Abstract
Background: The integration of genetic testing into eHealth applications holds great promise for the personalization of disease prevention guidelines. However, relatively little is known about the impact of eHealth applications on an individual's behavior.Aim: The aim of the pilot study was to investigate the effect of the personalized eHealth application approach to behavior change in a 1-month follow-up period on groups with previously known and unknown caffeine impacts.Method: We created a direct-to-consumer approach that includes providing relevant information and personalized reminders and goals on the digital device regarding the caffeine intake for two groups of individuals: the intervention group (IG) with the genetic raw data available and the control group (CG) to test the impact of the same content (article about caffeine metabolism) on participants without the genetic test. Study participants were all Estonians (n = 160).Results: The study suggests that eHealth applications work for short-term behavior change. Participants in the genetic IG tended to increase caffeine intake if they were informed about caffeine not being harmful. They reported feeling better physically and/or mentally after their behavioral change decision during the period of the study.Conclusions: Our pilot study revealed that eHealth applications may have a positive effect for short-term behavior change, regardless of a prior genetic test. Further studies among larger study groups are required to achieve a better understanding about behavior change of individuals in the field of personalized medicine and eHealth interventions.
Highlights
With the development of interactive devices and extensive connectivity to the web, the online channel has become popular to deliver tailored healthy lifestyle-promoting interventions
The Mayo Clinic observed understanding and perspectives on pharmacogenomics for patients in 2017: how their patients understood the effect of their personalized medicine
It is essential to start with the fact that the empirical research in the current study does not measure caffeine consumption or people’s behavior to drink coffee; instead it explores their actions based on personalized nutrition information and whether creating goals and reminders, with the help of their digital devices, increases behavioral health toward positive actions in the short term
Summary
With the development of interactive devices and extensive connectivity to the web, the online channel has become popular to deliver tailored healthy lifestyle-promoting interventions. Online behavioral health change programs (eHealth channels) seem to work very well-according to those studies and meta-analyses (1–5). Pharmacogenetic Feedback via eHealth Channels factor of self-efficacy and patient education, and are essential to the improvement of patient–clinician communication, along with improvement in trust, adherence, and social support (6). It was found that a chunking strategy could help genetic feedback participants better obtain information that they did not relate to before, even better if the participants obtained it in an extended period (8). Performance feedback and self-monitoring techniques have given good results in behavior change programs (9). Focused goal setting, when it is combined with personal feedback messages, is considered a promising approach (9). The integration of genetic testing into eHealth applications holds great promise for the personalization of disease prevention guidelines. Relatively little is known about the impact of eHealth applications on an individual’s behavior
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