End Users' and Other Stakeholders' Needs and Requirements in the Development of a Personalized Integrated Care Platform (PROCare4Life) for Older People With Dementia or Parkinson Disease: Mixed Methods Study

Background: With what has been known as the "triple-win effect", introducing information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the health care of neurodegenerative diseases is beneficial in delaying the need for institutional care, reducing the associated health care costs, reducing the...

Verfasser: Ahmed, Mona
Marín, Mayca
How, Daniella
Judica, Elda
Tropea, Peppino
Bentlage, Ellen
Ferreira, Joaquim J
Bouça-Machado, Raquel
Brach, Michael
Dokumenttypen:Artikel
Medientypen:Text
Erscheinungsdatum:2022
Publikation in MIAMI:16.08.2023
Datum der letzten Änderung:16.08.2023
Angaben zur Ausgabe:[Electronic ed.]
Quelle:JMIR Formative Research 6 (2022) 11, e39199, 1-24
Schlagwörter:neurodegenerative; Parkinson disease; dementia; chronic diseases; health care technologies; integrated care; information and communication technology; ICT; user-centered design; mobile phone
Fachgebiet (DDC):610: Medizin und Gesundheit
Lizenz:CC BY 4.0
Sprache:English
Förderung:Förderer: European Commission / Projektnummer: 875221
Format:PDF-Dokument
URN:urn:nbn:de:hbz:6-29948510577
Weitere Identifikatoren:DOI: 10.17879/29948511764
Permalink:https://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:hbz:6-29948510577
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Onlinezugriff:10.2196_39199.pdf

Background: With what has been known as the "triple-win effect", introducing information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the health care of neurodegenerative diseases is beneficial in delaying the need for institutional care, reducing the associated health care costs, reducing the caregiving burden, and improving individuals’ quality of life. Nevertheless, the mismatch between the users' expectations and their actual needs remains one of the main challenges that can reduce the usability of technology solutions. Therefore, the European project Personalized Integrated Care Promoting Quality of Life for Older People (PROCare4Life), which aimed to develop an ICT-based platform for all parties involved in the health care of neurodegenerative diseases, adopted a user-centered design approach, where all users are involved from the inception and throughout the platform development and implementation to integrate their needs and requirements in the proposed platform. Objective: This paper presents the results of a study on the needs and requirements of the potential end users (older people with neurodegenerative diseases, caregivers, and health care professionals) and other key stakeholders in the development of the PROCare4Life platform. Methods: A mixed qualitative and quantitative study design was used, including 2 web-based surveys, 40 interviews, and 4 workshops. The study was conducted between April and September 2020 in 5 European countries: Germany, Italy, Portugal, Romania, and Spain. Both data types were analyzed separately and then merged and interpreted, with greater priority placed on qualitative research. Results: A total of 217 participants were recruited; 157 (72.4%) of them completed the web-based surveys (n=85, 54.1% patients and n=72, 45.9% caregivers), and 60 (27.6%) individuals participated in the qualitative research (20/60, 33% health care professionals; 5/60, 8% patients; 5/60, 8% caregivers; and 30/60, 50% key stakeholders). We identified 3 main themes (T): (T1) experiences associated with illness, (T2) thoughts about the platform technology, and (T3) desired properties. Alerts for adverse events, communication tools, reminders, and monitoring are constantly needed functionalities, whereas ease of use, personalization, and user-friendliness are foreseen as necessary features. Conclusions: This paper identified the key personal, social, and health factors that influence the daily lives of the potential end users and reflected on their needs and expectations regarding the design of the proposed PROCare4Life platform. The collected data were useful for the development of the PROCare4Life platform. Although the combination and collection of features for diverse user groups are typical for integrated care platforms, it results in exponential complexity for designers, developers, and users. Contradicting opinions and several concerns in this study demonstrate that an ICT-integrated care platform should not promise too much for too many. Instead, selection, focus, and, sometimes, restriction to essentials are necessary. Users and other stakeholders should be involved in these decisions.