Preferred Features in Mobile Health Applications for Kidney Transplant Recipients: A Qualitative Approach

Despite the increasing number of consumer-based mobile health applications (mHealth apps) for self-care, there is little research exploring consumers' experiences with mHealth apps. Health apps using mobile technology have the potential to provide a platform for kidney transplant recipients to monitor their self-care in real time. This study explored kidney transplant recipients' perceptions of the usefulness of mHealth apps and identified features that Kidney transplant recipients believe are important for using mHealth apps. A qualitative design was used to explore a purposive sample of adult kidney transplant recipients from a Midwest Transplant Program who used an mHealth app. Qualitative content data analysis revealed three themes participants found useful: health tracking (medication, nutrition, fluid intake, lab values, and activity), feedback (short personalized messages, positive awards using symbols, and color-coded bar graphs indicating normal and abnormal ranges), and usability (large font, words that everyone can understand, and all information stored in one area).