The Development of a Mobile Health App for Breast Cancer Self-Management Support in Taiwan: Design Thinking Approach

Abstract

Background Evidence has shown that breast cancer self-management support from mobile health (mHealth) apps can improve the quality of life of survivors. Although many breast cancer self-management support apps exist, few papers have documented the procedure for the development of a user-friendly app from the patient’s perspective. Objective This study aimed to investigate the information needs of Taiwanese women with breast cancer to inform the development of a self-management support mHealth app. Methods A 5-step design thinking approach, comprising empathy, define, ideate, prototype, and test steps, was used in the focus groups and individual interviews conducted to collect information on the requirements and expectations of Taiwanese women with breast cancer with respect to the app. A thematic analysis was used to identify information needs. Results A total of 8 major themes including treatment, physical activity, diet, emotional support, health records, social resources, experience sharing, and expert consultation were identified. Minor themes included the desire to use the app under professional supervision and a trustworthy app manager to ensure the credibility of information. Conclusions The strengths of the design thinking approach were user-centered design and cultural sensitivity. The results retrieved from each step contributed to the development of the app and reduction of the gap between end users and developers. An mHealth app that addresses these 8 main themes can facilitate disease self-management for Taiwanese women with breast cancer.

Thai Pregnant Mobile Application: Review and Development Report

“…Design thinking was applied as a methodology to identify and resolve the problems with the current application design. Consistency with previous researchers who recommended the use of the design thinking approach to identify the needs of culturally-sensitive groups for the development of mHealth technology resulted in reducing the gap between end-users and developers [52].…”

Development and Preliminary Validation of LoAD Calc, a Mobile App for Calculating the Maximum Safe Single Dose of Local Anesthetics

“…The inclusion of end-users from the beginning of the project allowed identification of their needs and adaptation of the app consequently. Previous studies have demonstrated that mHealth developments are more prone to success when using a DT or User-Centered Design approach [ 27 , 28 ]. At the end of our intervention, the sample group of anesthesiologists was satisfied with the final version of the app and felt it was easy to operate and would be useful in their daily practice.…”

A Modular Mobile Health App for Personalized Rehabilitation Throughout the Breast Cancer Care Continuum: Development Study

“…This study specified the algorithm used to modify the content by surgery and treatment types and according to the analysis of user health records. In addition, to improve the motivation and benefits of using the mHealth app [40,41], we used assistant technology (ie, smart band) and professional support for monitoring and providing real-time feedback (ie, OAM program) during app use.…”

“…To cover the characteristics of diverse users and provide personalized content, 34 user cases were classified according to surgery information and treatment process. A previous research study [41] developed an information-centered app that consisted of 5 modules according to the information needs of women with breast cancer during treatment based on interviews and discussion with experts. They included 8 information items -stages of diagnosis, adjuvant chemotherapy, operation, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, endocrine therapy, targeted therapy, and rehabilitation.…”