TY - JOUR
T1 - Patients' Perspectives on the Usability of a Blended Approach to an Integrated Intervention for Patients With Medically Unexplained Physical Symptoms
T2 - Mixed Methods Study
AU - Toonders, Suze Adriana Johanna
AU - van Westrienen, Paula Elisabeth
AU - Konings, Sophie
AU - Nieboer, Marianne E
AU - Veenhof, Cindy
AU - Pisters, Martijn F
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by SIA-RAAK-public (grant 2015-02-24P).
Publisher Copyright:
©Suze Adriana Johanna Toonders, Paula Elisabeth van Westrienen, Sophie Konings, Marianne E Nieboer, Cindy Veenhof, Martijn F Pisters.
PY - 2021/9/28
Y1 - 2021/9/28
N2 - BACKGROUND: Medically unexplained physical symptoms are physical symptoms, such as pain, fatigue, and dizziness, that persist for more than a few weeks and cannot be explained after adequate medical examination. Treatment for preventing the chronicity of symptoms is recommended. A promising approach is identifying patients who are at risk and subsequently offering a blended care intervention that focuses on promoting self-management while using eHealth as a supportive tool. When these interventions match with a patient's expectations, their effectiveness grows.OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to obtain more insights into usability from the patient perspective to improve future interventions.METHODS: A mixed methods design (ie, the use of qualitative and quantitative data) was used. Through semistructured interviews, in-depth insights were gained into patients' perspectives on usability. The analysis process was continuous and iterative. Data were synthesized and categorized into different themes. The System Usability Scale, which measures the usability of a system, was used to compare participants that found usability to be low, medium, or high. This study was approved by the Medical Ethical Committee Utrecht (approval number: 17-391/C).RESULTS: Saturation was reached after interviewing 13 participants. The following four themes emerged from the interviews: motivations and expectations prior to participating in the program, the applicability of e-coaching, the role of health care professionals, and the integrated design of the blended approach.CONCLUSIONS: The successful implementation of integrated blended care interventions based on patients' perspectives requires matching treatments to patients' individual situations and motivations. Furthermore, personalizing the relative frequency of face-to-face appointments and e-coaching can improve usability.
AB - BACKGROUND: Medically unexplained physical symptoms are physical symptoms, such as pain, fatigue, and dizziness, that persist for more than a few weeks and cannot be explained after adequate medical examination. Treatment for preventing the chronicity of symptoms is recommended. A promising approach is identifying patients who are at risk and subsequently offering a blended care intervention that focuses on promoting self-management while using eHealth as a supportive tool. When these interventions match with a patient's expectations, their effectiveness grows.OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to obtain more insights into usability from the patient perspective to improve future interventions.METHODS: A mixed methods design (ie, the use of qualitative and quantitative data) was used. Through semistructured interviews, in-depth insights were gained into patients' perspectives on usability. The analysis process was continuous and iterative. Data were synthesized and categorized into different themes. The System Usability Scale, which measures the usability of a system, was used to compare participants that found usability to be low, medium, or high. This study was approved by the Medical Ethical Committee Utrecht (approval number: 17-391/C).RESULTS: Saturation was reached after interviewing 13 participants. The following four themes emerged from the interviews: motivations and expectations prior to participating in the program, the applicability of e-coaching, the role of health care professionals, and the integrated design of the blended approach.CONCLUSIONS: The successful implementation of integrated blended care interventions based on patients' perspectives requires matching treatments to patients' individual situations and motivations. Furthermore, personalizing the relative frequency of face-to-face appointments and e-coaching can improve usability.
KW - Blended care
KW - Medically unexplained physical symptoms
KW - Usability
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85116570559&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.2196/19794
DO - 10.2196/19794
M3 - Article
C2 - 34581674
SN - 1438-8871
VL - 23
SP - 1
EP - 13
JO - Journal of Medical Internet Research
JF - Journal of Medical Internet Research
IS - 9
M1 - e19794
ER -