A Chronic Pain Self-Management Mobile App (Dolodoc): Cross-Sectional Acceptability Study

Area of Science:

• Digital Health
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Pain Management

Background:

• Chronic pain affects 19% of European adults, reducing quality of life.
• Mobile health (mHealth) apps offer potential for chronic pain self-management.
• User engagement and adherence are critical for the clinical impact of mHealth interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the user experience of Dolodoc, a chronic pain self-management mobile app.
• To assess the acceptability of Dolodoc's content through a survey.
• To examine real-world usage patterns of Dolodoc over six months.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional acceptability study surveyed 33 chronic pain patients on 84 self-management strategies using a 5-point Likert scale.
• Acceptability was measured by understandability, motivation, feasibility, relevance, and quality-of-life alignment.
• Real-world app usage was tracked for six months using Piwik PRO Analytics.

Main Results:

• Self-management strategies in Dolodoc were rated positively for understandability, motivation, feasibility, relevance, and quality-of-life alignment.
• Despite high acceptability, 60% of patients used the app only once, indicating a significant adherence challenge.
• Pain tracking, useful links, and medication logging were the most utilized features within the app.

Conclusions:

• A gap exists between the acceptability of mHealth solutions and sustained user adherence.
• Improving personalization and accessibility of mHealth apps can enhance user engagement and long-term adoption.
• Future iterations should include tailored interventions, real-time feedback, and digital navigation support to improve user retention.