Behavioral science includes complex components. It’s the field involved in studying human actions, reactions, and responses to a variety of factors. And it often interferes with other areas such as sociology, cultural anthropology, psychology, political science, etc.
Behavior Matters
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This field deals with people to identify behavioral patterns, which means it requires an extensive body of research to gain practical applications across the industries.
For this purpose, scientists conduct a variety of studies to gather data, which is further used to develop modern solutions. Including solutions in healthcare.
Researching Behavior
The trend of usage of techniques to research human behavior in healthcare is the most interesting amongst the other fields and disciplines like in economics, sociology, marketing, etc.
Though there are still different approaches to what exactly is the Behavioral Medicine (BM, or B-Med), the main fact remains: this is an interdisciplinary field of study which integrates behavioral, psychosocial, and biomedical concepts and practices to prevent, diagnose, and treat patients.
The Society of Behavioral Medicine named
Three key strategies for successful behavior change:
- Lifestyle changes
- Training
- Social support
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In all three strategies medics start from the essential step: research of the behavior and then integrate the results in developing steps to the clinical practice. And the role of technology in this view becomes more and more valuable. There are plenty of apps and tools that help to imply the key strategies of B-Med and the good news is that many of them are created with the help of health industry professionals.
But in all this, there is a main pain point: initial data gathering for the research and the fact that this data must be properly interpreted and edited.
To gain the most out of their research, scientists need to ensure they gather reliable data that won’t be compromised at other stages of their study. Thus, they need to eliminate all biases and factors that might affect the outcome. The failure to shortlist the right candidates, a wrong testing method, or an inability to structuralize data might undermine the scientists’ effort.
"Gathering and processing data may be tricky and time-consuming. Our Clients' experience shows there are typical problems the field workers faces while running interviews or filling questionnaires. They are usually overloaded with paperwork. Acting remotely, in the places where is no internet of networks are unstable, it's hard to use mobile apps. This affects their ability to run ongoing research. Here is the point where technologies may help," says Vareger's CEO Oleg Pun.
And this is exactly where data science solutions are brought to assist in predicting and mitigating the risks. In this short article, we studied how technologies can help healthcare professionals to minimize research errors.
Go Beyond Online
Online has become a new norm for kids, teenagers, and seniors alike. Did you know that more than 83% of people in the US own a smartphone and won’t leave their home without it? We check our phones for nearly 150 a day, which is a significant share of our time.
In this perspective, MHapps are going to gain momentum. Numerous solutions have been introduced over the last several years to help patients guide their recovery, develop positive behavioral patterns, and keeping track of their emotional state. For MHapps’ users, staying online is essential as this helps them monitor their health condition and get medical care timely.
Since most mental health apps do not support the offline mode, patients in rural areas and poverty groups have limited access to these resources. By ensuring your solutions can be accessed from any location and device, you do not only extend your reach but also make sure your application is compliant with all the norms.
"Acting remotely, in the places where is no internet of networks are unstable, it's hard to use mobile apps. This affects the ability to run ongoing research. Here is the point where technologies may help," says Vareger's CEO Oleg Pun.
Get Rid of Red Tape
As Albert Einstein once said: “Bureaucracy is the death of any achievement.” How much time and effort does your team invest in paperwork? We bet it is a tremendous share of their workday, which could have been allocated to solve strategically important tasks.
Traditional systems are often unreliable. Patient records can be lost, and you might face the risk of data leakage. Also, paperwork often serves as the core demotivating factor that discourages employees from performing well.
Automating applied in healthcare can resolve many issues from improving your workflow to structuralizing all the data you have in a medical institution. Behavioral research apps make sure your workers have all the necessary materials at their fingertips, which won’t be lost or disclosed to somebody else. Thus, they can focus on their goals and manage their time wisely.
Edit Your Data Wherever You Are
Conducting behavioral research is no piece of cake. Scholars often have to work in the field where they need to simultaneously manage several tasks: find participants, fill out the data, keep track of records, etc. In such harsh conditions, it is vital to have a chance to edit and re-edit research data on-the-go, preventing, and fixing errors.
In contrast to traditional data management systems, behavioral study apps enable users to customize their fields and edit research records anytime and anywhere. After the scholars fill out the main fields, they can get back and review them. This feature allows researchers to manage their study better and ensure the credibility of the research data.
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WRAPPING UP
There is a set of solutions on the market aimed at helping healthcare practitioners, scholars, and their clients conduct studies and process research data, such as IBM healthcare solutions, Health Catalysts, Elsevier, etc. All of them have features necessary for successful behavioral research, but human behavior is so versatile and of course, there is not and cannot be one exclusive platform or system that can study all aspects of the behavior at once.
The most effective strategy in this view is to follow the Pareto principle: get 80% ready solutions and make 20% efforts to apply them for your needs.
All three behavior research problems — online-only, tons of papers, and lack of research flexibility — are successfully solved in our Behavior Study Solution. Our solution is available online and offline, paperless and allows ongoing changes in research with keeping the backup of information.
We have extensive expertise and knowledge to build behavioral study apps catered to your needs and goals. Reach out to us and we will come up with a custom solution for your company or organization.