Currently submitted to: JMIR Human Factors
Date Submitted: Jun 16, 2026
Open Peer Review Period: Jun 23, 2026 - Aug 18, 2026
(currently open for review)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
User-centered development of HEMImprove 1.0 for upper-limb rehabilitation in adolescents with unilateral cerebral palsy: mixed methods study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Adolescents with unilateral cerebral palsy often experience motor difficulties that limit the functional use of the affected upper limb in daily and social activities.
Objective:
Considering the potential of digital tools to support home-based rehabilitation, this study aimed to design the HEMImprove 1.0 application, intended to enhance functionality and participation in adolescents diagnosed with unilateral cerebral palsy.
Methods:
A mixed, user-centered design approach was carried out. The process included discussion workshops conducted prior to the technological development of the application, followed by an evaluation of the definitive version.
Results:
The discussion rounds identified five key components to be considered in the application’s design. HEMImprove 1.0 was developed for different devices, incorporating an intervention comprising a warm-up session and three daily video-based exercises, to be performed at home five days per week over a four-week period.
Conclusions:
This study highlights the importance of involving users and experts from the initial stages in the design of rehabilitation tools aimed to adolescents with unilateral cerebral palsy. Although the variety of exercises broadens the accessibility and potential usability of the application, it also poses design, implementation, and maintenance challenges that should be addressed in future versions.
Citation
Request queued. Please wait while the file is being generated. It may take some time.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.