Introduction to Technology-Reported Outcomes for QoL research
Igor Matias
Workshop at the International Society for Quality of Life Research Conference 2023.
In Calgary, Alberta, Canada
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Workshop Goals:
The recent proliferation of personal mobile technologies allows researchers and practitioners to collect objective patient behavioral and health data at increased granularity. That can be done in real-time and in context, longitudinally, and may also reduce patient burden. Collecting and acting upon these co-called Technology-Reported Outcomes (TechROs) will become a cornerstone of patient-centered care. TechROs can assess individual characteristics, biological and physiological variables, physical, psychological, social/role functioning, and environmental variables. Acquiring the data via the TechROs can be challenging as there are many options, each with advantages and disadvantages, in addition to the many operational and human factors influencing the collected TechROs data quality. The same applies to selecting the right methods for analysis to derive meaningful results from the collected data.
Intended Audience
Health professionals
Medical scientists who are not experts in the use of TechROs
Consultants
Pharmaceutical and medical device representatives
New investigators and research students
Policymakers
Other associations and individuals who are interested in acquiring familiarity with the TechRO research terms and methodology
Patients and caregivers
Presentation Format
This full-day, intensive and interactive educational workshop offered a curriculum that provided a basic level introduction to the why and how of using TechROs in research, which later can pave the way for clinical practice. Initial lectures presented how, when, and with which devices TechROs can be collected in order to empower their research in many domains. Attendees were also given the opportunity to apply their learning throughout the course (hands-on learning). Specifically, they first played with real-world collected TechROs data and assessed causality using a state-of-the-art method developed for the simulation of a randomized control trial from longitudinal observational data. After, they were given the opportunity to collect and analyze their own TechRO datasets, by wearing a wearable (provided by the workshops authors) throughout the conference duration (optional).
Overview/Outline
The workshop presented how, when, and with which devices TechROs can be collected to empower research. It did so by bringing together academic and industry experts to discuss TechROs future. Additionally, attendees learned how to assess causality from longitudinal observational data collected with those TechROs.
Learning Objectives
Participants learned about the rationale and value of incorporating TechROs into QoL assessment through an understanding of the definition, history, types, and different efficacy of technologies in assessing QoL. Additionally, they had an understanding of typical human and operational factors influencing the TechRO data quality.
Participants learned about the different quantitative and qualitative methods of analyzing data collected with TechROs, using powerful statistical and machine learning methods.
Participants were guided step-by-step on a hands-on basis on how to implement and interpret results acquired with a novel method for causality estimation of real-life collected longitudinal TechROs data. Furthermore, participants were given a wearable device for usage during the conference days to analyze their own data with that same method after the event ends.
Organizers:
Katarzyna Wac, Prof. Dr., University of Geneva, QoL Lab, Geneva, Switzerland
Igor Matias, MSc, University of Geneva, QoL Lab, Geneva, Switzerland
Clauirton Siebra, PhD, University of Geneva, QoL Lab, Geneva, Switzerland
Contributors:
Eric J. Daza, Dr.P.H., Evidation, San Mateo, United States
Paul De Villèle, PhD, Withings, Paris, France
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Archived program here
