Background Mobile health applications (apps) are increasing in interest to enhance patient self-management. Few apps are actually used by patients and have been developed for patients with inflammatory arthritis (IA) treated with disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs which use entails risk of adverse effects such as infections. Objective To develop Hiboot, a self-management mobile app for patients with IA, by using a user-centred step-by-step approach and assess its real-life use. Methods The app development included first a qualitative study with semi-guided audiotaped interviews of 21 patients to identify the impact of IA on daily life and patient treatments practices and an online cross-sectional survey of 344 patients to assess their health apps use in general and potential user needs. A multidisciplinary team developed the first version of the app via five face-to-face meetings. After app launch, a second qualitative study of 21 patients and a users’ test of 13 patients and 3 rheumatologists led to the app’s current version. The number of app installations, current users and comments were collected from the Google Play store and the Apple store. Results The qualitative study revealed needs for counselling, patient–health professional partnership, and skills to cope with risk situations; 86.8% participants would be ready to use an app primarily on their rheumatologist’s recommendation. Six functionalities were implemented: a safety checklist before treatment administration, aids in daily life situations based on the French academic recommendations, treatment reminders, global well-being self-assessment, periodic counselling messages, and a diary. The Hiboot app was installed 20,500 times from September 2017 to October 2020, with 4300 regular current users. Scores were 4.4/5 stars at Android and iOS stores. Conclusion Hiboot is a free self-management app for patients with IA developed by a step-by-step process including patients and health professionals. Further evaluation of the Hiboot benefit is needed.
Background: Patient education is an important part of the management of rheumatic and other diseases. Since patients do not have the same needs, it is crucial to assess needs of a targeted group to be able to tailor educational interventions. Objectives: To assess educational needs of a large cohort of patients with different rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases attending a health facility in Austria. Methods: We conducted an online survey with patients attending the Gastein Healing Galleries in Bad Gastein, Austria. Approximately 12,000 patients with a variety of diseases are treated in the centre every year. Of those, 6,465 patients were invited by email to fill out an anonymous online survey. Socio-demographics and health outcomes were collected from all respondents. In addition, the Educational Needs Assessment Tool (Austrian version -OENAT) was administered to a subset of respondents. The OENAT (39 items) assesses 7 domains of educational needs: Managing Pain, Movement, Managing Feelings, Arthritis/Disease process, Treatments, Self Help Measures, Support Systems. Results: In total 2017 (31%) patients responded of which 516 had data on educational needs: AS (63%), RA (14%), and FM (24%). Their mean (SD) age was 56 (11), and 54% were male. Level of education was: Elementary School (32%), Junior High School (22%), High School (21%), College (12%), and University (14%). Table 1 presents differences in educational needs across disease groups. Across the groups, there were significant differences in following OENAT domains: Managing Pain, Feelings, Treatments, and Support Systems. There were no differences in the level of educational needs in Movements, Disease Process, and Self-Help Measures. Patients with FM had significantly lower needs for managing and higher needs for feeling education, compared to those with AS and RA (p<.05). The RA group had significantly higher needs than the AS (p<.05) and FM (p<.05) groups for treatments education -the AS group had significantly higher needs than the FM group (p<.05) in the same domain. AS patients had significantly higher needs for support system education than FM (p<.05) and RA patients (p<.05).
BACKGROUND Mobile health applications (apps) are increasing in interest for enhancing patient self-management in rheumatology. Inflammatory arthritis (IA) represents painful chronic conditions impairing quality of life, for which disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) are used to control disease activity and reduce functional disability. DMARDs are increasing in availability (>15 DMARDs in France) and have a wide variety of targets and modes of administration, but their use is associated with risk of adverse effects such as infections. Few apps in rheumatology have been developed with the involvement of patients and health professionals (HPs) and are actually used by patients. Patient education, including e-education, is advocated to improve patients’ autonomy over their own health. Apps may be appropriate tools for self-managing medications, problem-solving or care coordination. OBJECTIVE To develop a self-management mobile app for patients with IA by using a user-centred step-by-step approach and assess its real-life use. METHODS The development was promoted by the French Society of Rheumatology. A mixed-method qualitative–quantitative study including 42 and 344 patients, respectively, identified the impact of IA on daily life, patients’ treatments practices, social relationships, use of health apps and potential use needs. A multidisciplinary team including 7 rheumatologists, 3 patient association representatives and 5 members of a digital company developed the first version of the app via face-to-face meetings and patient feedback during the process. After launch, 2 in-depth users’ tests including 13 patients and 3 rheumatologists led to the app’s current version. The number of app installations, current users, and user requests were collected, as were scores and comments at stores. RESULTS The qualitative study revealed needs for information and counselling, development of a HP–patient partnership, development of skills to cope with daily life and risk situations with treatment aids; 86.8% participants in the quantitative study would be ready to use an app primarily on their rheumatologist’s recommendation. Six functionalities were implemented: a safety checklist before treatment administration, aids in daily life situations, treatment reminders, global well-being self-assessment, periodic counselling messages, and a diary. Aids for risk situations were based on the French academic recommendations for DMARD management, drug leaflets and websites of national health authorities. The app is free, with no personal data collection. The presentation is a “companion” called Hiboot (“owl” in English). Hiboot was installed 20,500 times from 2017 to 2020, with 4300 regular current users and still-increasing usage curves. Overall, 18,000 requests on treatment self-management were identified over an 8-month period in 2020. Scores were 4.4/5 stars at Android and iOS stores. CONCLUSIONS Hiboot is a free self-management app for patients with inflammatory arthritis developed by a step-by-step process including patients and HPs. The number of current users is substantial. Further evaluation of the Hiboot benefit is needed.
Background Mobile health applications (apps) are increasing in interest for enhancing patient self-management in rheumatology. However, few have been developed with the involvement of patients and health professionals and actually used by patients. Objective To develop and implement a mobile app for safety, self-assessment and medication adherence for patients with inflammatory arthritis treated with disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) and assess its real-life use. Methods A mixed qualitative-quantitative study including 42 and 344 patients, respectively, identified patients’ treatment practices and their use of health apps in general and their needs in terms of content and potential use. A multidisciplinary team including 7 rheumatologists, 3 patient association representatives and 4 members of a digital company developed the first version of the app with face-to-face meetings and patient feedback during the process. After the launch of the app, users’ feedback assessment included 7 patients and 3 rheumatologists. The number of app installations, current users, users’ requests and functionalities used were collected. Results Preliminary studies indicated numerous safety issues and needs for counselling, leading to the 6 functionalities of the app HIBOOT (OWL in English): a safety checklist before treatment administration, aid in daily life situations related to self-management and safety, treatment reminders, global well-being self-assessment, periodic counselling messages, and a diary to note comments and appointments. The app is free, with no personal data collection. The presentation is a friendly companion that interacts with the user. The content was based on the French recommendations for DMARD management, drug leaflets and public national health websites. HIBOOT was installed 20,500 times from 2017 to 2020, with 4300 regular current users and still increasing usage curves. The checklist, diary and queries on daily life situations were the most used functionalities. Overall, 18,000 requests were identified for information on safety or other patient matters over a 8-month period in 2020. Scores were 4.4/5 stars at Android and iOS stores. Conclusion HIBOOT is a free app for patients with inflammatory arthritis that was developed with a preliminary qualitative–quantitative study including patients during the process and has scientifically validated content. The number of current users is substantial. Future evaluation of the HIBOOT benefit is needed.
No abstract
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.