The Development of a Mobile Application for Older Adults for Rehabilitation Instructions After Hip Fracture Surgery

Older patients with hip fractures require a long time to rehabilitate and recover after surgery. Although effective discharge instructions for long-term recovery are important, the discharge instructions of most acute-care hospitals are often presented as a brochure, which is difficult for older adults to follow. The purpose of this study was to develop rehabilitation instructions in the form of a mobile application for the physical recovery of older adults after hip fracture surgery.

A mobile application for rehabilitation instructions after hip fracture surgery was developed in ADDIE order of analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. The contents of the mobile application composed of rehabilitative exercises, activities of daily living, pain and nutrition management, fall prevention, and hospital visits. Nine experts evaluated the application and SPSS version 23.0 program was used for data analysis.

In the mobile application evaluation by the experts, the average score of the contents was 2.22 out of 3 points. The average score of understanding was the highest at 2.42, while accuracy was the lowest at 2.00 in the contents. The average score of the interface design was 2.32 out of 3 points. The average score of consistency was the highest at 2.42, while design suitability was the lowest at 2.25 in the interface design. The experts perceived the mobile application as simple and easy to understand while also suggesting some improvements.

The average scores were highest for understanding of contents and consistency of the interface design and lowest for accuracy of contents and design suitability of the interface design. The mobile application was easy to understand and had consistency in design.