Assessing Orthopedic Patients' Perspectives on and Adherence to Perioperative Digital Experience Sampling

Background/Objectives: The experience sampling method (ESM) is a structured data collection method in which participants respond to randomly timed acoustic alerts while engaging in their daily activities. It allows patients to assess their mood, context and pain levels. This study aimed to evaluate the opinions of patients who underwent surgery on the perioperative use of a digital ESM tool. Methods: The Psymate app version 1.6.15 (ESM device) generated 10 short reports (acoustic alerts) at semi-random times each day for patients who underwent total knee arthroplasty (TKA). The short report, consisting of 23 items, contained questions about mood, context and pain. At the end of the study, patients' opinions about the app were collected through a standardized questionnaire covering multiple subtopics. Feedback was analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: Of the 40 patients scheduled for TKA, 31 participated in the evaluation. The app received an average user-friendliness rating of 8.3 out of 10. Some patients express dissatisfaction with the frequency (n = 10) and noise (n = 14) of the notifications. Additional analyses suggest that higher pain levels may reduce the likelihood of completing the short report. Conclusions: This is the first study to evaluate postoperative patients' opinions on the use of a digital ESM app. The PsyMate app received satisfactory ratings across all subtopics, although patients identified areas for improvement.