Dataset Information

Usability and Preliminary Effectiveness of a Preoperative mHealth App for People Undergoing Major Surgery: Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Major surgery is associated with negative postoperative outcomes such as complications and delayed or poor recovery. Multimodal prehabilitation can help to reduce the negative effects of major surgery. Offering prehabilitation by means of mobile health (mHealth) could be an effective new approach.

Objective

The objectives of this pilot study were to (1) evaluate the usability of the Be Prepared mHealth app prototype for people undergoing major surgery, (2) explore whether the app was capable of bringing about a change in risk behaviors, and (3) estimate a preliminary effect of the app on functional recovery after major surgery.

Methods

A mixed-methods pilot randomized controlled trial was conducted in two Dutch academic hospitals. In total, 86 people undergoing major surgery participated. Participants in the intervention group received access to the Be Prepared app, a smartphone app using behavior change techniques to address risk behavior prior to surgery. Both groups received care as usual. Usability (System Usability Scale), change in risk behaviors 3 days prior to surgery, and functional recovery 30 days after discharge from hospital (Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System physical functioning 8-item short form) were assessed using online questionnaires. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, and multivariable linear regression. Semistructured interviews about the usability of the app were conducted with 12 participants in the intervention group. Thematic analysis was used to analyze qualitative data.

Results

Seventy-nine people-40 in the intervention group and 39 in the control group-were available for further analysis. Participants had a median age of 61 (interquartile range 51.0-68.0) years. The System Usability Scale showed that patients considered the Be Prepared app to have acceptable usability (mean 68.2 [SD 18.4]). Interviews supported the usability of the app. The major point of improvement identified was further personalization of the app. Compared with the control group, the intervention group showed an increase in self-reported physical activity and muscle strengthening activities prior to surgery. Also, 2 of 2 frequent alcohol users in the intervention group versus 1 of 9 in the control group drank less alcohol in the run-up to surgery. No difference was found in change of smoking cessation. Between-group analysis showed no meaningful differences in functional recovery after correction for baseline values (?=-2.4 [95% CI -5.9 to 1.1]).

Conclusions

The Be Prepared app prototype shows potential in terms of usability and changing risk behavior prior to major surgery. No preliminary effect of the app on functional recovery was found. Points of improvement have been identified with which the app and future research can be optimized.

Trial registration

Netherlands Trial Registry NL8623; https://www.trialregister.nl/trial/8623.

SUBMITTER: van der Velde M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7819776 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Usability and Preliminary Effectiveness of a Preoperative mHealth App for People Undergoing Major Surgery: Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.

van der Velde Miriam M Valkenet Karin K Geleijn Edwin E Kruisselbrink Marjoke M Marsman Marije M Janssen Liedewij Mj LM Ruurda Jelle P JP van der Peet Donald L DL Aarden Jesse J JJ Veenhof Cindy C van der Leeden Marike M

JMIR mHealth and uHealth 20210107 1

<h4>Background</h4>Major surgery is associated with negative postoperative outcomes such as complications and delayed or poor recovery. Multimodal prehabilitation can help to reduce the negative effects of major surgery. Offering prehabilitation by means of mobile health (mHealth) could be an effective new approach.<h4>Objective</h4>The objectives of this pilot study were to (1) evaluate the usability of the Be Prepared mHealth app prototype for people undergoing major surgery, (2) explore wheth ...[more]

PMID: 33410758

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Project description:BACKGROUND:After a mobile health (mHealth) app is created, an important step is to evaluate the usability of the app before it is released to the public. There are multiple ways of conducting a usability study, one of which is collecting target users' feedback with a usability questionnaire. Different groups have used different questionnaires for mHealth app usability evaluation: The commonly used questionnaires are the System Usability Scale (SUS) and Post-Study System Usability Questionnaire (PSSUQ). However, the SUS and PSSUQ were not designed to evaluate the usability of mHealth apps. Self-written questionnaires are also commonly used for evaluation of mHealth app usability but they have not been validated. OBJECTIVE:The goal of this project was to develop and validate a new mHealth app usability questionnaire. METHODS:An mHealth app usability questionnaire (MAUQ) was designed by the research team based on a number of existing questionnaires used in previous mobile app usability studies, especially the well-validated questionnaires. MAUQ, SUS, and PSSUQ were then used to evaluate the usability of two mHealth apps: an interactive mHealth app and a standalone mHealth app. The reliability and validity of the new questionnaire were evaluated. The correlation coefficients among MAUQ, SUS, and PSSUQ were calculated. RESULTS:In this study, 128 study participants provided responses to the questionnaire statements. Psychometric analysis indicated that the MAUQ has three subscales and their internal consistency reliability is high. The relevant subscales correlated well with the subscales of the PSSUQ. The overall scale also strongly correlated with the PSSUQ and SUS. Four versions of the MAUQ were created in relation to the type of app (interactive or standalone) and target user of the app (patient or provider). A website has been created to make it convenient for mHealth app developers to use this new questionnaire in order to assess the usability of their mHealth apps. CONCLUSIONS:The newly created mHealth app usability questionnaire-MAUQ-has the reliability and validity required to assess mHealth app usability.

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Project description:BackgroundMobile health (mHealth) apps play an important role in delivering education, providing advice on treatment, and monitoring patients' health. Good usability of mHealth apps is essential to achieve the objectives of mHealth apps efficiently. To date, there are questionnaires available to assess the general system usability but not explicitly tailored to precisely assess the usability of mHealth apps. Hence, the mHealth App Usability Questionnaire (MAUQ) was developed with 4 versions according to the type of app (interactive or standalone) and according to the target user (patient or provider). Standalone MAUQ for patients comprises 3 subscales, which are ease of use, interface and satisfaction, and usefulness.ObjectiveThis study aimed to translate and validate the English version of MAUQ (standalone for patients) into a Malay version of MAUQ (M-MAUQ) for mHealth app research and usage in future in Malaysia.MethodsForward and backward translation and harmonization of M-MAUQ were conducted by Malay native speakers who also spoke English as their second language. The process began with a forward translation by 2 independent translators followed by harmonization to produce an initial translated version of M-MAUQ. Next, the forward translation was continued by another 2 translators who had never seen the original MAUQ. Lastly, harmonization was conducted among the committee members to resolve any ambiguity and inconsistency in the words and sentences of the items derived with the prefinal adapted questionnaire. Subsequently, content and face validations were performed with 10 experts and 10 target users, respectively. Modified kappa statistic was used to determine the interrater agreement among the raters. The reliability of the M-MAUQ was assessed by 51 healthy young adult mobile phone users. Participants needed to install the MyFitnessPal app and use it for 2 days for familiarization before completing the designated task and answer the M-MAUQ. The MyFitnessPal app was selected because it is one among the most popular installed mHealth apps globally available for iPhone and Android users and represents a standalone mHealth app.ResultsThe content validity index for the relevancy and clarity of M-MAUQ were determined to be 0.983 and 0.944, respectively, which indicated good relevancy and clarity. The face validity index for understandability was 0.961, which indicated that users understood the M-MAUQ. The kappa statistic for every item in M-MAUQ indicated excellent agreement between the raters (κ ranging from 0.76 to 1.09). The Cronbach α for 18 items was .946, which also indicated good reliability in assessing the usability of the mHealth app.ConclusionsThe M-MAUQ fulfilled the validation criteria as it revealed good reliability and validity similar to the original version. M-MAUQ can be used to assess the usability of mHealth apps in Malay in the future.

Dataset Information

Usability and Preliminary Effectiveness of a Preoperative mHealth App for People Undergoing Major Surgery: Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background

Objective

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Trial registration

Publications

Usability and Preliminary Effectiveness of a Preoperative mHealth App for People Undergoing Major Surgery: Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.

Similar Datasets

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