Developing mHealth Apps with Researchers: Multi-Stakeholder Design Considerations

Abstract

Abstract. The authors have been involved with developing a number of mHealth smartphone Apps for use in health or wellness research in collaboration with researchers, clinicians and patient groups for clinical areas including Sickle Cell Disease, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, asthma and infertility treatment. In these types of applications, end-users self-report their symptoms and quality of life or conduct psychometric tests. Physiological data may also be captured using sensors that are internal or external to the device.Following a discussion of the multiple stakeholders that are typically involved in small scale research projects involving end-user data collection, four Apps are used as case studies to explore the issue of non-functional requirements.Keywords: m-Health, Requirements Engineering, Software Engineering, User experience, Ethical issues in DUXU, Healthcare/Medical systems and DUXU, Management of DUXU processes, Medical/healthcare and DUXU, Mobile products and services BackgroundMobile health (mHealth) applications (Apps) based on cellular phones, Smartphones and tablet computers are a rapidly growing trend in healthcare [1][2][3]. Healthcare researchers are increasingly turning to mobile apps for data collection as it is seen as a quick, easy way to obtain data from end-users (patients, carers or members of the public) in their everyday environment, using devices that users either own themselves or are becoming increasingly familiar with.

Power Up: Patient and public involvement in developing a shared decision-making app for mental health

“…The term "non-functional requirements" is used to describe the constraints in co-design that are not related to the content specification of the digital tool, but are important to its success and are best considered early on in the design process. 9,10 These requirements were addressed to ensure the app was available on both iOS and Android, data were backed up, and that PPI was incorporated into the timelines for the project plan.…”

“…8 The findings from two central studies led by the researchers on shared decision-making were discussed with young people in an initial PPI focus group before commencement of the Power Up feasibility trial. These studies included an analysis of routinely collected data from child mental health services showing that child-and parent-reported experiences of shared decision-making were associated with higher levels of child-and parentreported improvement in psychosocial difficulties, 9 and a scoping review of approaches to support shared decisionmaking in child mental health. 10 Informed by these findings, the focus group was conducted to explore young people's views of the importance of shared decisionmaking, their experience of using mobile apps, and most importantly, how mobile healthcare apps could be used to support shared decision-making.…”

Barriers to and Facilitators of Engagement With mHealth Technology for Remote Measurement and Management of Depression: Qualitative Analysis (Preprint)

“…Some related to functionality of technology and some were more about users' abilities, perceptions and attitudes towards technology. These non-functional requirements have been discovered previously [12]. Developing on from this, our non-functional requirements were separated into health-related and user-related barriers and facilitators, as shown in Figure 1.…”

“…Craven et al [12] advocate the involvement of all possible end users including carers and clinicians. This has been hypothesised to result in systems that are easily implemented into practice.…”

Informing the Development of an E-Platform for Monitoring Wellbeing in Schools: Involving Young People in a Co-Design Process.

“…Once the technology is developed, children may again offer input and feedback (33). This cyclical framework informing the development and direction of digital tools has been thought to increase feelings of ownership and levels of engagement with participants (34). Furthermore, such an iterative process allows researchers to re ne the clinical responsibility and level of interaction which have been identi ed as key challenges within ehealth technologies (35).…”