Contrasting the Expectations and Experiences Related to Mobile Health Use for Chronic Pain: Questionnaire Study.

Area of Science:

• Digital Health
• Pain Management
• Mobile Health Applications

Background:

• Chronic pain significantly impacts quality of life, necessitating multifaceted management strategies.
• Mobile health (mHealth) presents a growing digital health solution with demonstrated potential in managing chronic pain.
• Current treatment approaches often lack a single, definitive solution for chronic pain.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the perspectives of chronic pain patients who use mHealth with those who do not.
• To identify the benefits and perceived obstacles of mHealth solutions for chronic pain management.
• To offer recommendations for increasing the adoption of mHealth for self-care in chronic pain.

Main Methods:

• Data collected via crowdsourcing on the Prolific platform.
• Participants prescreened for pain type and mHealth usage.
• Qualitative and quantitative analyses comparing mHealth users and non-users.

Main Results:

• Significant differences found between users and non-users on 43% of questions, particularly regarding privacy and healthcare interactions.
• Non-users (84%) expressed greater data privacy concerns than users (48%).
• Users reported mHealth eased professional interactions less (39%) than non-users expected (71%).

Conclusions:

• mHealth usage contrasts with non-user expectations, especially concerning data privacy.
• Non-users anticipate mHealth will improve healthcare interactions, while users report limited such benefits.
• Privacy concerns and the reality of professional interactions are key factors influencing mHealth adoption for chronic pain.