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Although consumers and experts often express concerns regarding the questionable business practices of direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing services (e.g., reselling of consumers' genetic data), the DTC genetic testing market keeps expanding rapidly. We employ retail fairness as our theoretical lens to address this seeming paradox and conduct a discrete choice experiment with 16 attributes to better understand consumers' fairness perceptions of DTC genetic testing business models. Our results suggest that, while consumers perceive privacy-preserving DTC genetic testing services fairer, price is the main driver for fairness perception. We contribute to research on consumer perceptions of DTC genetic testing by investigating consumer preferences of DTC genetic testing business models and respective attributes. Further, this research contributes to knowledge about disruptive business models in healthcare and retail fairness by contextualizing the concept of retail fairness in the DTC genetic testing market. We also demonstrate how to utilize discrete choice experiments to elicit perceived fairness.The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12525-022-00571-x.

BACKGROUND In health care, the use of game-based interventions to increase motivation, engagement, and overall sustainability of health behaviors is steadily becoming more common. The most prevalent types of game-based interventions in health care research are gamification and serious games. Various researchers have discussed substantial conceptual differences between these 2 concepts, supported by empirical studies showing differences in the effects on specific health behaviors. However, researchers also frequently report cases in which terms related to these 2 concepts are used ambiguously or even interchangeably. It remains unclear to what extent existing health care research explicitly distinguishes between gamification and serious games and whether it draws on existing conceptual considerations to do so. OBJECTIVE This study aims to address this lack of knowledge by capturing the current state of conceptualizations of gamification and serious games in health care research. Furthermore, we aim to provide tools for researchers to disambiguate the reporting of game-based interventions. METHODS We used a 2-step research approach. First, we conducted a systematic literature review of 206 studies, published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research and its sister journals, containing terms related to gamification, serious games, or both. We analyzed their conceptualizations of gamification and serious games, as well as the distinctions between the two concepts. Second, based on the literature review findings, we developed a set of guidelines for researchers reporting on game-based interventions and evaluated them with a group of 9 experts from the field. RESULTS Our results show that less than half of the concept mentions are accompanied by an explicit definition. To distinguish between the 2 concepts, we identified four common approaches: implicit distinction, synonymous use of terms, serious games as a type of gamified system, and distinction based on the full game dimension. Our Game-Based Intervention Reporting Guidelines (GAMING) consist of 25 items grouped into four topics: conceptual focus, contribution, mindfulness about related concepts, and individual concept definitions. CONCLUSIONS Conceptualizations of gamification and serious games in health care literature are strongly heterogeneous, leading to conceptual ambiguity. Following the GAMING can support authors in rigorous reporting on study results of game-based interventions. CLINICALTRIAL

To combat the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries have adopted digital contact tracing apps. Various technologies exist to trace contacts that are potentially prone to different types of tracing errors. Here, we study the impact of different proximity detection ranges on the effectiveness and efficiency of digital contact tracing apps. Furthermore, we study a usage stop effect induced by a false positive quarantine. Our results reveal that policy makers should adjust digital contact tracing apps to the behavioral characteristics of a society. Based on this, the proximity detection range should at least cover the range of a disease spread, and be much wider in certain cases. The widely used Bluetooth Low Energy protocol may not necessarily be the most effective option in its current setting.

Dienste wie Facebook, Twitter, Instagram oder Snapchat sind fur viele, insbesondere junge Menschen, nicht mehr aus ihrem alltaglichen Leben wegzudenken. Wir leben in einer Zeit, die durch das Internet und Social Media gepragt und in der die Offenlegung von personlichen Informationen im Internet ein zunehmender Teil des modernen Lebens geworden ist. So ist beispielsweise sechs von zehn Verbraucherinnen und Verbrauchern in Europa bewusst, dass angezeigte Inhalte auf Online-Plattformen sich zwischen Nutzerinnen und Nutzern unterscheiden konnen, basierend darauf welche Onlineaktivitaten sie zuvor unternommen haben und welche Daten entsprechend uber sie gesammelt wurden.

BACKGROUND Nowadays, numerous health-related mobile apps implement gamification in an attempt to draw on the motivational potential of video games and thereby increase user engagement or foster certain health behaviors. However, research on effective gamification is still in its infancy and researchers increasingly recognize methodological shortcomings of existing studies. What we actually know about the phenomenon today stems from fragmented pieces of knowledge, and a variety of different perspectives. Existing research primarily draws on conceptual knowledge that is gained from research prototypes, and isolated from industry best practices. We still lack knowledge on how gamification has been successfully designed and implemented within the industry and whether certain gamification approaches have shown to be particularly suitable for certain health behaviors. OBJECTIVE We address this lack of knowledge concerning best practices in the design and implementation of gamification for health-related mobile apps by identifying archetypes of gamification approaches that have emerged in pertinent health-related mobile apps and analyzing to what extent those gamification approaches are influenced by the underlying desired health-related outcomes. METHODS A 3-step research approach is employed. As a first step, a database of 143 pertinent gamified health-related mobile apps from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store is set up. Second, the gamification approach of each app within the database is classified based on an established taxonomy for gamification in health-related apps. Finally, a 2-step cluster analysis is conducted in order to identify archetypes of the most dominant gamification approaches in pertinent gamified health-related mobile apps. RESULTS Eight archetypes of gamification emerged from the analysis of health-related mobile apps: (1) competition and collaboration, (2) pursuing self-set goals without rewards, (3) episodical compliance tracking, (4) inherent gamification for external goals, (5) internal rewards for self-set goals, (6) continuous assistance through positive reinforcement, (7) positive and negative reinforcement without rewards, and (8) progressive gamification for health professionals. The results indicate a close relationship between the identified archetypes and the actual health behavior that is being targeted. CONCLUSIONS By unveiling salient best practices and discussing their relationship to targeted health behaviors, this study contributes to a more profound understanding of gamification in mobile health. The results can serve as a foundation for future research that advances the knowledge on how gamification may positively influence health behavior change and guide practitioners in the design and development of highly motivating and effective health-related mobile health apps.

Gamification is increasingly being recognized as a tool to support a change in individuals’ health behaviors. However, how and under which circumstances gamification is able to support health behavior change is still largely unexplored. This study follows the call for more theory-driven research on gamification by investigating the role of gamification in health behavior change theories (HBCTs). In order to do so, we conducted a systematic review of extant literature and identified 25 studies that explore the role of gamification in the process of health behavior change to some extent. We found large discrepancies in how the authors of these studies conceptualized the role of gamification in their theory-driven health interventions. To further strengthen theory-driven research on gamification in health and well-being, we additionally propose concrete research questions. These may guide future researchers to identify valuable avenues for further explaining and predicting the influences of gamification on health behavior change.

During the past decade, distributed ledger technology (DLT) has found its way into application areas outside finance, such as supply chain management, the Internet of Things, or health care. To this end, this novel technology phenomenon has recently also caught the attention of researchers and practitioners in genomics. Although various DLT-based data markets for genome data already exist or are in development, the potential of DLT in this context is far from exhausted, whereas the possible risks related to the application of DLT in genomics are not yet sufficiently known. In this work, we investigate the potential opportunities and challenges for the application of DLT in the field of genomics. Thus, we make an important contribution to the safe and socially acceptable use of DLT in this unique and highly relevant use context.

The use of wearable health devices, such as activity trackers or biosensors, offers great potential for managing one’s health levels. Since they are affordable and widely available, organizations are also taking advantage of these systems (referred to as physiolytics), seeing an opportunity to handle some health-related challenges in the workplace. However, once physiolytics are implemented in the workspace, organizations face difficulties in sustaining employees’ participation. This is a major problem because, to generate data that can contribute to personal health empowerment, physiolytics need to be used in a continuous manner. Habits are recognized as significant factors in determining sustained use of physiolytics, but there are no precise investigations on how organizations can have impact on this matter. Given that habits are highly context- dependent, organizations have the opportunity to create favorable conditions, so that participating employees develop a habituation towards the use of physiolytics. Accordingly, in this paper, we conduct a narrative review to critically evaluate reported evidence and, then, formulate concrete propositions to support wearable health devices’ habituation. We therefore aim to provide practitioners with upstream interventions to concretely help them in increasing the success of physiolytics’ implementation as well as open the way for further investigations in this strand of research.

Gamification is a promising approach to tackle users’ infrequent and decreasing use of health apps. For this purpose, extant research provides developers of health apps with a vast number of different game elements. By abstracting from the implementation of single game elements and choosing a more holistic approach to gamification concepts, we iteratively develop a taxonomy of gamification concepts for health apps using inductive and deductive approaches and discuss its transferability to other gamification contexts. We contribute to a profound understanding of the main characteristics of gamification concepts and enable researchers and practitioners to classify and distinguish them. Our results provide interesting insights in to the essential characteristics of health apps’ gamification concepts.

To facilitate use of patient-centered health IT applications in everyday life, a high degree of usability is required. Based on the example of a patient-centered web application, we propose a usability study design enabling developers and researchers to assess usability of patient-centered health IT applications and derive implications for their improvement. Our study design integrates tasks that subjects have to process, an associated questionnaire based on Perceived Ease of Use, Perceived Usefulness, Attitude Toward Using, and Behavioral Intention to Use, a System Usability Scale questionnaire, and focus groups. Application of the usability study design demonstrates its feasibility and provides insights for assessment of usability in related projects in research and practice.