Institute of Medical Informatics, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany.
Department of Biomedical Informatics at the Center for Preventive Medicine and Digital Health (CPD), Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany.
JMIR Hum Factors. 2024 Mar 5;11:e50926. doi: 10.2196/50926.
BACKGROUND: Early identification of quality of life (QoL) loss and side effects is a key challenge in breast cancer therapy. Digital tools can be helpful components of therapeutic support. Enable, a smartphone app, was used in a multicenter, prospective randomized controlled trial in 3 breast cancer centers. The app simultaneously serves as a therapy companion (eg, by displaying appointments), a tool for documenting QoL (eg, by enabling data collection for QoL questionnaires), and documentation of patient-reported side effects. The need for digital tools is continually rising. However, evidence of the effects of long-term use of mobile health (mHealth) apps in aftercare for patients with breast cancer is limited. Therefore, evaluating the usability and understanding the user experience of this mHealth app could potentially contribute valuable insights in this field. OBJECTIVE: A usability study was conducted to explore how patients with breast cancer receiving neoadjuvant, adjuvant, or palliative outpatient treatment rated their engagement with the app , the user experience, and the benefits of using the app. METHODS: A mixed methods approach was chosen to combine subjective and objective measures, including an eye-tracking procedure, a standardized usability questionnaire (mHealth App Usability Questionnaire), and semistructured interviews. Participants were surveyed twice during the study period. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using thematic analysis. Analysis of the eye-tracking data was carried out using the tracker-integrated software. Descriptive analysis was conducted for the quantitative data. RESULTS: The mHealth App Usability Questionnaire results (n=105) indicated good overall usability for 2 different time points (4 wk: mean 89.15, SD 9.65; 20 wk: mean 85.57, SD 12.88). The qualitative analysis of the eye-tracking recordings (n=10) and interviews (n=16) showed that users found the Enable app easy to use. The design of the app, information about therapies and side effects, and usefulness of the app as a therapy companion were rated positively. Additionally, participants contributed requests for additional app features and suggestions for improving the content and usability of the app. Relevant themes included optimization of the appointment feature, updating the app's content regularly, and self-administration. In contrast to the app's current passive method of operation, participants expressed a desire for more active engagement through messaging, alarms, or emails. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study demonstrate the good usability of the Enable app as well as the potential for further development. We concluded from patients' feedback and requests that mHealth apps could benefit from giving patients a more active role (eg, being able to actively document side effects as they occur). Additionally, regular updates of app content could further contribute to encouraging continued use of mHealth apps. Our findings may also assist other researchers in tailoring their mHealth apps to the actual needs of patients undergoing breast cancer therapy.
背景:早期识别生活质量(QoL)下降和副作用是乳腺癌治疗的一个关键挑战。数字工具可以成为治疗支持的有用组成部分。Enable 是一款智能手机应用程序,在 3 个乳腺癌中心的一项多中心、前瞻性随机对照试验中得到了应用。该应用程序同时作为治疗伴侣(例如,通过显示预约)、记录生活质量(例如,通过启用生活质量问卷的数据收集)和记录患者报告的副作用的工具。对数字工具的需求不断增长。然而,长期使用移动健康(mHealth)应用程序在乳腺癌患者康复中的效果证据有限。因此,评估这款 mHealth 应用程序的可用性并了解其用户体验可能会为该领域提供有价值的见解。
目的:进行一项可用性研究,以探讨接受新辅助、辅助或姑息性门诊治疗的乳腺癌患者如何评价他们对该应用程序的参与度、用户体验和使用该应用程序的益处。
方法:选择混合方法来结合主观和客观测量,包括眼动追踪程序、标准化的可用性问卷(mHealth App 可用性问卷)和半结构化访谈。参与者在研究期间接受了两次调查。访谈逐字转录并使用主题分析进行分析。使用集成的跟踪器软件对眼动追踪数据进行分析。对定量数据进行描述性分析。
结果:mHealth App 可用性问卷结果(n=105)表明,在 2 个不同的时间点(4 周:平均 89.15,SD 9.65;20 周:平均 85.57,SD 12.88),总体可用性良好。对 10 份眼动记录(n=10)和 16 份访谈(n=16)的定性分析表明,用户发现 Enable 应用程序易于使用。该应用程序的设计、治疗和副作用信息以及作为治疗伴侣的有用性都得到了积极评价。此外,参与者还提出了对附加应用功能的请求和改进应用内容和可用性的建议。相关主题包括优化预约功能、定期更新应用内容以及自我管理。与应用程序当前的被动操作方式相比,参与者希望通过消息、警报或电子邮件等方式进行更积极的互动。
结论:这项研究的结果表明,Enable 应用程序具有良好的可用性,并且具有进一步开发的潜力。我们从患者的反馈和请求中得出结论,移动健康应用程序可以通过赋予患者更积极的角色(例如,能够主动记录副作用的发生)从中受益。此外,定期更新应用内容也可以进一步促进人们持续使用移动健康应用程序。我们的发现也可能有助于其他研究人员根据乳腺癌治疗患者的实际需求来调整他们的移动健康应用程序。
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