Participatory research design in mobile health: Tablet devices for diabetes self-management

doi:10.1558/cam.27120

Communication & Medicine, Vol 12, No 2-3 (2015)

Participatory research design in mobile health: Tablet devices for diabetes self-management

Sally Jane Burford, Sora Park, Paresh Dawda, John Burns

Issued Date: 7 Nov 2016

Abstract

Type 2 diabetes is a prevalent, chronic disease, which places significant burden on societies and individuals. This article reports the participatory research design of an exploratory study that introduces mobile tablet devices in the self-management of type 2 diabetes in a primary healthcare setting. Strategies from democratic dialogic theory were used in the design of the research to steer the participatory engagement between researchers and healthcare practitioners. The outcome of this phase of the research was the issue of six ‘invitations’ to 28 people with diabetes to frame their use of a mobile tablet device in managing their health. Those invitations were clustered in two themes, Empowered and Compelled, representing typical patient attitudes and behaviours. The work reported here sets the stage for a longitudinal and socially complex study that encompasses a new and comprehensive General Practitioner (GP) Super Clinic with an array of health and administrative staff, patients with a chronic health condition requiring continual self-management, a wide continuum of digital literacy capability in all participants and an ever-increasing digital society. It reports a novel research design methodology that merges democratic dialogic theory and participatory design, resulting in a grounded and agreed approach to a mobile health intervention.

Download Media

PDF (Price: £17.50 ) Restricted Access

DOI: 10.1558/cam.27120

References

Abebe, N. A., Capozza, K. L., Des Jardins, T. R., Kulick, D. A., Rein, A. L., Schachter, A. A. and Turske, S. A. Considerations for community-based mhealth initiatives: insights From three beacon communities. Journal of Medical Internet Research 15 (10). Retrieved from http://www.jmir.org/2013/10/e221/

Australian Communications and Media Authority (2013) Smartphones and Tablets: Take-up and Use in Australia. Communications Report 2011-12 3. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia. Retrieved from http://www.acma.gov.au/webwr/_assets/main/lib310665/report-3-smartphones-tablets-comms_report_11-12_series.pdf

Australian Communications and Media Authority (2014) Tablets Take Off: Take-up and Use of Tablet Computers in Australia. Retrieved from http://www.acma.gov.au/theACMA/engage-blogs/engage-blogs/Research-snapshots/Tablets-take-off-take-up-and-use-of-tablet-computers-in-Australia

Burford, S. and Park, S. (2014) The impact of mobile tablet devices on human information behaviour. Journal of Documentation 70 (4): 622–639. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JD-09-2012-0123

Burner, E., Menchine, M., Kubicek, K., Robles, M. and Arora, S. (2014) Perceptions of successful cues to action and opportunities to augment behavioural triggers in diabetes self-management: Qualitative analysis of mobile intervention for low-income Latinos with diabetes. Journal of Medical Internet Research 16 (1): e25. http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/jmir.2881

Campbell, N., Schiffer, E., Buxbaum, A., McLean, E., Perry, C. and Sullivan, T. (2014) Taking knowledge for health the extra mile: Participatory evaluation of a mobile phone intervention for community health workers in Malawi. Global Health: Science and Practice 2 (1): 23–34. http://dx.doi.org/10.9745/ghsp-d-13-00141

Carroll, J. and Rosson, M. (2007) Participatory design in community informatics. Design Studies 28 (3): 243–261. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.destud.2007.02.007

Church, K., Smyth, B., Cotter, P. and Bradley, K. (2007) Mobile information access: A study of emerging search behavior on the mobile internet. ACM Transactions on the Web 1 (1): 1–38. http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/1232722.1232726

Clemenson, J., Larsen, S., Kyng, M. and Kirkevol, M. (2007) Participatory design in health sciences: Using cooperative experimental methods in developing health services and computer technology. Qualitative Health Research 17 (1): 122–130. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1049732306293664

Cornwall, A. and Jewkes, R. (1995) What is participatory research? Social Science and Medicine 41 (12): 1667–1676. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0277-9536(95)00127-S

Davis, F. (1989) Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and user acceptance of information technology. MIS Quarterly 13 (3): 319–340. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/249008

Falk-Rafael, A. R. (1995) Advocacy and empowerment: Dichotomous or syncronomous concepts? Advances in Nursing Science 19 (2): 25–32. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/00012272-199512000-00004

Fowles, R. A. (2000) Symmetry in design participation in the built environment: Experiences and insights from education and practice. In S. Scrivener, L. Ball and A. Woodcock (eds) Collaborative Design: Proceedings of an International Conference held in Coventry, England, September 2000, 57–70. London: Springer. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-0779-8_6

Gagnon, M. P., Orruño, E., Asua, J., Abdeljelil, A. B. and Emparanza, J. (2012) Using a modified technology acceptance model to evaluate healthcare professionals’ adoption of a new telemonitoring system. Telemedicine and E-Health 18 (1): 54–59. http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/tmj.2011.0066

Gregory, J. (2003) Scandinavian approaches to participatory design. International Journal of Engineering Education 19 (1): 62–74.

Hunt, C., Sanderson, B. and Ellison, K. (2014) Support for diabetes using technology: A pilot study to improve self-management. Medsurg Nursing 23 (4): 231–237.

Jonas, M. and Nakazawa, Y. (2008) Finding truth in ‘lies’: Nietzsche’s perspectivism and its relation to education. Journal of Philosophy of Education 42 (2): 269–285. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9752.2008.00623.x

Kanstrup, A., Bertelsen, P., Glasemann, M. and Boye, N. (2008) Design for more: An ambient perspective on diabetes. In D. Hakken, J. Simonsen and T. Roberston (eds) PDC ’08: Proceedings of the Tenth Anniversary Conference on Participatory Design held in Bloomington, Indiana, 30 September – 4 October, 2008, 118–127. Indianapolis: Indiana University.

Katz, R., Mesfin, T. and Barr, K. (2012) Lessons from a community-based mHealth diabetes self-management program: ‘It’s not just about the cell phone’. Journal of Health Communication: International Perspectives 17 (Sup 1): 67–72. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10810730.2012.650613

Kensing, F. and Blomberg, J. (1998) Participatory design: Issues and concerns. Computer Supported Cooperative Work 7 (3–4): 167–185. http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1008689307411

Laouris, Y. (2012) The ABCs of the science of structured dialogic design. International Journal of Applied Systemic Studies 4 (4): 239–257. http://dx.doi.org/10.1504/IJASS.2012.052235

Laouris, Y. and Christakis, A. (2007) Harnessing collective wisdom at a fraction of the time using Structured Design Process embedded within a virtual communication context. International Journal of Applied Systemic Studies 1 (2): 131–153. http://dx.doi.org/10.1504/IJASS.2007.015585

Li, J., Talaei-Khoei, A., Seale, H., Ray, P. and MacIntyre, C. R. (2013) Health care provider adoption of ehealth: Systematic literature review. Interactive Journal of Medical Research 2 (1): 20–38.

Martinez-Perez, B., de la Torre-Diez, I. and Lopez-Coronado, M. (2013) Mobile health applications for the most prevalent conditions by the World Health Organisation: Review and analysis. Journal of Medical Internet Research 15 (6): e120. http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/jmir.2600

Meetoo, D. and Gopaul, H (2005) Empowerment: Giving power to people with diabetes. Journal of Diabetes Nursing 9 (1): 28–32.

Moffatt, J. and Eley, D. (2011) Barriers to the up-take of telemedine in Australia – A view from providers. The International Electronic Journal of Rural and Remote Health Research, Education, Practice and Policy 11 (1): 1581.

Muller, M. J. and Druin, A. (2011) Participatory design: The third space in HCI. In J. Jacko (ed.) The Human-Computer Interaction Handbook. Third edition. New York: Taylor and Francis.

Mulvaney, S., Ritterband, L. and Bosslet, L. (2011) Mobile intervention design in diabetes: Review and recommendations. Current Diabetes Reports 11 (6): 486–493. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11892-011-0230-y

Nietzsche, F. (1969 [1887]) On the Genealogy of Morals. Translated by W. Kaufmann and R. J. Hollingdale. New York: Vintage / Random House.

Nundy, S., Dick, J., Solomon, M. and Peek, M. (2013) Developing a behavioural model for mobile phone-based diabetes interventions. Patient Education and Counseling 90 (1): 125–132. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2012.09.008

Park, S. and Burford, S. (2013) A longitudinal study on the uses of mobile tablet devices and changes in digital media literacy of young adults. Information, Communication and Society, Educational Media International 50 (4): 266–280. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09523987.2013.862365

Pileman, S. and Timpka, T. (2008) Third generation participatory design in health informatics: Making user participation applicable to large-scale information system projects. Journal of Biomedical Informatics 41 (2): 327–339. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbi.2007.09.004

Porter, S. and Shortall, S. (2009) Stakeholders and perspectivism in qualitative policy evaluation: a realist reflection. Public Administration 87 (2): 259–273. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.2008.01735.x

Sanders, E., Brandt, E. and Binder, T. (2010) A framework for organizing the tools and techniques of participatory design. In T. Robertson, K. Bodker, T. Bratteteig and D. Doi (eds) PDC ’10: Proceedings of the 11th Biennial Participatory Design Conference Held in Sydney, Australia, 29 November – 3 December, 2010, 195–198. New York: ACM. http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/1900441.1900476

Sundar, S. (2008) Self as source: Agency and customization in interactive media. In E. Konijn, S. Utz, M. Tanis and S. Barnes (eds) Mediated Interpersonal Communication, 58–74. New York: Routledge.

Sundar, S. and Marathe, S. (2010) Personalization versus customization: The importance of agency, privacy, and power usage. Human Communication Research 36 (3) 298–322. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2958.2010.01377.x

Suchman, L. (1993) Foreword. In D. Schuler and A. Namiola (eds) Participatory Design: Principles and Practices, vii–ix. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Tatara, N., Arsand, E., Skrovseth, S. and Hartvigsen, G. (2013) Long-term engagement with a mobile self-management system for people with type 2 diabetes. Journal of Medical Internet Research: mHealth uHealth 1 (1): e1.

Tomlinson, M., Rotheram, M., Swartz, L. and Tsai A. (2013) Scaling up mHealth: Where is the evidence? Public Library of Science: Medicine 10 (2): e1001382. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001382

van Heerden, A., Tomlinson, M. and Swartz, L. (2012) Point of care in your pocket: A research agenda for the field of m-health. Bulletin of the World Health Organization 90 (5): 393–394. http://dx.doi.org/10.2471/BLT.11.099788

van Velsen, L., Beaujean, D. and van Gemert-Pijnen, J. (2013) Why mobile health app overload drives us crazy, and how to restore the sanity. BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making 13 (23). http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6947-13-23

Waller, A., Franklin, V., Pagliari, C. and Green, S. (2006) Participatory design of a text message scheduling system to support young people with diabetes. Health Informatics Journal 12 (4): 304–318. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1460458206070023

Whittaker, R., Merry, S., Dorey, E. and Maddison, R. (2012) A development and evaluation process for mHealth interventions: Examples from New Zealand. Journal of Health Communication: International Perspectives 17 (Sup 1): 11–21. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10810730.2011.649103

World Health Organization (2006) Building Foundations for eHealth: Progress of Member States: Report of the WHO Global Observatory for eHealth. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/goe/publications/bf_FINAL.pdf

World Health Organization (2008) The Global Burden of Disease: 2004 Update. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/healthinfo/global_burden_disease/GBD_report_2004update_full.pdf/

World Health Organization (2011) mHealth: New Horizons for Health through Mobile Technologies: Based on the Findings of the Second Global Survey on eHealth. Global Observatory for eHealth Series 3. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/goe/publications/goe_mhealth_web.pdf

Zarghom, S., Di Fonzo, D. and Leung, F. H. (2013) Does socioeconomic status affect patients’ ease of use of a touch-screen (iPad) patient survey? Interactive Journal of Medical Research 2 (1): e1. http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/ijmr.2314

Refbacks

There are currently no refbacks.

Equinox Publishing Ltd - 415 The Workstation 15 Paternoster Row, Sheffield, S1 2BX United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 (0)114 221-0285 - Email: [email protected]