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Cardiomeds, an mHealth App for Self-Management to Support Swiss Patients With Heart Failure: 2-Stage Mixed Methods
Lisa Simioni1, Elena Tessitore1,2, Hamdi Hagberg3
1Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
JMIR Formative Research
|January 15, 2025
Summary
The Cardiomeds mobile app demonstrates good usability for heart failure (HF) patients, with significant improvements in task success rates after interface redesign. Most participants found the app user-friendly and expressed interest in using it.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Digital Health
- Human-Computer Interaction
Background:
- Mobile health (mHealth) apps show potential for enhancing chronic disease self-management.
- A novel mHealth app, Cardiomeds, has been developed for heart failure (HF) patients.
- Cardiomeds features include medication management, daily vital sign monitoring, and HF educational resources.
Purpose of the Study:
- To conduct a mixed-methods usability study of the Cardiomeds mobile application.
- To identify and address usability issues in the Cardiomeds app through a two-stage testing process.
Main Methods:
- Recruited smartphone users with HF from an outpatient clinic.
- Conducted a two-stage usability test with 20 participants performing 14 predefined tasks.
- Collected quantitative data (task completion time, success rates, System Usability Scale) and qualitative data (open-ended feedback).
- Modified the app interface between stages based on initial findings.
Main Results:
- The mean task completion time decreased from stage 1 to stage 2.
- Overall task success rate improved significantly from 77% to 94% after app modifications.
- The System Usability Scale score averaged 80%, indicating good usability.
- Despite improvements, guidance-related issues persisted (36-40% of problems).
- 85% of participants expressed a desire to use the app upon availability.
Conclusions:
- Cardiomeds is a suitable and user-friendly mobile application for patients with heart failure.
- Further evaluation in a randomized clinical trial is planned to assess its impact on HF knowledge, self-care, and quality of life.
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