Mhealth: a new and complementary way to help young people with pain. State of the art, development, and usability testing of two smartphone applications.

Identifier:  TDX:2533

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TDX2533

Authors:  de la Vega de Carranza, Rocío

Abstract:
Pain is an unpleasant experience that affects millions of people around the globe, overwhelming the healthcare systems and costing governments billions. The treatments available improve the quality of life for many people with pain, but the results are still modest. Even worse, treatments are not always readily available for all those in need. mHealth (healthcare using mobile devices) has great potential to help in the delivery of treatment, because it reaches more people and reduces costs. To analyze the current state of the art on mHealth and pain, a systematic review was conducted of the mHealth literature (i.e. peer-reviewed papers in scientific databases) and the commercially available pain-related Smartphone applications (in the main shops). Two applications have been developed for this dissertation: Painometer (an app that helps in the process of assessing pain intensity), and Fibroline (an app that aims to improve the quality of life of young people with fibromyalgia or chronic widespread pain). Both applications were developed using an iterative design; they underwent a usability testing protocol and an interview with end-users to refine the prototypes until they were understandable, error-free, easy to use, and liked by users. Three main conclusions can be drawn from this dissertation: 1. mHealth is still in its infancy. Of central importance is the need to build a better-defined regulatory environment, and to improve the translation process, bonding the academic and commercial sides of this technological milieu. 2. Painometer is an app that has good usability. Scales in the application provide valid and reliable pain intensity reports. 3. Fibroline is an app that has also proved to have good usability properties. A pilot study will be conducted to test its efficacy. If proven effective, Fibroline could be a great asset to help young people and their families, and improve their quality of life.