ABSTRACT
During the last 20-30 years, in high-income countries such as the Netherlands, there has been a rapid development of eHealth technologies – web-based health environments intended to improve (self-) care for individuals and populations. With recent developments in mobile technologies, these environments have expanded to include devices such as cell phones, personal digital assistants, tablets and wearable monitors such as smart watches (collectively known as consumer mHealth). Although programmes for online coaching (eCoaching), especially for lifestyle-related processes such as weight loss or smoking cessation are not new, the increased use of consumer-targeted mobile devices and their intertwining with various aspects of daily lives has led to renewed interest in this particular area of digital health. Whereas online coaching began with digital provision of (primarily text-based) information, advances in multimedia interfaces have enabled other forms of information presentation (such as pictures and graphics) and exchange, thereby
increasing possibilities for providing personalised health information to individual users of these devices. With current and future health challenges increasingly being attributed to lifestyle-related non-communicable diseases, various stakeholders seek to capitalise on the possibilities afforded by these devices for ostensibly improving individual and population health.
