Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Human Factors
Date Submitted: May 26, 2020
Date Accepted: Dec 23, 2020
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A mobile health app to inform patients about their clinical journey during the perioperative period: a user-friendliness study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Mobile eHealth applications are important tools in personal healthcare management. A mobile e-health application, the ‘Patient Journey App’, was developed to inform patients with musculoskeletal disorders during their perioperative period. The app contains on-time information, video exercises, and functional tasks. Although the ‘Patient Journey App’ and other health apps are widely used, little research is available on how patients appreciate these apps.
Objective:
The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the user-friendliness in terms of usability and attitudes of users towards the ‘Patient Journey App’. The secondary aim was to evaluate positive and negative user experiences.
Methods:
An online questionnaire was sent to 2,114 patients scheduled for surgery for a musculoskeletal disorder. Primary outcomes were usability (measured with the System Usability Scale (SUS)) and users’ attitudes regarding the ‘Patient Journey App’ (assessed with the second part of the eHealth Impact Questionnaire (eHIQ)). The secondary outcomes were evaluated with multiple-choice questions and open-ended questions which were analysed via inductive thematic content analyses.
Results:
Of the 940 patients who responded, 526 used the ‘Patient Journey App’. The usability of the app was high (SUS 85.0; IQR 72.5-92.5) and users had a positive attitude towards the ‘Information & Presentation’ provided via the app (eHIQ 78.0; IQR 68.8-84.4). The app did not adequately improve the confidence in discussing health with others (eHIQ 63.9; IQR 50.0-75.0), and motivation to manage health (eHIQ 61.1; IQR 55.6-72.2). Three core themes emerged regarding the positive and negative user experiences: 1) content and information, 2) expectations and experiences, 3) technical performance. Users experienced the on-time information and instructions positively and found that the app prepared and guided them optimally through the perioperative period. Negative user experiences were the too optimistic information, scarcely presented information about pain (medication), lack of reference data, insufficient information regarding clinical course deviations and complications, and lack of interaction with clinicians.
Conclusions:
The ‘Patient Journey App’ is a usable, informative, and presentable tool to inform patients with musculoskeletal disorders during their perioperative period. The qualitative analyses identified aspects that can further improve the user experiences of the app. Clinical Trial: The study was approved by the local Medical Ethics Committee of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VCWE-2017-005)
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