Developing a mobile health app for chronic illness management: Insights from focus groups

Area of Science:

• Digital Health
• Mobile Health (mHealth)
• Chronic Disease Management

Background:

• Existing mobile applications often focus on single diseases or patients only.
• A multifaceted approach is needed to support diverse chronic conditions and caregivers simultaneously.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design, develop, and evaluate a comprehensive mobile application.
• To aid both chronic patients and their caregivers in managing multiple health conditions.

Main Methods:

• Needs assessment through focus groups with patients and caregivers.
• Development of app functionalities based on identified user needs.
• Evaluation via user surveys and analysis of feature usage.

Main Results:

• Focus groups included 39 patients and 22 caregivers.
• Key features: medication aids, self-monitoring, reminders, caregiver shift messages, remote monitoring, medicine management, and educational videos.
• High user satisfaction reported for medication reminders (96.8%), medicine information (96.8%), caregiver shift messages (90.3%), and ease of use (80.6%). Health data record check was the most used feature.

Conclusions:

• A multifaceted mobile application effectively addresses the needs of diverse chronic patients and their caregivers.
• User-centered design ensured alignment between app features and expressed needs.
• The study demonstrates the potential of comprehensive mHealth solutions for chronic condition management.