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Co-creation of a self-management application for asthma: A citizen science protocol

2024; Volume: 32; Linguagem: Inglês

10.32932/rpia.2024.03.128

2184-3856

Ana Sá‐Sousa, Gisela Almeida, Tiago Bastos, Andreia Rosário, Filipa Lopes, Emília Costa, António Baía Reis, Daniela Figueiredo, Ana Luísa Neves, Cláudia Chaves Loureiro, José Laerte Boechat, Ana Ferreira, Pedro Vieira‐Marques, Raquel Pestana, Paula Martins, João Fonseca, Cristina Jácome,

Digital Mental Health Interventions

Digital health can effectively engage patients in the self-management of their asthma. Still, it will only reach its full potential when apps are aligned with patients’ needs and are integrated into clinical practice. We aim to test a framework for the involvement of patients/carers in all phases of developing and implementing an app for asthma. This protocol was co-designed with six asthma patients/carers and includes 5 tasks. Regular interactions among patients, developers and healthcare professionals will be a priority for user requirements definition (task 1) and iterative development and testing until the app’s initial version (tasks 2-3). Patients/carers and healthcare professionals will be fully engaged in the real-life feasibility study (task 4) and management and dissemination activities (task 5). The eligibility criteria to participate in tasks 2-4 are 1) diagnosis of asthma or carer of a person with asthma; 2) ≥18 years; 3) ability to use apps and access a mobile device with Internet. We anticipate applying questionnaires such as the User Experience Questionnaire and the System Usability Scale in all app testing tasks. We expect to have a final version of the asthma app that meets patients’/carers’ needs and experiences and healthcare professionals’ concerns. This will be an attractive app to support patients in self-management of their disease, keeping their asthma in control, having fewer asthma symptoms, and enjoying life. This study will be a framework for fully involving patients, carers and citizens in the iterative co-production development and implementation of an asthma app.