on Sociotechnology and Pervasive Health , Part 1

The landscape of healthcare has increasingly been defined by a rise in patients with chronic illnesses, changing patterns of service use, and by government cuts in health and social care budgets. Technologies for telehealth, telecare and telemedicine have existed for over forty years and have often been presented as heralding a new era of healthcare, in which access to services and personalised care are improved whilst the costs of care are minimised by enabling healthcare interventions to be delivered within the community; Patients would not need to travel to see specialists, people could be kept safe in their own homes and there would be less need for expensive in-hospital treatment. For people with chronic illnesses in particular, the use of mobile technology as pervasive tools for the remote monitoring of health status by patients, health practitioners and relatives may be especially important in enabling the improvement of patients' health outcomes, quality of life and experiences of healthcare. Direct involvement of patients and health and social care professionals in the co-design process of pervasive health technologies poses particular sociotechnical design challenges because of the integration of different expertise, systems and interests within the same domain of application. Researchers and service providers working with these advancing technologies in healthcare were invited to contribute to this special double issue on Sociotechnology and Pervasive Health for the International Journal of Sociotechnology and Knowledge Development. Eight papers were accepted for publication, presenting research aimed at understanding the processes, factors and challenges of the design and implementation of pervasive healthcare projects through a sociotechnical approach. Four of these papers will be presented in each special issue. The aim of this publication is to present a selection of high-quality papers that advance the quality and knowledge of pervasive health and sociotechnology. Authors were asked to submit discussions and reviews about: methodologies