Behavioral Healthcare and Technology (PDF)

In recent years, there has been an explosion of research focused on using technology in healthcare, including web- and mobile- health assessment and intervention tools, as well as smartphone sensors and smart environments for monitoring and promoting health behavior. This work has shown that technology-based therapeutic tools offer considerable promise for monitoring and responding to individuals' health behavior in real-time. They may also function as important "clinician-extenders" or stand-alone tools, may be cost-effective and may offer countless opportunities for tailoring behavioral monitoring and intervention delivery in a manner that is optimally responsive to each individual's profile and health behavior trajectory over time. Additionally, informational and communication technologies may be used in the context of decision support tools to help individuals better understand and access treatment. Technology may enable entirely new models of healthcare both within and outside of formal systems of care and thus offers the opportunity to revolutionize healthcare delivery.

This edited book defines the state of scientific research related to the development, experimental evaluation, and effective dissemination of technology-based therapeutic tools targeting behavioral health. Behavioral Healthcare and Technology provides an overview of current evidence-based approaches to leverage technology to promote behavioral health, including management of substance use, mental health, diet/exercise, medication adherence, as well as chronic disease self-management. Additionally, the book defines the state of implementation research examining models for deploying technology-based behavioral healthcare systems and integrating them into various care settings to increase the quality and reach of evidence-based behavioral healthcare while reducing costs.