MyStrengthsMyHealth^TM (MSMH) is a whole-person strengths-based consumer-facing mobile enhanced application designed for individuals, families, and/or communities to self-identify strengths, challenges, and needs.

NIH Clinical and Translational Science Award at the University of Minnesota: UL1 TR002494

Consumer-focused technologies, such as mobile health apps engage consumers in individual health management and also support population health prevention and promotion.¹ These technologies, and the data generated from their use, have the potential to transform healthcare and population health. Engaging individuals and families to contribute consumer-generated data facilitates deeper levels of participation in care and provide a foundation for personalized and collaborative care.^2,3

MSMH leverages the rigor of the Omaha System (Martin, 2005), a multi-disciplinary standardized health terminology and valid, reliable instrument that addresses all of health across four domains with 42 discrete concepts. Surveys for each of the 42 concepts are embedded using expert- and community-validated plain language terms. For example, in MSMH, the Omaha System domains, Environmental, Psychosocial, Physiological, and Health-related Behaviors, were renamed My Living, My Mind and Network, My Body, and My Self-care. In MSMH, signs/symptoms associated with the 42 concepts were renamed Challenges, and interventions were renamed Needs. MSMH captures health status using a continuum of severity for each concept (1 star = very bad; to 5 stars = very good). On this scale, a concept is considered to be a strength if it is rated a 4 (good) or 5 (great). Thus, this community-friendly, consumer-facing instrument generates powerful data for clinical use, education, and research.^4-10

Simplified Omaha System Terms have been validated by community members and experts (Martin, 2005) and are copyrighted 2017 by Karen Monsen and Robin Austin.

References:

1. Lai AM, Hsueh P-YS, Choi YK, Austin RR. Present and Future Trends in Consumer Health Informatics and Patient-Generated Health Data. Yearb Med Inform. 2017;26(1). doi:10.15265/IY-2017-016.

2. Woods SS, Evans NC, Frisbee KL. Integrating patient voices into health information for self-care and patient-clinician partnerships: Veterans Affairs design recommendations for patient-generated data applications. J Am Med Informatics Assoc. 2016;23(3):491-495. doi:10.1093/jamia/ocv199.

3. Rosenbloom TS. Person-generated health and wellness data for health care. J Am Med Informatics Assoc. 2016;23(3):438-439. doi:10.1093/jamia/ocw059.

4. Martin KS. (2005). The Omaha System: A key to practice, documentation, and information management (Reprinted 2nd ed.). Omaha, NE: Health Connections Press.

5. Austin, R.R. (2018). Picturing patterns in whole-person health: Leveraging visualization techniques with structured consumer-generated mHealth data. Retrieved from the University of Minnesota Digital Conservancy, http://hdl.handle.net/11299/202216.

6. Austin, R.R., Gao, G., & Monsen, K. A. (2017). Feasibility of using the MyStrengths+MyHealth^TM app by older adult women with heart disease to document strengths, challenges, and needs. In Home Healthcare, Hospice, and Information Technology. Washington, DC, USA.

7. Austin, R.R., Jones, R.C., Monsen, K.A., Eder, M., Martin, K. A. (under review). Development and validation of a simple translation of the Omaha System.

8. Austin, R.R., Kirk, L.A., Mathiason, M.A., Oghumah, I., & Monsen, K.A. (under review). Quantified whole-self: Perceptions of older adults using MyStrengths+MyHealth^TM

9. Austin, R.R., Mathiason, M.A., Lindquist, R.A., McMahon, S.K., Pieczkiewicz, P., & Monsen, K.A. (under review). A novel approach to the capture of standardized consumer-reported data to understand differential expression of women’s strengths, challenges, and needs.

10. Austin., R.R., Mathiason, M.A., Monsen, K.A., (2019). Assessing strengths-based whole-person health for older adults using MyStrengths+MyHealth^TM application. In Home Healthcare, Hospice, and Information Technology. Seattle, WA, USA

11. Agboola, O. O., Austin, R. R. & Monsen, K. A. (2022). Developing partnerships to examine community strengths, challenges, and needs in Nigeria: A pilot project. Interdisciplinary Journal of Partnership Studies, 9(1), Article 5. https://doi.org/10.24926/ijps.v9i1.4766