Exploring mobile information systems for chronically ill adolescent patients

Jan Marco Leimeister, Uta Knebel, Helmut Krcmar
2007 International Journal of Web Based Communities  
Adolescent cancer patients have to deal with many dependencies and obligations. Very often they are torn out of their social environment and become isolated because of changing therapy cycles and different treatment locations. This causes significant social and economic damage. The objective of this article is to present the first steps of an empirical exploration of the possibilities of mobile IT support for communication and coordination for this target group during treatment and aftercare.
more » ... ecial emphasis is put on the effects of mobile systems on the patient's perceived quality of life. The background we bring to the fore is a four-month field experiment conducted together with the cancer station of the hospital of Heidelberg University. We focus on particularities of and challenges for mobile information systems for patients in Germany and outline necessary future research aspects in this field. . He runs research groups on virtual communities, e-health and ubiquitous/mobile computing, and manages several publicly funded research projects. Leimeister has worked on different occasions for companies such as DaimlerChrysler, IBM and debis. His teaching and research areas include virtual communities, e-health, IT innovation management, service science, ubiquitous and mobile computing, computer supported cooperative work and information management. Uta Knebel, Dipl. . She works on projects related to mobile systems and IT-supported product-service bundles for the sports industry. Knebel has worked on different occasions for companies such as IBM, Handelsblatt and Otto Versand. Her research interests include ubiquitious computing, mobile commerce, IT innovation management and adaption/diffusion of innovations.
doi:10.1504/ijwbc.2007.015866 fatcat:kide5qdg4ndg3dv6qasz4btppa