Accepted for/Published in: JMIR mHealth and uHealth
Date Submitted: Sep 17, 2018
Open Peer Review Period: Sep 22, 2018 - Oct 27, 2018
Date Accepted: May 1, 2019
Date Submitted to PubMed: May 24, 2019
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
What patients want in a smartphone app that supports colonoscopy preparation: a qualitative study to inform a user-centred smartphone app
ABSTRACT
Background:
Colonoscopy preparation is elaborate and complex. In the context of colorectal cancer screening, up to 11% of patients do not keep their colonoscopy appointments and up to 33% of those attending their appointments have inadequately cleansed bowels that can delay cancer diagnosis and treatment. A smartphone app may be an acceptable and far-reaching tool to improve patient adherence to colonoscopy.
Objective:
The aim of this qualitative study was to employ a user-centered approach to design the content and features of a smartphone app called colonAPPscopy to support individuals preparing for their colonoscopy appointments.
Methods:
We conducted two focus group discussions (FGDs) with gastroenterology patients treated at the McGill University Health Centre in Montreal, Canada. Patients were aged 50 to 75, English- or French-speaking and had undergone outpatient colonoscopy in the previous three months; they did not have inflammatory bowel disease or colorectal cancer. FGDs were 75-90 minutes, conducted by a trained facilitator and audiotaped. Participants discussed the electronic health support tools they might use to help them prepare for the colonoscopy, the content needed for colonoscopy preparation and the features that would make the smartphone app useful. Recordings of FGDs were transcribed and analyzed using thematic analysis to identify key user-defined content and features to inform the design of colonAPPscopy.
Results:
Nine patients (7 male, 2 female) participated in one of two FGDs. Main content areas focused on bowel preparation instructions, medication restrictions, appointment logistics, communication and post-colonoscopy expectations. Design features to make the app useful and engaging included minimization of data input, reminders and alerts for up to seven days pre-colonoscopy and visual aids. Participants wanted a smartphone app that comes from a trusted source, sends timely and tailored messages, provides reassurance, provides clear instructions and is simple to use.
Conclusions:
Participants identified the need for post-colonoscopy information as well as reminders and alerts in the week prior to colonoscopy, novel content and features that had not been included in previous smartphone-based strategies for colonoscopy preparation. The ability to tailor instructions made the smartphone app preferable to other modes of delivery. Study findings recognize the importance of including potential users in the development phase of building a smartphone app.
Citation
Per the author's request the PDF is not available.
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.