Help at hand: Women’s experiences of using a mobile health application upon diagnosis of asymptomatic osteoporosis

Abstract

Objectives:This study aims to test a mobile health application (mHealth app) developed to meet the needs of women newly diagnosed with asymptomatic osteoporosis. We investigate how the women experience using an mHealth app upon diagnosis of osteoporosis and whether the app can help them to be prepared for treatment decision-making and support them in osteoporosis self-management. We also tested the usability of the app, to find out whether any adjustments were necessary prior to implementation.Methods:A test was conducted at a Danish university hospital with 18 women aged 50–65, newly diagnosed with asymptomatic osteoporosis. On presenting for a bone density scan at the hospital, they were provided with the app, which was named ‘My Osteoporosis Journey’. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. Giorgi’s descriptive phenomenological method guided the data analysis in four steps.Findings:In total, 17 women succeeded in downloading the app, thereby accessing information on asymptomatic osteoporosis, their bone density scan results and treatment recommendations prior to visiting their general practitioner. Three overall themes were identified. Women experienced that the app (1) gave a feeling of confidence and reassurance, (2) prepared the women on treatment decision-making in the general practitioner visit and (3) provided help at hand in self-management of osteoporosis.Conclusion:Our findings show that the mHealth app helps women to feel confident and reassured upon diagnosis of asymptomatic osteoporosis. The women felt that the app promoted an equal dialogue in the osteoporosis consultation since they felt prepared for visiting their general practitioner and were able to articulate their individual needs regarding treatment. After diagnosis, the women felt that the app provided support in self-management, right at their fingertips.

Digital Health Technologies for Long-term Self-management of Osteoporosis: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

“…All selected articles were published in journals over the preceding 8 years (2014-2021), with a notable increase in publications since 2017. The publications comprised feasibility studies [31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39], design and development articles [40][41][42][61][62][63], and case studies [43][44][45][46][47]. Among these studies, 41% (13/32) of articles were RCTs [36,37,[48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58].…”

“…Among these studies, 41% (13/32) of articles were RCTs [36,37,[48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58]. Although most of the articles have a direct relation to osteoporosis [31,[40][41][42]49,52,57,[61][62][63], some of the selected articles refer to apps that are useful and indirectly related to osteoporosis; that is, they are not specifically designed for osteoporosis yet can be potentially useful in managing the disease [32,33,[35][36][37]39,45,51,[53][54][55]58]. The included mHealth apps can be classified into different research themes: (1) monitoring apps (tracking patients' daily nutrition, exercises, and symptoms) [34-36, 38, 40, 41, 44, 46-48, 50-55, 57-59, 64], (2) assessment apps (providing health professionals and patients various tests for assessing patients) [32,33], and (3) measurement apps (measuring certain parameters or variables related to osteoporosis) [43,[61][62][63].…”

Quality in Use of an Android-based Mobile Application for Calculation of Bone Mineral Density with the Standard ISO/IEC 25022

“…The percentage of bone density lost over 12 months was lower than expected. In [10] a mobile health application developed to meet the needs of newly diagnosed women with asymptomatic osteoporosis was tested where the use of an mHealth application is experienced after the diagnosis of osteoporosis and whether the application can help them prepare for decision-making about treatment and support them in selfmanagement of osteoporosis. The application's usability was also tested to find out if any adjustments were necessary before deployment.…”

User involvement in the development of a telehealth solution to improve the kidney transplantation process: A participatory design study

“…Patients and HCPs have been involved in research and have changed clinical practice, which has, in turn, led to a significant impact on patients’ everyday lives. 24–28 In health science, PD is conducted in three phases. 6 Phase 1 is identification of needs, through an exploration of experiences.…”