Background: The field of mobile health (mHealth) is constantly expanding. Integrating mHealth apps and devices in clinical practice is a major and complex challenge. General practitioners (GPs) are an essential link in a patient’s care pathway. As they are patients’ preferred health care intermediaries, GPs play an important role in supporting patients’ transition to mHealth. Objective: This study aims to identify the factors associated with the willingness of French GPs to prescribe mHealth apps and devices to their patients. Methods: This study was part of the ApiAppS project whose overall objective was to help remove barriers GPs face when prescribing mHealth apps and devices by developing a custom-built platform to aid them. The study included GPs recruited from the general practice department of several medical faculties in France (Lyon, Nice, and Rouen) and mailing lists of academic GPs, health care professional associations, and social and professional networks. Participants were asked to complete a web-based questionnaire that collected data on various sociodemographic variables, indicators of their involvement in continued education programs and the amount of time they dedicated to promoting healthy behaviors during patient consultations, and indicators characterizing their patient population. Data on their perceptions of mHealth apps and devices were also collected. Finally, the questionnaire included items to measure GPs’ acceptability of prescribing mHealth apps and devices for several health-related dimensions. Results: Of the 174 GPs, 129 (74.1%) declared their willingness to prescribe mHealth apps and devices to their patients. In multivariate analysis, involvement in continued education programs (odds ratio [OR] 6.17, 95% CI 1.52-28.72), a better patient base command of the French language (OR 1.45, 95% CI 1.13-1.88), GP-perceived benefits of mHealth apps and devices for both patients and their medical practice and GP-perceived drivers for mHealth apps and device implementation in their medical practice (OR 1.04, 95% CI 1.01-1.07), and validation of mHealth apps and devices through randomized clinical trials (OR 1.02, 95% CI 1.00-1.04) were all associated with GPs’ willingness to prescribe mHealth apps and devices. In contrast, older GPs (OR 0.95, 95% CI 0.91-0.98), female GPs (OR 0.26, 95% CI 0.09-0.69), and those who perceived risks for the patient or their medical practice (OR 0.96, 95% CI 0.94-0.99) were less inclined to prescribe mHealth apps and devices. Conclusions: mHealth apps and devices were generally seen by GPs as useful in general medicine and were, for the most part, favorable to prescribing them. Their full integration in general medicine will be conditioned by the need for conclusive certification, transparency (reliable and precise data concerning mHealth app and device methods of construction and clinical validation), software aids to assist GPs prescribe them, and dedicated training programs.

La recherche communautaire représente un moteur d’innovations dans des domaines clés de santé publique comme celui du VIH/Sida, le plus emblématique (Demange, Henry & Préau, 2012), et des hépatites. Cependant, il existe des domaines de recherches autour de pathologies spécifiques où ce format de recherches semble avoir davantage de difficultés à se développer, comme dans le champ du cancer (Shankand, Saïas & Friboulet, 2009). Cet article se propose d’apporter quelques pistes de réflexion autour de la mobilisation citoyenne actuelle en lien avec la recherche en cancérologie ainsi que sur les nouveaux leviers potentiels au développement de recherches plus participatives et communautaires en s’appuyant sur la création récente de la plateforme des Seintinelles, dont l’objectif est de rapprocher chercheurs et citoyens concernés par la thématique du cancer. Cette réflexion sera étayée par des questionnements relatifs au cadre plus global qu’est la démocratie sanitaire.

Over the last forty years, many methodologies have been initiated within the framework of the participatory approach, the objective of which is to encourage the involvement of citizens in the definition and implementation of projects and policies concerning them. The implementation of these participatory approaches in the field of interventional research in population health reveals several scientific, organizational, inter-individual, and ethical issues that must be discussed. Thus, we propose to present here the fruit of a collective reflection of the members of a research group, composed of patient-researchers and researchers in social psychology, on the implementation of the IMPAQT research project, which aimed to promote a community-based research approach in oncology. The discussion will be structured around three topics: the implementation of the participatory research mechanism, the sustainability of the commitment involved in participating in research, and the valorization of the participation of the patient-researchers. These issues are particularly important to consider in guiding the implementation of a solid and balanced partnership with those concerned in the co-construction of interventional research devices in cancerology. RÉSUMÉ Au fil des quarante dernières années, de nombreuses démarches ont été initiées dans le cadre d’approches dites participatives dont l’objectif était de favoriser l’implication des citoyen·nes dans la définition et la mise en œuvre de projets et politiques les concernant. La mise en place de ces démarches participatives dans le champ des recherches interventionnelles en santé des populations met en lumière plusieurs enjeux scientifiques, organisationnels, inter-individuels et également éthiques qui doivent être discutés. Ainsi, nous proposons de présenter ici le fruit d’une réflexion collective des membres d’un groupe de recherche composé de patientes-chercheuses et de chercheuses en psychologie sociale au sujet de la mise en œuvre du projet de recherche IMPAQT dont l’objectif était d’impulser une démarche de recherche communautaire en oncologie. La discussion sera structurée en trois axes : la mise en œuvre du dispositif de recherche participative, la pérennisation de l’engagement des membres du groupe de recherche et la valorisation de la participation des patientes-chercheuses. Ces enjeux nous semblent particulièrement importants à considérer pour guider la mise en œuvre d’un partenariat solide et équilibré impliquant les personnes concernées dans la co-construction de dispositifs de recherches interventionnelles en cancérologie.

In this study we investigated adolescent students’ (13–15 years old) social representations of the vaccination against human papillomavirus (HPV) by analysing their iconographic productions of the ...