Expectations of a Health-Related Mobile Self-Management App Intervention Among Individuals With Spinal Cord Injury

Our research team developed a mobile application (app) to facilitate health-related self-management behaviors for secondary conditions among individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). To facilitate mobile app adoption and ongoing use into the community, it is important to understand potential users' expectations and needs.

The primary objective of this study was to explore user expectations of a mobile app intervention designed to facilitate self-management behavior among individuals with SCI.

Data were collected via one-on-one, semi-structured interviews with a subsample of 20 community-dwelling participants enrolled in a larger, clinical trial. Analysis of the transcripts was undertaken using a six-phase process of thematic analysis.

Our analysis identified three main themes for expectations of the mobile app intervention. The first theme, desiring better health outcomes, identified participants' expectation of being able to improve their psychological, behavioral, and physical health outcomes and reduce associated secondary conditions. The second theme, wanting to learn about the mobile app's potential, identified participants' interest in exploring the functionality of the app and its ability to promote new experiences in health management. The third theme, desiring greater personal autonomy and social participation, identified participants' desire to improve their understanding of their health and the expectation for the app to facilitate social engagement with others in the community.

By exploring end-users' expectations, these findings may have short-term effects on improving continued mobile health app use among SCI populations and long-term effects on informing future development of mobile app interventions among chronic disease populations.