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Identifying Targets for Innovation in Amazon Reviews of Bedwetting Alarms: Thematic Analysis
Astha Sahoo1, Savannah Leah Starr1, Vadim Osadchiy1,2
1David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States.
Insights
Parents and caregivers reported dissatisfaction with current bedwetting alarms, citing issues with durability, accuracy, and comfort. Future innovations should focus on improving these features and adapting devices for girls to enhance satisfaction and compliance.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric urology and medical device innovation.
- Consumer product analysis and user experience research.
Background:
- Nocturnal enuresis (NE) affects approximately 15% of 6-year-olds, impacting multiple health domains.
- Bedwetting alarms are a common treatment, comprising a sensor and moisture-activated alarm.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify parent and caregiver satisfaction and dissatisfaction with existing bedwetting alarms.
- To provide an innovation roadmap for improved bedwetting alarm design.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of over 300 reviews for bedwetting alarm products on Amazon.
- Application of meaning extraction to identify themes and subthemes.
- Calculation of percent skew to quantify positive and negative feedback on subthemes.
Main Results:
- Durability, alarm accuracy, and comfort were the most negatively skewed aspects.
- Effectiveness was the only significantly positively skewed subtheme.
- Girls reported more negative experiences, particularly with corded or sensor-pad devices.
Conclusions:
- Future bedwetting alarm design should prioritize durability, accuracy, and comfort.
- Device features, particularly alarm sound, need age-specific options.
- Addressing gender-specific design issues, especially for girls, is crucial for improving satisfaction and compliance.
Background:
Nocturnal enuresis (NE) is a frequent diagnosis in pediatric and adolescent populations with an estimated prevalence of around 15% at the age of 6 years. NE can have a substantial impact on multiple health domains. Bedwetting alarms, which typically consist of a sensor and moisture-activated alarm, are a common treatment.
Objective:
This study aimed to determine areas of satisfaction versus dissatisfaction reported by the parents and caregivers of children using current bedwetting alarms.
Methods:
Using the search term "bedwetting alarms" on the Amazon marketplace, products with >300 reviews were included. For each product, the 5 reviews ranked the "most helpful" for each star category were selected for analysis. Meaning extraction method was applied to identify major themes and subthemes. A percent skew was calculated by summing the total number of mentions of each subtheme,+1 for a positive mention, 0 for a neutral mention, and -1 for a negative mention, and dividing this total by the number of reviews in which that particular subtheme was observed. Subanalyses were performed for age and gender.
Results:
Of 136 products identified, 10 were evaluated based on the selection criteria. The main themes identified across products were long-term concerns, marketing, alarm systems, and device mechanics and features. The subthemes identified as future targets for innovation included alarm accuracy, volume variability, durability, user-friendliness, and adaptability to girls. In general, durability, alarm accuracy, and comfort were the most negatively skewed subthemes (with a negative skew of -23.6%, -20.0%, and -12.4% respectively), which are indicative of potential areas for improvement. Effectiveness was the only substantially positively skewed subtheme (16.8%). Alarm sound and device features were positively skewed for older children, whereas ease of use had a negative skew for younger children. Girls and their caretakers reported negative experiences with devices that featured cords, arm bands, and sensor pads.
Conclusions:
This analysis provides an innovation roadmap for future device design to improve patient and caregiver satisfaction and compliance with bedwetting alarms. Our results highlight the need for additional options in alarm sound features, as children of different ages have divergent preferences in this domain. Additionally, girls and their parents and caretakers provided more negative overall reviews regarding the range of current device features compared to boys, indicating a potential focus area for future development. The percent skew showed that subthemes were often more negatively skewed toward girls, with the ease of use being -10.7% skewed for boys versus -20.5% for girls, and comfort being -7.1% skewed for boys versus -29.4% for girls. Put together, this review highlights multiple device features that are targets for innovation to ensure translational efficacy regardless of age, gender, or specific family needs.
