Journal of Medical Internet Research - International Scientific Journal for Medical Research, Information and Communication on the Internet #Preprint #PeerReviewMe: Warning: This is a unreviewed preprint. Readers are warned that the document has not been peer-reviewed by expert/patient reviewers or an academic editor, may contain misleading claims, and is likely to undergo changes before final publication, if accepted, or may have been rejected/withdrawn. Readers with interest and expertise are encouraged to sign up as peer-reviewer, if the paper is within an open peer-review period. Please cite this preprint only for review purposes or for grant applications and CVs (if you are the author). Background: Modern healthcare focuses on Shared Decision Making (SDM) because of its positive effects on patient satisfaction, therapy compliance, and outcomes. Patients’ knowledge about their illness and available treatment options, gained through medical education, is one of the key drivers for SDM. Current patient education relies heavily on medical consultation and is known to be ineffective. Objective: To determine whether providing patients with information in a subdivided, categorized, and interactive manner via an educational app for smartphone or tablet may increase the knowledge of their illness. Methods: A surgeon blinded randomized controlled trial was conducted with 213 patients who were referred to one of the six Dutch hospitals by their general practitioner owing to knee complaints that were indicative of knee osteoarthritis (OA). An interactive app that, in addition to standard care, actively sends informative and pertinent content to patients about their illness on a daily basis by means of push notifications in the week prior to their consultation. The primary outcome was the level of perceived and actual knowledge that patients had about their knee complaints and the relevant treatment options after the intervention. Results: In total 122 patients were enrolled in the control group and 91 in the intervention group. After the intervention, the level of actual knowledge (measured on a 0-36 scale) was 52% higher in the app group (26.4 versus 17.4, P < 0.001). Moreover, within the app group, the level of perceived knowledge (measured on a 0-25 scale) increased by 22% during the week within the app group (from 13.5 to 16.5, P < 0.001), compared to no gain in the control group. Conclusions: Actively offering patients information in a subdivided (per day), categorized (per theme), and interactive (video and quiz questions) manner significantly increases their levels of knowledge (both perceived and actual), compared to standard care educational practices. Clinical Trial: The trial was approved by the regional Medical Ethical Board (Maxima Medisch Centrum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands), reference number N16.130.

As the world of Information Technology (IT) engineering becomes more complex every day, the formal study of project complexity becomes more and more important for managing projects effectively, to avoid poor performance and failure. Complexity is not yet clearly understood nor sufficiently defined and the terminology itself is being overloaded and over-used. This paper is a systematic literature review that attempts to identify and classify proposed definitions and measures of IT project complexity. The results include a map of the identified approaches and definitions, a list of classifications of project complexity, a set of proposed measurement tools and complexity measures available to practitioners. The paper contributes to establishing a common language when discussing complexity, as well as to a better understanding of project complexity and its implications to practical IT engineering projects.

The Journal of Information Technology is of interest to academics, scholars, advanced students and reflective practitioners in management science, information systems and computer science disciplines. The journal will also inform those seeking an update on current experience and future prospects in the areas of contemporary information and communications technology.