JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Gamified mobile health (mHealth) applications (apps) offer a promising way for engaging marginalized populations in health interventions. Ensuring their effectiveness, however, requires identification of key features that optimize user engagement and health outcomes.

Objective:

This study employed an interdisciplinary expert panel strategy to identify key features for a gamified mHealth app (MY-Hero) designed to support Malaysian young men who have sex with men to address HIV prevention and comorbidities.

Methods:

Guided by the Integrated Behavioral Model (IBM), we conducted an interdisciplinary expert panel, including experts from health and technology sciences and local community leaders, to identify the necessary and culturally appropriate features of MY-Hero. Through a structured series of discussions and thematic analysis, we identified core design principles and functional components of MY-Hero that are important to Malaysian YMSM’s health needs.

Results:

We conducted 3 expert panels with 9 experts. Key themes emerged from the expert panel discussions, including (1) establishing clinical affiliation, (2) enhancing user interface and experience, including optimizing usability, interactivity, and engagement; (3) incorporating customizable health content, tailoring interventions based on individual profiles and preferences; and (4) leveraging certain gamification elements, such as rewards and progression systems, to reach high adoption and sustained engagement. Additionally, the panel highlighted the importance of privacy and data security, ensuring user safety within the app environment.

Conclusions:

By integrating expert insights on design science, health science, and the Malaysian context, our findings provide important insights into how to optimize gamification to enhance digital health engagement among this key population affected by HIV.