a coping theory approach based on an exploratory
case-study to understand the factors that influence primary appraisal of
smartphone-enabled clinical guidelines (mHealth tool) for accessing,
classifying and eliciting treatment recommendation for sick children under
the age of five by rural healthcare workers (RHCWs). Findings identified a
set of factors which are bound as an emerging explanatory positivity model
that influence primary appraisal of an mHealth tool in a new context. These
factors are the set of individual and social factors that governments,
funding bodies and non-governmental organisations should consider before
embarking on the introduction of an mHealth tool in rural communities of
developing countries. It is envisaged that by understanding the factors
that influence primary appraisal, that is, either as an opportunity or a
threat, practitioners and organisations will support positive appraisal and
minimise the occurrence of negative ones when introducing mHealth tools.
These findings have implications for theory, practice, and future research
as explained in the concluding section of this paper.



Islam, M., Miah, S., Kamal, A., & Burmeister, O. (2019). A Design Construct
of Developing Approaches to Measure Mental Health Conditions. *Australasian
Journal of Information Systems, 23*. doi:
http://dx.doi.org/10.3127/ajis.v23i0.1829

Mental health is an important determinant of communities’ well-being,
influenced not only by individual attributes, but also by social and
organisational environments in which people work and live. Despite studies
examining mental health status among specific populations, few attempts are
evident that focus on solution designs for detecting and measuring impact
of mental health conditions. In this study, we develop a construct
utilising design science research principles for outlining common
vocabulary around the problem, and solution design relevant to a mental
health management system. For the case of IT professionals, the developed
construct is informed through a social-media based dataset containing more
than 65,000 cells and 100 attributes potentially identifying influencing
factors. Machine learning techniques are applied to the dataset to discover
new findings for this specific group. It is anticipated that the analysis
reported in this study would contribute in developing other electronic
health management systems both for communities and healthcare professionals.

-=-=-=-
*Call for Papers*

AJIS publishes high quality contributions to the global Information Systems
(IS) discipline with an emphasis on theory and practice on the Australasian
context.

Topics cover core IS theory development and application (the nature of
data, information and knowledge; formal representations of the world, the
interaction of people, organisations and information technologies; the
analysis, design and deployment of information systems; the impacts of
information systems on individuals, organisations and society), IS domains
(e-business, e-government, e-learning, e-law, etc) and IS research
approaches.

Research and conceptual development based in a very wide range of
epistemological methods are welcomed.

All manuscripts undergo double blind reviewing by at least 2 well qualified
reviewers. Their task is to provide constructive, fair, and timely advice
to authors and editor.

AJIS welcomes research and conceptual development of the IS discipline
based
in a very wide range of epistemologies. Different types of research paper
need to be judged by different criteria. Here are some assessment criteria
that may be applied:

•       Relevance - topic or focus is part of the IS discipline.
•       Effectiveness - paper makes a significant contribution to the IS
body of knowledge.
•       Impact - paper will be used for further research and/or practice.
•       Uniqueness - paper is innovative, original & unique.
•       Conceptual soundness - theory, model or framework made explicit.
•       Argument - design of the research or investigation is sound;
methods appropriate.
•       Clarity - Topic is clearly stated; illustrations, charts & examples
support content.
•       Reliability - data available; replication possible.
•       References - sound, used appropriately, and sufficient –
appropriate AJIS articles referenced
•       Style - appropriate language, manuscript flows.

This journal provides immediate open access to its content on the principle
that making research freely available to the public supports a greater
global exchange of knowledge.

AJIS has been published since 1993 and appears in the Index of Information
Systems Journals, is ranked "A" by both the Australian Council of
Professors and Heads of Information Systems and the Australian Business
Deans' Council.

In addition to web distribution, AJIS is distributed by EBSCO, it is listed
in Cabell's International Directory and is indexed by EBSCO, Elsevier,
Scopus and the Directory of Open Access Journals.

Thanks for the continuing interest in our work,

Cheers
Associate Professor John Lamp
Editor-in-Chief, Australasian Journal of Information Systems
http://journal.acs.org.au/index.php/ajis/

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