The aim of the Health Village’s research activities is to help researchers conduct high-quality research on e-services and digitalisation. In addition, the Health Village aims to promote the adoption and effectiveness of e-services. The Health Village services are built and developed in collaboration with five university hospitals, and researchers are involved at all stages of service development. The Health Village supports collaboration between developers and researchers.
How to carry out research in Health Village services
Research and development in the Health Village is a systematic activity. The knowledge gained through research is used to create new production processes, methods and systems or to improve existing ones.
Research in the Health Village is open to academic researchers, as well as to those working on a Master’s thesis. Theses should take into account the development aspect.
As a rule, researchers contribute to their research on their own initiative. The Health Village supports the research by, for example, providing the necessary research data, checking the accuracy of basic information about the services and providing a contact person from an appropriate service. If necessary, the Health Village will arrange a contact person for the researcher with whom these matters can be agreed. The actual supervision of the research or thesis is always agreed separately on a case-by-case basis.
When planning to conduct research, consider the following points:
To start with, learn about the services and background of the Health Village to increase your understanding of the services and the environment in which they operate. For a concise information package, see for example the ‘What is the Health Village?’ page.
Think about the service your research is targeting and the subject of your research. Please note that the Health Village does not, by default, offer ready-made research topics.
If you are working on a Master’s thesis, you will need a partner from the Health Village. Once you have chosen the service you want to research and you have a topic in mind, please contact us using the contact form below. We will direct your message to the person responsible for the service in question.
The research must be carried out in accordance with regional processes. For more information on the practices of each wellbeing services county or organisation providing Health Village services, please click on the links below.
Pohjois-Savon hyvinvointialue / KYS: Tutkimus (psshp.fi, in Finnish)
Pohjois-Pohjanmaan hyvinvointialue / OYS: Tutkimus, opetus ja koulutus (pohde.fi, in Finnish)
Pirkanmaan hyvinvointialue / TAYS: Tutkimus Taysissa (pirha.fi, in Finnish)
The wellbeing services county of Southwest Finland / TYKS: Scientific research (varha.fi)
If the research concerns the Health Village’s customers, you need a permission to conduct research. For more information on the permission to conduct research, see the ‘Research practices and research permissions’ page.
Health Village hubs
Use of Health Village hubs and/or contents: You have access to basic anonymous data on the use of the Health Village hubs: how much the hubs or contents are used (number of visitors, sessions and pageviews), which content is the most and least popular, where in Finland the average user is located, etc. No data is collected on the users themselves, and users are not profiled on the basis of their website behaviour. It should also be noted that usage data for a particular hub or content cannot be linked to other content used by the same user or group of users.
Research recruitment: The Health Village hubs can be used for recruiting subjects. For example, you can organise targeted surveys or interview recruitments for rheumatism patients in the Rheumatism Hub, targeted surveys or interview recruitments for patients with cerebrovascular disorders in the Brain Hub, etc. In research recruitment, it is important to bear in mind that the Health Village is a national service and emphasises equality regardless of place of residence, among other things. The Health Village has users from all over Finland. When conducting surveys and interview recruitments, regional delimitation should be avoided. For example, you should not conduct surveys targeted only at HUS patients.
My Path
Data collection: The My Path digital pathways can be used to collect data for research: consent forms and research surveys can be added to the digital pathway. If necessary, a separate digital pathway can be created for research purposes only.
Research recruitment: My Path can be used to recruit participants for research from digital pathways and beyond. A research announcement can be displayed on the My Path homepage and the consent forms can be signed from there.
HealthVillagePRO
Use of the service and/or its content: You have access to basic anonymous data on the use of the HealthVillagePRO: how much the service is used (number of visitors, sessions and pageviews), which content is the most and least popular, where in Finland the average user is located, etc. No data is collected on the users themselves, and users are not profiled on the basis of their website behaviour, despite the requirement of strong authentication. It should also be noted that usage data for a particular piece of content cannot be linked to other content used by the same user or group of users. For some individual services, such as consultation services, service-specific usage data is collected. This data can be used as part of the research if agreed with the service provider.
Research recruitment: The HealthVillagePRO service can be used to recruit professionals subjects. For example, you can organise targeted surveys or interview recruitments for professionals providing electronic health services. When recruiting for research, it is important to take into account that HealthVillagePRO is a national service and emphasises equality regardless of place of residence, among other things. The service has users from all over Finland. When conducting surveys and interview recruitments or producing content, regional delimitation should be avoided. For example, you should not conduct surveys targeted only at HUS patients.
Reporting on upcoming or ongoing research: The HealthVillagePRO news section can be used to inform professional users about upcoming or ongoing research and possible recruitments. Notices published in the News section should be linked in some way to the services or content of the Health Village.
When the research is completed and published, it will be published in the Health Village Research Bank with the author’s permission. Please send a short description of your research and a link to the research paper using the attached form.
In the case of research or a development project for HealthVillagePRO, which results in, for example, a guidance video, tool or checklist for professionals, this content or tool may be published as data content in the ‘Information’ section of HealthVillagePRO. The creation and publication of content is always agreed in advance and on a case-by-case basis.
The Health Village editorial team always assesses the publishability of all content.
Updated 21.3.2023