JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

In recent years, the field of digital health has grown exponentially, leading to notable benefits such as easier access to health-related information, but also to content saturation and misinformation. Thus, it is crucial to identify digital health tools that provide meaningful value and assess their real-world impact.

Objective:

This pre-registered study’s goal was to quantitively assess the LONDI platform, a German platform designed for different user groups supporting children with learning disorders. This assessment focused on user groups of mental health professionals (i.e., learning therapists and school psychologists), and was grounded on four of the five RE-AIM-framework dimensions: Reach, adoption, implementation, and maintenance.

Methods:

Data was collected over a 10-month period, between May first 2024 and March first 2025. The reach dimension was measured via a pop-up questionnaire (N=1324), collecting demographic and professional experience data. The adoption dimension was measured via a second pop-up questionnaire (N=160), measuring user experience (UX) and reuse intention for the platform’s help system. The implementation dimension was measured via web analytics (N= 37,133), measuring reading time for pages intended for mental health professionals. Moreover, this dimension was also assessed by comparing chatbot engagement rates with industry benchmarks. The maintenance dimension was measured via web analytics as well, comparing the usage in the previous (N= 20,496), and the current platform version (N= 37,133) in terms of number and location of users, time spent on the platform, number of actions per visit, and used devices and software.

Results:

22% and 10.64% of the users that filled out the first pop-up questionnaire stated that they were learning therapists or school psychologists, respectively, exceeding their percentage in the German population (< 0.01%). The second pop-up questionnaire revealed an overall mean UX score of 1.46, surpassing the benchmark average, and UX ratings predicted intention to reuse. Time spent on the pages intended for mental health professionals was below the time needed to read them. The 0.18% rate of chatbot engagement was very low compared with industry benchmarks of 35-40%. Usage changed in the two compared time periods, and most strikingly, there was an 81.2% increase in the number of users.

Conclusions:

The study provides evidence to the LONDI platform’s optimal public health impact in terms of the reach, adoption, and maintenance RE-AIM-framework dimensions. Further research and endeavors and are needed to better understand and improve the platform’s impact in terms of the implementation dimension.