JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Nowadays, many people are motivated to self-track their health and optimize their well-being through mobile health (mHealth) apps and wearable devices. The diversity and complexity of these systems evolved over time, resulting in a large amount of data referred to as patient generated health data (PGHD) which has recently emerged as a useful set of data elements in healthcare systems around the world. Despite the increased interest in PGHD, clinicians and older adults' perceptions of PGHD are poorly understood. In particular, although some of clinicians' barriers to using PGHD have been identified, such as concerns around data quality, ease of use, reliability, privacy, and regulatory issues, little is known from the perspectives of older adults.

Objective:

The objective of this study is to explore the similarities and differences in the perceptions older adults and clinicians have on various types of PGHD.

Methods:

A mixed-methods study was conducted to explore clinicians and older adults' perceptions of PGHD. Focus groups were conducted with older adults and health care providers from the Greater Toronto Area and the Kitchener-Waterloo region. The participants were asked to discuss their perceptions of PGHD including facilitators and barriers. A questionnaire that aimed to explore the perceived usefulness of a range of different PGHD was also embedded in the study design. Focus group interviews were transcribed for thematic analysis, whereas questionnaire results were analyzed via descriptive statistics.

Results:

Four of the nine participants (44.4%) were clinicians (average age of 38.3 years), and the remainder were older adults (average age of 81.0 years). Four main themes were identified from the focus group interviews: influence of PGHD on patient-provider trust; reliability of PGHD; meaningful use of PGHD and PGHD-based decision support systems; and perceived clinical benefits and intrusiveness of PGHD. Questionnaire results were significantly correlated with the frequency of PGHD mentioned in the focus group interviews (r=0.42, p=0.034), and demonstrated that older adults and clinicians perceived blood glucose, step count, physical activity, sleep, blood pressure, and stress level as the most useful data for managing health and delivering high-quality care.

Conclusions:

This embedded mixed methods study generated several important findings about older adults and clinicians' perceptions and perceived usefulness of a range of PGHD. The increasing popularity (especially among older adults) and continued advancements of mHealth technology will lead to better integration of PGHD with the healthcare system.