Digital self-monitoring of health in primary care
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Digital self-monitoring for people with severe mental illness across primary and secondary care, a feasibility study. Phase 1.
IRAS ID
166972
Contact name
Til Wykes
Contact email
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
n/a, n/a
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 8 months, 15 days
Research summary
People with severe mental illnesses have lower life expectancy than the general population. This is rarely due to the mental illness itself, and more often due to poorer physical health arising from factors such as poor diet, smoking, lack of exercise, and obesity. Additionally, people with severe mental illness are less likely to visit their GP, are more likely to have symptoms misdiagnosed, and find it harder to manage the symptoms of chronic life-threatening illnesses.
Digital technology makes it easier for people to track their health, spot problems if they arise, and to inform their GP. Weight, sleep, blood pressure and physical activity can be measured by patients at any time. We have set up a digital self-monitoring site called myhealthlocker, which allows people to track their health, and submit measurements into an online personal record. Patients may share the contents of this record with clinicians.
The aim is to scope how myhealthlocker can be used in GP surgeries for people with severe mental illness. We want to ascertain GP views towards e-health and self-monitoring, and what they already have in place. Following this, we will implement myhealthlocker within interested GP surgeries, and collect information on whether the intervention was helpful.
Please note: This is the first stage of a larger study which will ascertain the feasibility of setting up such an system in primary care (this larger scale study has not yet been funded and is not the subject of this particular ethics application).
REC name
North East - Tyne & Wear South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/NE/1242
Date of REC Opinion
23 Dec 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion