TY - JOUR
T1 - Tracking health data is not enough
T2 - A qualitative exploration of the role of healthcare partnerships and mhealth technology to promote physical activity and to sustain behavior change
AU - Miyamoto, Sheridan W.
AU - Henderson, Stuart
AU - Young, Heather M.
AU - Pande, Amit
AU - Han, Jay J.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors acknowledge the valuable contributions of the participants in the study and our team collaborators, Susan Verba, Holly Thurston, and Matthew Lange. The authors are grateful to Yajarayma Tang-Feldman for thoughtful editing of the manuscript. This research was supported by UC Davis Research Investments in the Sciences and Engineering funded Wireless Health and Wellness project and by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), National Institutes of Health (NIH), through grant number UL1 TR000002.
Publisher Copyright:
© Sheridan W Miyamoto, Stuart Henderson, Heather M Young, Amit Pande, Jay J Han.
PY - 2016/3
Y1 - 2016/3
N2 - Background: Despite the recent explosion of the mobile health (mHealth) industry and consumer acquisition of mHealth tools such as wearable sensors and applications (apps), limited information is known about how this technology can sustain health behavior change and be integrated into health care. Objective: The objective of the study was to understand potential users' views of mHealth technology, the role this technology may have in promoting individual activity goals aimed at improving health, and the value of integrating mHealth technology with traditional health care. Methods: Four focus groups were conducted with adults interested in sharing their views on how mHealth technology could support wellness programs and improve health. Participants (n=30) were enrolled from an employee population at an academic health institution. Qualitative thematic analysis was used to code transcripts and identify overarching themes. Results: Our findings suggest that tracking health data alone may result in heightened awareness of daily activity, yet may not be sufficient to sustain use of mHealth technology and apps, which often have low reuse rates. Participants suggested that context, meaning, and health care partnerships need to be incorporated to engage and retain users. In addition to these findings, drivers for mHealth technology previously identified in the literature, including integration and control of health data were confirmed in this study. Conclusions: This study explores ways that mHealth technologies may be used to not only track data, but to encourage sustained engagement to achieve individual health goals. Implications of these findings include recommendations for mHealth technology design and health care partnership models to sustain motivation and engagement, allowing individuals to achieve meaningful behavior change.
AB - Background: Despite the recent explosion of the mobile health (mHealth) industry and consumer acquisition of mHealth tools such as wearable sensors and applications (apps), limited information is known about how this technology can sustain health behavior change and be integrated into health care. Objective: The objective of the study was to understand potential users' views of mHealth technology, the role this technology may have in promoting individual activity goals aimed at improving health, and the value of integrating mHealth technology with traditional health care. Methods: Four focus groups were conducted with adults interested in sharing their views on how mHealth technology could support wellness programs and improve health. Participants (n=30) were enrolled from an employee population at an academic health institution. Qualitative thematic analysis was used to code transcripts and identify overarching themes. Results: Our findings suggest that tracking health data alone may result in heightened awareness of daily activity, yet may not be sufficient to sustain use of mHealth technology and apps, which often have low reuse rates. Participants suggested that context, meaning, and health care partnerships need to be incorporated to engage and retain users. In addition to these findings, drivers for mHealth technology previously identified in the literature, including integration and control of health data were confirmed in this study. Conclusions: This study explores ways that mHealth technologies may be used to not only track data, but to encourage sustained engagement to achieve individual health goals. Implications of these findings include recommendations for mHealth technology design and health care partnership models to sustain motivation and engagement, allowing individuals to achieve meaningful behavior change.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84994350523&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84994350523&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.2196/mhealth.4814
DO - 10.2196/mhealth.4814
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84994350523
SN - 2291-5222
VL - 4
JO - JMIR mHealth and uHealth
JF - JMIR mHealth and uHealth
IS - 1
M1 - e5
ER -