College/University - Storrs, CT, US
The mission of the UConn Center for mHealth and Social Media is to increase capacity for mHealth and social media research on campus, create research collaborations with universities around the world, facilitate industry-academic partnerships, and to become an international leader in the use of technology for health behavior change. The Center's priorities are in the areas of research methodology and training. The Research Methodology Core assists researchers in finding collaborators with specific technology expertise and contains a consultation service regarding research design, recruitment, and data analyses for mHealth and online social networking studies.The Technology Core partners with researchers who are developing grant applications to develop and test mobile health apps and/or online behavioral or health communication interventions. It also offers services to faculty and staff to assist them in developing social media feeds for their labs, centers, clinics, or offices. Finally, our App Evaluation Service allows companies and faculty to have their mobile apps and/or devices evaluated by behavioral scientists who will provide a feedback report summarizing the extent to which features are evidence-based and suggestions for additional evidence-based strategies they could include in their app.The Training Core hosts an annual conference, quarterly webinars, a journal, and trainings on topics in mHealth and social media.