Designing Health Recommender Systems to Promote Health Equity: A Socioecological Perspective
Health recommender systems (HRS) have the capability to improve human-centered care and prevention by personalizing content, such as health interventions or health information. HRS, an emerging and developing field, can play a unique role in the digital health field as they can offer rele...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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JMIR Publications
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Journal of Medical Internet Research |
| Online Access: | https://www.jmir.org/2025/1/e60138 |
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| author | Caroline A Figueroa Helma Torkamaan Ananya Bhattacharjee Hanna Hauptmann Kathleen W Guan Gayane Sedrakyan |
| author_facet | Caroline A Figueroa Helma Torkamaan Ananya Bhattacharjee Hanna Hauptmann Kathleen W Guan Gayane Sedrakyan |
| author_sort | Caroline A Figueroa |
| collection | DOAJ |
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Health recommender systems (HRS) have the capability to improve human-centered care and prevention by personalizing content, such as health interventions or health information. HRS, an emerging and developing field, can play a unique role in the digital health field as they can offer relevant recommendations, not only based on what users themselves prefer and may be receptive to, but also using data about wider spheres of influence over human behavior, including peers, families, communities, and societies. We identify and discuss how HRS could play a unique role in decreasing health inequities. We use the socioecological model, which provides representations of how multiple, nested levels of influence (eg, community, institutional, and policy factors) interact to shape individual health. This perspective helps illustrate how HRS could address not just individual health factors but also the structural barriers—such as access to health care, social support, and access to healthy food—that shape health outcomes at various levels. Based on this analysis, we then discuss the challenges and future research priorities. We find that despite the potential for targeting more complex systemic challenges to obtaining good health, current HRS are still focused on individual health behaviors, often do not integrate the lived experiences of users in the design, and have had limited reach and effectiveness for individuals from low socioeconomic status and racial or ethnic minoritized backgrounds. In this viewpoint, we argue that a new design paradigm is necessary in which HRS focus on incorporating structural barriers to good health in addition to user preferences. HRS should be designed with an emphasis on health systems, which also includes incorporating decolonial perspectives of well-being that challenge prevailing medical models. Furthermore, potential lies in evaluating the health equity effects of HRS and leveraging collected data to influence policy. With changes in practices and with an intentional equity focus, HRS could play a crucial role in health promotion and decreasing health inequities. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-6d2fe900aa7e4de19a42bb779157e991 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1438-8871 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | JMIR Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Medical Internet Research |
| spelling | doaj-art-6d2fe900aa7e4de19a42bb779157e9912025-01-30T20:30:48ZengJMIR PublicationsJournal of Medical Internet Research1438-88712025-01-0127e6013810.2196/60138Designing Health Recommender Systems to Promote Health Equity: A Socioecological PerspectiveCaroline A Figueroahttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-0692-2244Helma Torkamaanhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-1094-4059Ananya Bhattacharjeehttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-9116-3766Hanna Hauptmannhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-6840-5341Kathleen W Guanhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-0044-0140Gayane Sedrakyanhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-5045-5079 Health recommender systems (HRS) have the capability to improve human-centered care and prevention by personalizing content, such as health interventions or health information. HRS, an emerging and developing field, can play a unique role in the digital health field as they can offer relevant recommendations, not only based on what users themselves prefer and may be receptive to, but also using data about wider spheres of influence over human behavior, including peers, families, communities, and societies. We identify and discuss how HRS could play a unique role in decreasing health inequities. We use the socioecological model, which provides representations of how multiple, nested levels of influence (eg, community, institutional, and policy factors) interact to shape individual health. This perspective helps illustrate how HRS could address not just individual health factors but also the structural barriers—such as access to health care, social support, and access to healthy food—that shape health outcomes at various levels. Based on this analysis, we then discuss the challenges and future research priorities. We find that despite the potential for targeting more complex systemic challenges to obtaining good health, current HRS are still focused on individual health behaviors, often do not integrate the lived experiences of users in the design, and have had limited reach and effectiveness for individuals from low socioeconomic status and racial or ethnic minoritized backgrounds. In this viewpoint, we argue that a new design paradigm is necessary in which HRS focus on incorporating structural barriers to good health in addition to user preferences. HRS should be designed with an emphasis on health systems, which also includes incorporating decolonial perspectives of well-being that challenge prevailing medical models. Furthermore, potential lies in evaluating the health equity effects of HRS and leveraging collected data to influence policy. With changes in practices and with an intentional equity focus, HRS could play a crucial role in health promotion and decreasing health inequities.https://www.jmir.org/2025/1/e60138 |
| spellingShingle | Caroline A Figueroa Helma Torkamaan Ananya Bhattacharjee Hanna Hauptmann Kathleen W Guan Gayane Sedrakyan Designing Health Recommender Systems to Promote Health Equity: A Socioecological Perspective Journal of Medical Internet Research |
| title | Designing Health Recommender Systems to Promote Health Equity: A Socioecological Perspective |
| title_full | Designing Health Recommender Systems to Promote Health Equity: A Socioecological Perspective |
| title_fullStr | Designing Health Recommender Systems to Promote Health Equity: A Socioecological Perspective |
| title_full_unstemmed | Designing Health Recommender Systems to Promote Health Equity: A Socioecological Perspective |
| title_short | Designing Health Recommender Systems to Promote Health Equity: A Socioecological Perspective |
| title_sort | designing health recommender systems to promote health equity a socioecological perspective |
| url | https://www.jmir.org/2025/1/e60138 |
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