Identifying Mobile Health Engagement Stages: Interviews and Observations for Developing Brief Message Content

Area of Science:

• Digital Health
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Health Informatics

Background:

• Mobile health (mHealth) devices show potential for enhancing user engagement, particularly when combined with concise messaging.
• Existing research on mHealth engagement frameworks is limited, with few studies detailing methods for generating stage-specific content.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore and extend the stages of engagement framework for mHealth devices.
• To develop a method for generating brief message content that promotes sustained user engagement with mHealth technologies.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative study involving interviews and observations of 44 participants using mHealth technologies individually and in groups.
• Thematic analysis was applied to data collected at three time points to identify engagement stages and user experience attributes.

Main Results:

• Identified two additional engagement stages: self-management and limited engagement, indicating a nonlinear progression.
• Discovered 49 attributes organized into 8 themes (e.g., usability, motivation, social support) characterizing the mHealth user experience across stages.
• Found that different themes hold varying relevance at different engagement stages.

Conclusions:

• The study extends the mHealth engagement framework, highlighting its nonlinear nature and the importance of user experience attributes.
• A practical, person-centered 5-step process is proposed for developing effective brief message content to foster sustained mHealth engagement.