international journal of medical informatics 79 (2010) I–II
journal homepage: www.intl.elsevierhealth.com/journals/ijmi
Call for Papers: Designing for Healthy Living Special Issue of the International Journal of Medical Informatics (Elsevier) SYNOPSIS Chronic conditions (such as heart disease, stroke) have become the chief causes of death globally. The World Health Organization predicts that by 2030, three-quarters of all deaths in the world will be due to such chronic non-communicable diseases. Over 70 per cent of cardiovascular disease deaths and around 50 per cent of all chronic disease deaths are attributable to a small number of risk factors, which include: unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, tobacco use and high blood pressure. Globally, these factors are increasing as people switch to foods high in fats, salt and sugars, while their work and living situations make them much less physically active. Over 1.6 billion adults worldwide are overweight and it is projected that by 2015, the number could reach 2.3 billion. Tobacco use is also increasing in low-income and middle-income countries. It is interesting to note that the aforementioned risk factors are few and are lifestyle modifiable. The lifestyle that people adopt can therefore negatively or positively influence their health and wellbeing. The above discussion clearly points to an opportunity for design solutions that empower people to manage or change their lifestyles, and address their health conditions. Designing ICT solutions for healthy living however poses various relatively unique challenges, including the following: • It is often very difficult to have access to and interact with health professionals and patients in their settings. There are usually strict research governance procedures that have to be completed before patients or health professionals can be involved in research studies. • Users in the healthy living sector are often very diverse, for instance in terms of their age and computer literacy. Some users, such as senior citizens and young children, may have limited capability to read, understand, and act on healthy living instructions. • Designing engaging and persuasive interfaces that keep people motivated to achieve healthy living goals can be challenging. • Healthy living vocabulary is often complex to patients and stakeholders such as software developers and designers. • Some health living tasks are complex, cognitively demanding or sensitive. In such situations, it may therefore be dangerous, distracting, or inappropriate for the researcher to engage the user (such as patient or nurse) in the way that is required. This special issue intends to solicit high-quality design solutions and efforts for supporting healthy living. The special issue follows a successful workshop titled Designing for Healthy Living, held at the Australian Computer-Human Interaction conference (OZCHI 2009) in November 2009 that brought together researchers and practitioners working in healthy living. TOPICS OF INTEREST We are inviting the research community to submit original research papers whose topics of interest include, but are not limited to: • • • • • • • • • • •
Online social networks for healthy living User modeling and personalization in healthy living Mobile and ubiquitous computing for healthy living Context awareness in healthy living Persuasive technologies and healthy living Gaming for healthy living Information visualization for healthy living Designing for healthy families Emotional and motivational support applications Health care applications Computer Supported Cooperative Healthcare
We are soliciting research papers that report on actual implementations and evaluations. Authors of the OZCHI 2009 workshop papers can submit extended and updated versions of their workshop papers for consideration. doi:10.1016/S1386-5056(10)00196-6
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SUBMISSION AND FORMAT Paper submission and review process will be handled through Elsevier's Editorial System (EES) at: http://ees.elsevier.com/ijmi Papers should be original and must not exceed 20 pages. Authors should prepare their papers in line with the International Journal of Medical Informatics formatting guidelines. The guidelines are under the link “guide for authors”. Papers should be submitted using EES by clicking the link “submit paper”. Make sure that you select “Designing for Healthy Living” when you reach the “Article Type” step in the submission process. If you do not have an existing account with EES, you will need to register first by clicking either the link “register” or “Register Now”. For EES-related queries, please write to:
[email protected] For queries regarding the special issue, the special issue managing editors can be contacted at:
[email protected] or
[email protected] IMPORTANT DATES • • • •
January 29, 2011: Paper submission deadline March 18, 2011: Peer reviews completed July 29, 2011: Deadline for submitting camera ready of accepted papers October 2011: Journal publication
MANAGING EDITORS Stephen Kimani, Tasmanian ICT Centre, CSIRO, Australia Nilufar Baghaei, Tasmanian ICT Centre, CSIRO, Australia EDITORIAL TEAM The editorial team will comprise, among others: Stephen Intille (MIT, USA), Alan Dix (Lancaster University, UK), Harri OinasKukkonen, (University of Oulu, Finland), Judith Masthoff (University of Aberdeen, Scotland, UK), Gordon Baxter (University of St Andrews, UK), and Silvia Gabrielli (CREATE-NET, Italy).