JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Digital health interventions such as web health applications significantly enhance screening accessibility and uptake, particularly for individuals with low literacy and income levels. Involving stakeholders comprising healthcare professionals, patients, and technical experts, an intervention can be tailored to effectively meet the users’ needs, ensuring contextual relevance for better acceptance and impact.

Objective:

To prioritize the content and user interface appropriate for developing a web health application, known as the MAwar app, to promote breast and cervical cancer screening.

Methods:

A stakeholder-driven approach was conducted to develop a web-based application known as the MAwar app, as part of our research entitled: “The Effectiveness of an Interactive Web Application to Motivate and Raise Awareness on Early Detection of Breast and Cervical Cancers (The MAwar study)”. The Quality Function Deployment (QFD) method was used to reflect the priorities of diverse stakeholders (healthcare, technology experts, patients, and public representatives) in its design. The QFD method facilitated the translation of stakeholder perspectives into app features. Stakeholders rated features on a 1 to 5 scale, ensuring the app's design resonated with user needs, emphasizing inclusivity and practicality.

Results:

Stakeholder evaluations highlighted cost-free access (mean 4.64), comprehensive cancer information (mean 4.55), and detailed screening benefits (mean 4.45) as essential priorities of the app. These priorities underscored the need to eliminate financial barriers and enhance educational content, aligning with a user-centric design philosophy.

Conclusions:

The MAwar app, conceived through a collaborative, stakeholder-driven process, represents a significant step in leveraging digital health solutions to tackle cancer screening disparities. By prioritizing accessibility, information quality, and clarity on benefits, the app is promising to make meaningful approaches to early cancer detection and management for targeted communities. Clinical Trial: BMC ISRCTN registry (https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN10403163)