Digital Health and Society: A Research Agenda

Digital transformation is widely promoted as a solution to healthcare challenges such as ageing populations, chronic diseases and pandemics. This has led to rapid advances in the field of digital health, driven primarily by the computer and health sciences, which are developing devices and interventions. However, digital transformation in healthcare is not always easy to implement. Repeated calls for digital transformation and their technology-centric solutions fail to adequately address issues of implementation, adoption and unintended consequences. What is overlooked is the factor that moderates digital transformation, namely the society in which it takes place. It is important to recognise that society and social practices are not simply passive objects that can be transformed in a linear way. Instead, they are reflexive and responsive to experimentation and intervention. Designing and manag ing digital transformation in healthcare therefore requires an understanding of society. The Handbook of Digital Health and Society brings together leading social science perspectives– from sociology, media studies, STS, psychology, philosophy, political science and more– to explore the complex relationship between technology and society, and to shed light on the conditions under which digital transformation can be successful, ethical and deliver social value. The Handbook thus complements the dominant disciplines in the field of digital health and provides essential guidance for envisioning and developing appropriate and desirable solutions to current healthcare challenges.<p></p>