| Summary: | • Background
The recent emergence of health-related smartphone applications offer a way of self-monitoring personal health; providing education and the ability to track symptoms via a method which is low-cost, portable, flexible and convenient. This technology can be particular useful for those living with chronic health conditions, such as chronic pain. Previous research in this area has focused upon the design, usability and acceptability of applications aimed at facilitating chronic pain self-management behaviours. The features of smartphone applications often focus upon building of self-efficacy through goal setting and the tracking of pain levels via ecological momentary assessment. However, the experiential aspect of smartphone application usage is neglected in the extant literature.
• Aim
To explore how those currently living with chronic pain experience using a smartphone application, which is already commercially available to the public, aimed at facilitating self-management. Of particular interest is whether the use of a smartphone application in normal daily life will affect the participants’ pain experience.
• Method & Results
Five females living with chronic pain were recruited via purposive sampling. For between one to two weeks participants used a commercially available smartphone application which focused upon the self-management of chronic pain, it provided pain tracking, goal setting, and educational features. They used the application at least once a day, as part of the routine of normal daily life, to track their pain levels and set themselves at least one goal to track. After the one to two weeks of use individual semi-structured interviews were carried out over Skype video call. Following interpretative phenomenological analysis of the five transcripts, three superordinate themes emerged: positioning of the self, confronting the pain experience, and the application as an intermediary. Using the application enabled participants to explore and reflect upon their pain experience in a way which was different to normal life. Issues around the quantification of pain were highlighted, with difficulties encountered using numerical pain scales to reflect the nuances of the pain experience. The application offered itself as a way for participants to build proof of their pain experience, and recognition of the potential to be able to then share this information with healthcare professionals.
• Conclusions
Overall the qualitative accounts of experience revealed that the smartphone application allowed individuals to reflect upon their chronic pain experience in a way which was different to their normal everyday lives. It built up a more ecological and meaningful picture of the pain experience to the participants. The findings also raised some interesting issues surrounding the use of pain scales, the individuality of experience, and how smartphone applications are interpreted and integrated into everyday life. The findings have built upon previous research in this area by providing deeper accounts of insider experience, this enhances our understandings of smartphone application usage in those living with chronic pain.
|
|---|
