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Muñoz RF, Chavira DA, Himle JA, et al. Digital apothecaries: a vision for making health care interventions accessible worldwide. Mhealth. 2018;4:18doi: 10.21037/mhealth.2018.05.04.
Muñoz, R. F., Chavira, D. A., Himle, J. A., Koerner, K., Muroff, J., Reynolds, J., Rose, R. D., Ruzek, J. I., Teachman, B. A., & Schueller, S. M. (2018). Digital apothecaries: a vision for making health care interventions accessible worldwide. mHealth, 418. https://doi.org/10.21037/mhealth.2018.05.04
Muñoz, Ricardo F, et al. "Digital apothecaries: a vision for making health care interventions accessible worldwide." mHealth vol. 4 (2018): 18. doi: https://doi.org/10.21037/mhealth.2018.05.04
Muñoz RF, Chavira DA, Himle JA, Koerner K, Muroff J, Reynolds J, Rose RD, Ruzek JI, Teachman BA, Schueller SM. Digital apothecaries: a vision for making health care interventions accessible worldwide. Mhealth. 2018 Jun 04;4:18. doi: 10.21037/mhealth.2018.05.04. eCollection 2018. PMID: 30050914; PMCID: PMC6044048.
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Mhealth. 2018 Jun 04;4:18. doi: 10.21037/mhealth.2018.05.04. eCollection 2018.

Digital apothecaries: a vision for making health care interventions accessible worldwide.

mHealth

Ricardo F Muñoz, Denise A Chavira, Joseph A Himle, Kelly Koerner, Jordana Muroff, Julia Reynolds, Raphael D Rose, Josef I Ruzek, Bethany A Teachman, Stephen M Schueller

Affiliations

  1. Institute for International Internet Interventions for Health (i4Health), Palo Alto University, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
  2. UCSF Psychiatry at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, San Francisco, CA, USA.
  3. Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
  4. Department of Psychiatry, School of Social Work, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
  5. Evidence-Based Practice Institute, LLC, Seattle, WA, USA.
  6. School of Social Work, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
  7. Centre for Mental Health Research, Research School of Psychology, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
  8. Center for mHealth, Palo Alto University, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
  9. National Center for PTSD, VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Menlo Park, CA, USA.
  10. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
  11. Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA.
  12. Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.

PMID: 30050914 PMCID: PMC6044048 DOI: 10.21037/mhealth.2018.05.04

Abstract

Evidence-based psychological interventions are growing in number but are not within reach of many individuals who could benefit from them. The recent revolution in digital technologies now makes it possible to reach people around the globe with digital interventions in the form of web sites, mobile applications, wearable devices, and so on. Although a plethora of digital interventions are available online few are evidence-based and individuals have little guidance to decide among the multitude of options. We propose the development of "digital apothecaries," that is, online repositories of evidence-based digital interventions. As portals to effective interventions, digital apothecaries would be useful to individuals who could access evidence-based interventions directly, to health care providers, who could identify specific digital tools to suggest to or use with their patients, and to researchers, who could study a range of tools with large samples, enabling comparative tests and evaluation of moderators of effects. We present a taxonomy of types of in-person and digital interventions ranging from traditional therapy without the use of digital tools to totally automated self-help interventions. This taxonomy highlights the potential of blending digital tools into health care systems to expand their reach. Digital apothecaries would provide access to evidence-based digital interventions (both free and paid versions), provide data on effectiveness (including effectiveness for diverse populations), and encourage the development and testing of more such tools. Other issues discussed include: criteria for inclusion of interventions into digital apothecaries; how digital tools could enhance health care for diverse populations; and cautionary notes regarding potential negative unintended consequences of the adoption of digital interventions into the health care system. In particular, we warn about the potential misuse of evidence-based digital interventions to justify reducing access to live providers. Digital apothecaries bring with them the promise of reducing health disparities by reaching large numbers of individuals across the world who need health interventions but are not currently receiving them. The health care field is encouraged to mindfully develop this promise, while being alert not to cause inadvertent harm.

Keywords: dissemination; internet interventions; mHealth; mental health; mobile apps

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

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