JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is a significant global health issue, often associated with a high symptom burden and reduced quality of life, especially after discharge. Traditional symptom management models are typically passive, clinician-centered, and lack real-time monitoring and feedback, which can lead to delayed interventions and poor patient engagement. While mobile health (mHealth) interventions offer a promising alternative, they require rigorous usability testing to ensure both efficacy and adoption.

Objective:

This study aimed to design and develop Tpro, a patient-reported outcome (PRO)-based mobile application for DVT patients. Utilizing an iterative convergent mixed methods design, the application seeks to enable proactive symptom monitoring, health education, clinician-patient interaction, and peer support, thereby optimizing its usability, functionality, and alignment with patient needs.

Methods:

The development followed an iterative convergent mixed methods design, comprising predevelopment and iterative optimization phases. Initial functions were informed by qualitative interviews with 14 DVT patients. Over four iterative cycles, qualitative feedback and quantitative usability data (including task completion rates and User Interface Usability Questionnaire [UIUQ] scores) were concurrently collected, analyzed, and integrated via joint displays to guide refinements in content, interface, and system architecture until usability benchmarks were met.

Results:

The final Tpro application encompasses four core modules: gamified symptom reporting, multimodal health education, clinician-patient communication, and a peer support community. Iterative testing identified and resolved key usability issues. The final prototype demonstrated high usability, achieving an excellent UIUQ score (89 ± 13) and a 92.3% task completion rate, indicating high user acceptance and operational reliability.

Conclusions:

Applying the iterative convergent mixed methods approach enabled the systematic and user-centered development of Tpro. This methodology effectively integrated diverse stakeholder feedback into a functional and engaging PRO-based app, ready for subsequent efficacy trials. This approach offers a replicable model for developing digital health tools in complex clinical contexts.