ICT interventions impacting big societal challenges: an electronic healthcare approach to homelessness. (2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ahluwalia, Punit; Gimpel, Gregory; Varshney, Upkar
• Is Part Of: International journal of electronic healthcare. Volume 8:Number 2/3/4(2015)
• Page Start: 95
• Page End: 120
• Publication Date: 2015
• Subjects: medication adherence -- IT intervention -- simulation -- societal challenges -- homelessness -- mental illness -- psychiatric patients -- smartphones -- self-efficacy -- system dynamics -- systems thinking -- ICT -- information and communications technology -- information technology -- electronic healthcare -- e-healthcare -- decision making -- modelling; Medical informatics -- Periodicals; 362.10285
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1741-8453

Abstract

This paper investigates how electronic healthcare technology can address a pervasive societal problem: homelessness. Mental illness, a leading cause of homelessness, can be treated successfully with proper medication. Few psychiatric patients, however, adhere to the medication regimen prescribed by their doctors. We employ a systems thinking approach to model the multi-dimensional decision system by which patients choose whether or not to take medication. We identify that interventions raising patients' self-efficacy will significantly improve medication adherence among mentally ill patients and that it can translate into a reduction of homelessness. This paper makes two key research contributions: it calls attention to the study of medication adherence within electronic healthcare research and it proposes a systems dynamics model that highlights how, when addressing complex societal challenges, affordances during one time period can become constraints in another.