Contrasting the Expectations and Experiences Related to Mobile Health Use for Chronic Pain: Questionnaire Study

Abstract

Background Chronic pain is a prolonged condition that deteriorates one's quality of life. Treating chronic pain requires a multicomponent approach, and in many cases, there are no “silver bullet” solutions. Mobile health (mHealth) is a rapidly expanding category of solutions in digital health with proven potential in chronic pain management. Objective This study aims to contrast the viewpoints of 2 groups of people with chronic pain concerning mHealth: people who have adopted the use of mHealth and those who have not. We highlight the benefits of mHealth solutions for people with chronic pain and the perceived obstacles to their increased adoption. We also provide recommendations to encourage people to try mHealth solutions as part of their self-care. Methods The Prolific crowdsourcing platform was used to collect crowdsourced data. A prescreening questionnaire was released to determine what type of pain potential participants have and whether they are currently using mHealth solutions for chronic pain. The participants were invited based on their experience using mHealth to manage their pain. Similar questions were presented to mHealth users and nonusers. Qualitative and quantitative analyses were performed to determine the outcomes of this study. Results In total, 31 responses were collected from people (aged 19-63 years, mean 31.4, SD 12.1) with chronic pain who use mHealth solutions. Two-thirds (n=20, 65%) of the users identified as female and 11 (35%) as male. We matched these mHealth users with an equal number of nonusers: 31 responses from the pool of 361 participants in the prescreening questionnaire. The nonusers’ ages ranged from 18 to 58 years (mean 30.8, SD 11.09), with 15 (50%) identifying as female and 15 (50%) as male. Likert-scale questions were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon (MWW) test. Results showed that the 2 groups differed significantly on 10 (43%) of 23 questions and shared similar views in the remaining 13 (57%). The most significant differences were related to privacy and interactions with health professionals. Of the 31 mHealth users, 12 (39%) declared that using mHealth solutions has made interacting with health or social care professionals easier (vs n=22, 71%, of nonusers). The majority of the nonusers (n=26, 84%) compared with about half of the users (n=15, 48%) expressed concern about sharing their data with, for example, third parties. Conclusions This study investigated how mHealth is currently used in the context of chronic pain and what expectations mHealth nonusers have for mHealth as a future chronic pain management tool. Analysis revealed contrasts between mHealth use expectations and actual usage experiences, highlighting privacy concerns toward mHealth solutions. Generally, the results showed that nonusers are more concerned about data privacy and expect mHealth to facilitate interacting with health professionals. The users, in contrast, feel that such connections do not exist.

Exploring mHealth applications for self-management of chronic low back pain: A survey of features and benefits

“…People feel encouraged to exercise when they have regular contact with a healthcare professional and feel understood. In line with [32] , [102] , our analysis also shows that researchers, medical experts, and patients with CLBP expect patients to interact with their physicians using mHealth solutions. At the same time, users do not usually find such interaction available.…”

“…Privacy concerns are also a significant barrier to the adoption of mHealth solutions, especially among individuals who have not used them before [32] , [107] . To address this issue, independent authorities should certify applications to assure healthcare professionals of their ethical and data security practices.…”

“…These solutions can include hardware and software components and may incorporate sensors, mobile devices, and communication technologies. mHealth solutions can be used to diagnose and treat a wide range of health conditions, as well as to improve overall health and wellness through behaviour change and health education [32] . mHealth solutions have become more accessible worldwide [33] .…”

“…Besides, mHealth users tend to perceive mHealth applications more positively than non-users. In line with it, Kheirinejad et al [32] contrasted the viewpoints of people with chronic pains who adopted mHealth solutions and the expectations of those who have not. They showed that people who used mHealth solutions found them easy to use, reliable, and valuable.…”