A Novel Method for Digital Pain Assessment Using Abstract Animations: Human-Centered Design Approach

Area of Science:

• Human-Computer Interaction
• Digital Health
• Pain Management

Background:

• Chronic pain patients face challenges with current clinical tools for monitoring and decision-making.
• Existing pain assessment tools have limitations in accurately capturing and expressing pain.
• Painimation is a novel electronic tool designed to address these communication and assessment gaps.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the human-centered design and development process of Painimation.
• To create an effective electronic tool for pain communication and assessment.
• To improve patient-reported outcomes in pain management.

Main Methods:

• Iterative, cyclical development with stakeholder engagement (patients, providers, design students).
• Human-centered design phases: inspiration (empathy, barrier identification), ideation (concept generation, evaluation), and implementation (prototype development, agile feedback).
• Testing of a minimally viable product and a finalized, testable app version.

Main Results:

• Identified 5 criteria for effective pain assessment tools through user-centered design.
• Generated 8 visual pain animations (painimations) found acceptable and usable for pain communication.
• Demonstrated potential for improved pain communication for general pain and sickle cell disease (SCD) patients.

Conclusions:

• A multiphase, human-centered design approach successfully developed Painimation.
• The tool has potential to improve medical care quality, particularly for underserved populations with chronic pain, like adults with SCD.
• Insights can inform the development of more patient-centered, engaging, and effective patient-reported outcome tools.