Developing and evaluating ASTHMAXcel adventures: A novel gamified mobile application for pediatric patients with asthma

A Mobile Application for Child-Focused Tonsillectomy Education: Development and User-Testing

OBJECTIVE

Patient education is central to Enhanced Recovery After Surgery protocols, but child-focused materials are lacking. We developed and piloted a mobile application to support accessible, interactive patient and caregiver education about pediatric tonsillectomy.

METHODS

Thirty children ages 5-12 who were preparing for tonsillectomy, their caregivers, and six attending otolaryngologists participated in a user-testing trial of a web-based prototype. The trial measured feasibility, fidelity, and patient-centered outcomes. Patients and caregivers rated usability/likeability on the mHealth App Usability Questionnaire. Otolaryngologists rated quality on the Mobile App Rating Scale. The full mobile application, "Ready for Tonsillectomy," was then developed for iOS and Android.

RESULTS

Enrollment was 88.2%, retention was 90.0%, and use was 96.3%. Mean (SD) patient ratings for usability/likeability were 6.3 (1.1) out of 7; caregiver ratings were 6.5 (1.1). In common themes from open-ended feedback, patients described the application as helpful and appealing, and caregivers described it as informative, easy to understand, calming, and easy to use. Among caregivers who used the application during recovery, 92.3% reported that it helped them manage their child's pain. Providers would recommend the application to many or all of their patients (mean [SD]: 4.7 [0.5] out of 5). Mean provider ratings for domains of engagement, functionality, aesthetics, information quality, subjective quality, and app-specific value ranged from 4.1 to 4.8 out of 5.

CONCLUSION

Feasibility and fidelity were high. Families and otolaryngologists endorsed the resource as an engaging, informative tool that supports positive coping. Our mobile application offers a patient-centered solution readily scalable to other surgeries.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

NA Laryngoscope, 134:2455-2463, 2024.

Mobile health applications designed for self-management of chronic pulmonary diseases in children and adolescents: a systematic mapping review

OBJECTIVE

Mobile health (mHealth) applications are scarce for children and adolescents with chronic pulmonary diseases (CPDs). This study aimed to map and describe the contents of the mHealth apps available for use in children and adolescents with CPDs.

METHODS

We performed a systematic mapping review of published scientific literature in PubMed, Scopus, and Cochrane Library by February of 2023, using relevant keywords. Inclusion criteria were as follows: children aged < 18 years with CPDs; and studies published in English on mHealth apps.

RESULTS

A total number of 353 studies were found, 9 of which met the inclusion criteria. These studies described seven mHealth apps for Android and iOS, designed either for asthma (n = 5) or for cystic fibrosis (n = 2). Five content areas were identified: education/information; pharmacological treatment; emergency; support; and non-pharmacological treatment. The studies (4, 2, and 3, respectively) showed consistent findings using qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methodologies.

CONCLUSIONS

This mapping review provided a guided selection of the most appropriate mHealth apps for use in children and adolescents with CPDs based on the needs of each target population. However, these mHealth apps have limited capabilities to reinforce disease self-management and provide information related to treatment compliance.

Developing and Evaluating the DiabetesXcel Mobile Application for Adult Patients With Type 2 Diabetes

The authors trialed a mobile application, DiabetesXcel, which included type 2 diabetes-focused educational videos and modules, in 50 adults of Bronx, NY, a region with a high prevalence of diabetes and diabetes complications. From baseline to 4 months and from baseline to 6 months, there was significantly improved quality of life, self-management, knowledge, self-efficacy, depression, A1C, and LDL cholesterol among those who used DiabetesXcel. There was also a significant decrease in diabetes-related emergency department visits and hospital admissions from baseline to 6 months. This study demonstrates that DiabetesXcel could be beneficial for type 2 diabetes management.

Why the role of mHealth in allergy diagnosis and treatment adherence cannot be overlooked

BACKGROUND

Allergic diseases-rhinitis and asthma-are the most common chronic conditions affecting adults. Traditional approaches to allergy diagnosis and treatment do not meet the health needs of all patients. Treatment adherence remains a challenge for physicians. The ubiquity of Internet access paired with limited in-person contact with medical personnel in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the potential of mHealth in communicating health information. BODY: The abundance of new applications dedicated to various medical specialties encourages reflection on the informed use of such tools. The paper takes a closer look at the potential of mHealth and presents conclusions of selected studies focusing on the use of good apps. The strength weakness opportunities threats analysis was used to illustrate the strengths of the mHealth strategy, as well as its advantages, limitations and areas in need of further development.

CONCLUSION

The strength of mHealth depends on the quality and quantity of the collected patient data, its reliable processing, as well as publication of outcomes and conclusions from analyses. Therefore, it is necessary to promote the use of validated applications among patients, physicians and medical staff.

Technical Factors That May Influence mHealth Adherence in Children With Chronic Pulmonary Diseases: Scoping Review

PURPOSE

To synthesize the technical factors influencing adherence to nonpharmacological treatment (NPhT) in children with chronic pulmonary diseases (CPDs), using mobile health (mHealth) technology.

METHODS

Five electronic databases were searched from inception to October 12, 2022, with terms related to pediatrics, CPDs, adherence, NPhT, and mHealth. The methodological quality was assessed using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme and the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool checklist.

RESULTS

Eleven articles were included. Six major technical themes were supported by the evidence that may influence adherence to NPhT: design and context, technical support/business model, connectivity, free availability, privacy and security, and cultural readiness.

CONCLUSIONS

The design of mHealth applications (apps) should be done according to the needs of pediatric patients. This may mitigate any barriers and potentially foster adherence to the use of the apps.

WHAT THIS ADDS TO THE EVIDENCE

Six major technical themes may influence adherence to NPhT in children with chronic respiratory diseases.Video Abstract: Supplemental digital content available at http://links.lww.com/PPT/A487 .

The Relationship Between Depressive Symptoms, eHealth Literacy, and Asthma Outcomes in the Context of a Mobile Health Intervention

OBJECTIVE

The ASTHMAXcel PRO mobile app provides asthma education and collects asthma outcome data. The objective of this study was to evaluate the associations between health/electronic health literacy (eHealth literacy) and depressive symptoms with app usage and clinical outcomes.

METHODS

Adults with persistent asthma were recruited to use the app. Participants completed the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 to assess for depressive symptoms, Asthma Control Test, Mini Asthma Quality of Life (QOL) Questionnaire, and the Newest Vital Sign tool to measure health literacy. Data on a subset of participants were available on eHealth literacy ( n = 24) and average number of app logins across 2 months ( n = 40).

RESULTS

The total study sample included 96 participants (46% non-Hispanic Black, 44.4% Hispanic). The average participant age was 44.0 (standard deviation = 14.9) years, with 74% identifying as female. Increased depressive symptoms were associated with worse asthma control ( β = -0.46, p < .001) and asthma QOL ( β = -0.38, p < .001), but not eHealth literacy. Higher eHealth literacy was associated with worse asthma QOL ( β = -0.48, p = .02) and more app logins ( β = 0.59, p = .04). Newest Vital Sign scores were not associated with any of the other measures.

CONCLUSIONS

Depressive symptoms were associated with worse asthma outcomes. eHealth literacy was associated with increased patient engagement with the app and worse asthma QOL, which may reflect patients with worse QOL seeking out health information on the Internet (although directionality could not be assessed). Digital health literacy may be key to increasing patient engagement with mobile health interventions.Trial Registration: National Clinical Trial No. 03847142, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03847142 .

The Acceptability of Using Augmented Reality as a Mechanism to Engage Children in Asthma Inhaler Technique Training: Qualitative Interview Study With Deductive Thematic Analysis

BACKGROUND

Inhaled medications or inhalers provide first-line pharmacotherapeutic treatment for patients with asthma for both acute symptomatic relief and long-term management to keep symptoms under control. A good technique requires only basic instruction and training; however, a recent study identified that 92% of children do not follow all correct steps when using inhalers. There is a growing interest in technology-enhanced asthma education, with evidence demonstrating improvements in knowledge and treatment adherence. Subsequently, there are calls to explore the role of technology-based solutions in improving asthma management and disease outcomes from public health experts, health professionals, and patients with asthma. Augmented reality (AR) technology is an information delivery mechanism with proven efficacy in educational settings. AR displays digital content in a real-world environment using the camera on a smartphone or tablet device to create an immersive learning experience.

OBJECTIVE

The study aimed to evaluate the acceptability of AR as a mechanism for delivering asthma inhaler technique education from the perspective of children with asthma and their parents and health professionals, examined through the theoretical framework of acceptability (TFA).

METHODS

An asthma education resource enhanced with AR technology was created to provide inhaler technique education to children. An iterative co-design process was undertaken with target end users for a qualitative evaluation. The participants were 8 to 12 years old with asthma, their caregivers, and health professionals who had experience in managing asthma. Qualitative data were obtained through semistructured one-on-one interviews. Deductive thematic analysis using TFA was undertaken using NVivo software 2020 to assess the acceptability of AR as a delivery modality for asthma inhaler technique education.

RESULTS

Overall, 6 health care professionals, 5 asthmatic children, and 5 caregivers of children with asthma totaled a sample of 16. The use of AR in the asthma inhaler resource was found to be acceptable when responses were examined in accordance with TFA. Each of the 7 component constructs of TFA was coded throughout the 16 interviews, with perceived effectiveness (157 times) and affective attitude (63 times) coded most frequently. Positive responses included the intervention being accessible, easy to use, interesting, and fitting within the users' value systems. Negative responses included the need to maintain an interest in children and concerns about the loss of face-to-face interaction with health professionals.

CONCLUSIONS

AR appears to be an acceptable modality for delivering asthma education to children when explored using TFA constructs. Although some challenges were identified with the use of AR, the results were predominantly positive. Future designs of asthma education interventions involving AR should consider the results of this study, and further research should focus on the feasibility, usability, and barriers and facilitators of behavior change to ensure the successful implementation and uptake of AR into clinical settings.

INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID)

RR2-10.1177/16094069211042229.

A scoping review of mHealth monitoring of pediatric bronchial asthma before and during COVID-19 pandemic

Mobile (m) Health technology is well-suited for Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) in a patient's habitual environment. In recent years there have been fast-paced developments in mHealth-enabled pediatric RPM, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, necessitating evidence synthesis. To this end, we conducted a scoping review of clinical trials that had utilized mHealth-enabled RPM of pediatric asthma. MEDLINE, Embase and Web of Science were searched from September 1, 2016 through August 31, 2021. Our scoping review identified 25 publications that utilized synchronous and asynchronous mHealth-enabled RPM in pediatric asthma, either involving mobile applications or via individual devices. The last three years has seen the development of evidence-based, multidisciplinary, and participatory mHealth interventions. The quality of the studies has been improving, such that 40% of included study reports were randomized controlled trials. In conclusion, there exists high-quality evidence on mHealth-enabled RPM in pediatric asthma, warranting future systematic reviews and/or meta-analyses of the benefits of such RPM.

Ethical Implications of e-Health Applications in Early Preventive Healthcare

As a means of preventive medicine early detection and prevention examinations can identify and treat possible health disorders or abnormalities from an early age onwards. However, pediatric examinations are often widely spaced, and thus only snapshots of the children’s and adolescents’ developments are obtained. With e-health applications parents and adolescents could record developmental parameters much more frequently and regularly and transmit data directly for ongoing evaluation. AI technologies could be used to search for new and previously unknown patterns. Although e-health applications could improve preventive healthcare, there are serious concerns about the unlimited use of big data in medicine. Such concerns range from general skepticism about big data in medicine to specific challenges and risks in certain medical areas. In this paper, we will focus on preventive health care in pediatrics and explore ethical implications of e-health applications. Specifically, we will address opportunities and risks of app-based data collection and AI-based data evaluation for complementing established early detection and prevention examinations. To this end, we will explore the principle of the best interest of the child. Furthermore, we shall argue that difficult trade-offs need to be made between group benefit on the one hand and individual autonomy and privacy on the other.

The effectiveness of user-focused mobile health applications in paediatric chronic disease management: A systematic review

PROBLEM

This systematic review aims to evaluate the effectiveness of user-focused mobile health (mHealth) applications in paediatric chronic disease management.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

Articles were included under the Population Intervention Comparator Outcome Study (PICOS) design framework for (P) children with a chronic disease, (I) mHealth user-focused apps, (C) usual care/control groups, (O) health outcomes related to chronic diseases, and (S) randomised controlled trials. This study followed the guidelines provided by Cochrane, Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis, and Mobile Health Evidence Reporting and Assessment.

SAMPLE

A comprehensive literature search screening was conducted via CINAHL, PubMed, CENTRAL, ELSEVIER, SAGE, Science Direct, Scopus, Taylor Francis, WoS, and IEEE XPLORE from inception to November 15, 2020.

RESULTS

The review included seven articles, which combined provided data for a total of 755 children. The effects of the mHealth applications on the investigated 31 unique outcomes of five chronic paediatric diseases were mixed, ranging from effective to no effect. The risk of bias in the included studies was mostly either high or concerning according to Risk of Bias tool 2.0. The mobile apps that were evaluated were not standalone apps but were designed to interact with and provide data to healthcare providers.

CONCLUSION

Some mHealth interventions in this systematic review produced clinically meaningful and statistically relevant reductions in health outcomes related to chronic disease management. However, based on the available data, it is not possible to make definitive conclusions concerning the preferred target population of the interventions.

IMPLICATION

mHealth apps may be beneficial in improving selected patient outcomes in chronic disease management. Our results may assist the digital health services of hospitals, paediatric nurses who are interested in mHealth, and children who have a chronic disease.

Facilitators and Barriers to the Adoption of Telemedicine During the First Year of COVID-19: Systematic Review

BACKGROUND

The virulent and unpredictable nature of COVID-19 combined with a change in reimbursement mechanisms both forced and enabled the rapid adoption of telemedicine around the world. Thus, it is important to now assess the effects of this rapid adoption and to determine whether the barriers to such adoption are the same today as they were under prepandemic conditions.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this systematic literature review was to examine the research literature published during the COVID-19 pandemic to identify facilitators, barriers, and associated medical outcomes as a result of adopting telemedicine, and to determine if changes have occurred in the industry during this time.

METHODS

The systematic review was performed in accordance with the Kruse protocol and the results are reported in accordance with the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines. We analyzed 46 research articles from five continents published during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic that were retrieved from searches in four research databases: PubMed (MEDLINE), CINAHL, Science Direct, and Web of Science.

RESULTS

Reviewers identified 25 facilitator themes and observations, 12 barrier themes and observations, and 14 results (compared to a control group) themes and observations. Overall, 22% of the articles analyzed reported strong satisfaction or satisfaction (zero reported a decline in satisfaction), 27% reported an improvement in administrative or efficiency results (as compared with a control group), 14% reported no statistically significant difference from the control group, and 40% and 10% reported an improvement or no statistically significant difference in medical outcomes using the telemedicine modality over the control group, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

The pandemic encouraged rapid adoption of telemedicine, which also encouraged practices to adopt the modality regardless of the challenges identified in previous research. Several barriers remain for health policymakers to address; however, health care administrators can feel confident in the modality as the evidence largely shows that it is safe, effective, and widely accepted.

Chronic urticaria patients are interested in apps to monitor their disease activity and control: A UCARE CURICT analysis

BACKGROUND

Information/communication technologies such as mobile phone applications (apps) would enable chronic urticaria (CU) patients to self-evaluate their disease activity and control. Yet, recently Antó et al (2021) reported a global paucity of such apps for patients with CU. In this analysis, we assessed patient interest in using apps to monitor CU disease activity and control using questions from the chronic urticaria information and communication technologies (CURICT) study.

METHODS

The methodology for CURICT has been reported. Briefly, a 23-item questionnaire was completed by 1841 CU patients from 17 UCAREs across 17 countries. Here, we analyzed patient responses to the CURICT questions on the use of apps for urticaria-related purposes.

RESULTS

As previously published, the majority of respondents had chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU; 63%; 18% chronic inducible urticaria (CIndU) [CIndu]; 19% with both), were female (70%) and in urban areas (75%). Over half of patients were very/extremely interested in an app to monitor disease activity (51%) and control (53%), while only ∼1/10 were not. Patients with both urticaria types versus those with CSU only (odds ratio [OR], 1.36 [1.03-1.79]) and females versus males (OR [95% CI], 1.47 [1.17-1.85]) were more likely to be very to extremely interested in an app to assess disease control.

CONCLUSIONS

Overall, half of the patients with CU were very to extremely interested in using an app to assess their disease activity and control. Development of well-designed apps, specific to disease types (CSU, CIndU, CSU + CIndU, etc), validated by experts across platforms would help improve the management and possibly outcomes of CU treatment while providing important patient information to be used in future research.

Patient generated health data: Benefits and challenges

Patient Generated Health Data (PGHD) is defined as data generated by and from patients.¹ The use of PGHD has rapidly increased with the widespread availability of smart phone mobile health applications (mHealth apps) and wearable devices. Currently, the vast majority of PGHD is generated via the use of mHealth apps and wearables like "Fitbit" or medical devices such as a continuous glucose monitoring device. There are many benefits of PGHD including increased monitoring of children's chronic health conditions outside clinical care to supplement ambulatory clinic visits, improved health outcomes, increased patient awareness and engagement and improved patient-provider communication. When leveraged properly, PGHD can be a powerful tool in delivering safe, effective, patient centered, efficient and equitable care as outlined by the Institute of Medicine (IOM).² The challenges that limit collection, use and acceptance of PGHD include limited access to the internet, inability to incorporate PGHD into clinical workflows, data privacy and security concerns and apprehension about accuracy and safety of mHealth apps. These issues can lead to a lack of use or compliance with devices or apps associated with PGHD. To ensure optimal health benefits, agreement to leverage PGHD should be a joint decision between the clinician and the patient/caregiver. Future steps to ensure safety and clinical relevance of PGHD include involving regulatory authorities, device manufacturers and professional bodies to develop standards for mHealth apps and wearables to promote uncomplicated PGHD integration into workflows, easy and secure sharing of PGHD. Wearable technology, medical devices and smart phone apps become more advanced and widespread among the population, there will be an increasing potential for PGHD to facilitate personalized, efficient, and collaborative care resulting in improved health outcomes for children and adolescent and young adult. More research and innovation is needed to facilitate this transition.