Understanding End-user Perspectives of Mobile Pulmonary Rehabilitation (mPR): Cross-sectional Survey and Interviews

Date
2019
Authors
Dobson, R
Herbst, P
Candy, S
Brott, T
Garrett, J
Humphrey, G
Reeve, J
Tawhai, M
Taylor, D
Warren, J
Supervisor
Item type
Journal Article
Degree name
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
JMIR Publications
Abstract

BACKGROUND: Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) is an effective intervention for the management of people with chronic respiratory diseases, but the uptake of and adherence to PR programs is low. There is potential for mobile health (mHealth) to provide an alternative modality for the delivery of PR, overcoming many of the barriers contributing to poor attendance to current services. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to understand the needs, preferences, and priorities of end users for the development of an adaptive mobile PR (mPR) support program. METHODS: A mixed methods (qualitative and quantitative) approach was used to assess the needs, preferences, and priorities of the end users (ie, patients with chronic respiratory disorders) and key stakeholders (ie, clinicians working with patients with chronic respiratory disorders and running PR). The formative studies included the following: (1) a survey to understand the preferences and priorities of patients for PR and how mobile technology could be used to provide PR support, (2) ethnographic semistructured interviews with patients with chronic respiratory disorders to gain perspectives on their understanding of their health and potential features that could be included in an mPR program, and (3) key informant interviews with health care providers to understand the needs, preferences, and priorities for the development of an mPR support program. RESULTS: Across all formative studies (patient survey, n=30; patient interviews, n=8; and key stakeholder interviews, n=8), the participants were positive about the idea of an mPR program but raised concerns related to digital literacy and confidence in using technology, access to technology, and loss of social support currently gained from traditional programs. Key stakeholders highlighted the need for patient safety to be maintained and ensuring appropriate programs for different groups within the population. Finding a balance between ensuring safety and maximizing access was seen to be essential in the success of an mPR program. CONCLUSIONS: These formative studies found high interest in mHealth-based PR intervention and detailed the potential for an mPR program to overcome current barriers to accessing traditional PR programs. Key considerations and features were identified, including the importance of technology access and digital literacy being considered in utilizing technology with this population.

Description
Keywords
COPD , mHealth , rehabilitation
Source
JMIR Formative Research, 3(4), e15466.
Rights statement
©Rosie Dobson, Pauline Herbst, Sarah Candy, Tamzin Brott, Jeffrey Garrett, Gayl Humphrey, Julie Reeve, Merryn Tawhai, Denise Taylor, Jim Warren, Robyn Whittaker. Originally published in JMIR Formative Research (http://formative.jmir.org), 20.12.2019. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in JMIR Formative Research, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on http://formative.jmir.org, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.