My Health App
An application to facilitate access to health promotion and prevention for people with disabilities
Phase 1
Type of project: Exploratory research
Disability concerned: People with disabilities living in socio-educational establishments with a view to inclusive design
Topics: Personal and health care, Health promotion and prevention of non-communicable diseases
Status: Completed
The project aims to map existing applications, understand the realities of people with disabilities and professionals in terms of health promotion and prevention (HPP) and the use of technologies, and analyse and understand the ethical issues involved.
Many people with disabilities have under-diagnosed health problems. Personal factors (health problems due to genetic predisposition or co-morbidities; difficulties in understanding and expressing pain) or environmental factors (reduced access to prevention campaigns and care, non-recognition of pain and suffering by family and friends) explain this situation.
The My Health app is a social innovation project in the field of developing and testing digital tools designed to make information and services more accessible to people with disabilities and to facilitate their autonomy in the field of health promotion and prevention (PSP).
The project aims to a) map existing applications, b) understand the realities of people with disabilities and professionals in terms of PSP and the use of technology, and c) analyse and understand the ethical issues involved.
The main results obtained show that a) people with disabilities are interested in, but not very aware of, PSP; b) there are websites and mobile applications that present PSP in easy-to-read and easy-to-understand language; c) people with disabilities lack access to a smartphone, tablet or computer and have difficulty using them;
d) the difficulty that people with disabilities have in initiating an activity; e) the potentially anxiety-provoking aspect of certain PSP content; f) the restrictive aspect of certain recommendations; g) the lack of PSP training for professionals and their lack of time to support people with disabilities in this area; h) the importance of institutional policy; and i) ethical issues relating to the right to information, respect for autonomy and protection of privacy. The development of interactive books could provide an alternative way of taking these various findings into account.
Contact
HETSL -Haute Ecole de Travail social et de la santé-Lausanne
Linda Charvoz
linda.charvoz@hetsl.ch
HETSL –Haute Ecole de Travail social et de la santé–Lausanne
HETSL –Haute Ecole de Travail social et de la santé–Lausanne