(Toronto, October 13, 2026) JMIR Publications invites submissions to a new theme issue on " Advancing Meaningful Engagement With mHealth Interventions " in its open access journal JMIR mHealth and uHealth . The premier, peer-reviewed journal is indexed in MEDLINE, PubMed, PubMed Central, Scopus, Psycinfo, SCIE, JCR, EBSCO/EBSCO Essentials, DOAJ, GoOA.
As the number of mHealth tools grows, the field of digital health needs to re-examine and expand its understanding of mHealth engagement. Recently, there have been shifts towards understanding "meaningful engagement," or interactions with a tool sufficient to achieve desired clinical or health outcomes. This approach moves past simple associations between demographics and clicks or merely quantifying use patterns, however; additional work is needed to explore the complex factors that influence engagement behaviors. Poor engagement, characterized by high attrition rates and inconsistent usage patterns, limits the efficacy, scalability, and long-term health impact of these digital health tools. Overcoming these limitations requires moving past rudimentary metrics, as a deeper understanding of engagement is foundational to building more sustainable, user-centered health technologies. While there have been many attempts to define, measure, and promote engagement, the rapid evolution of mHealth tools requires a reflexive and updated approach.
This theme issue will feature innovative research and provocative viewpoints that challenge foundational assumptions about how users interact with digital tools. Moving beyond basic usage analytics, editors will prioritize innovative research that treats engagement as a primary outcome and unpacks its role within complex, multicomponent interventions. We seek research that investigates psychosocial factors, novel measurement strategies, and real-world innovations that contribute to the field’s evolving understanding of engagement.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
Moving beyond frequency of use to establish frameworks for meaningful engagement
Understanding complex psychosocial factors beyond simple demographics that drive user interaction
Developing methods and strategies to increase short- and long-term engagement
Design elements and considerations that promote meaningful engagement with mHealth tools
Implementation considerations that increase engagement with mHealth interventions
Evolving approaches to predict mHealth engagement (eg, machine learning, sensing technologies, novel patient engagement approaches)
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JMIR Publications is a leading open access publisher of digital health research and a champion of open science. With a focus on author advocacy and research amplification, JMIR Publications partners with researchers to advance their careers and maximize the impact of their work. As a technology organization with publishing at its core, we provide innovative tools and resources that go beyond traditional publishing, supporting researchers at every step of the dissemination process. Our portfolio features a range of peer-reviewed journals, including the renowned Journal of Medical Internet Research.
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