TY  - JOUR
AU  - Nitschke, Marlies
AU  - Nwosu, Obioma Bertrand
AU  - Grube, Lara
AU  - Knitza, Johannes
AU  - Seifer, Ann-Kristin
AU  - Eskofier, Bjoern M
AU  - Schett, Georg
AU  - Morf, Harriet
PY  - 2023
DA  - 2023/12/12
TI  - Refinement and Usability Analysis of an eHealth App for Ankylosing Spondylitis as a Complementary Treatment to Physical Therapy: Development and Usability Study
JO  - JMIR Form Res
SP  - e47426
VL  - 7
KW  - ankylosing spondylitis
KW  - axial spondylarthritis
KW  - DHA
KW  - digital health application
KW  - eHealth
KW  - self-assessment
KW  - Usability
KW  - Yoga
KW  - YogiTherapy
AB  - Background: Mobile eHealth apps have been used as a complementary treatment to increase the quality of life of patients and provide new opportunities for the management of rheumatic diseases. Telemedicine, particularly in the areas of prevention, diagnostics, and therapy, has become an essential cornerstone in the care of patients with rheumatic diseases. Objective: This study aims to improve the design and technology of YogiTherapy and evaluate its usability and quality. Methods: We newly implemented the mobile eHealth app YogiTherapy with a modern design, the option to change language, and easy navigation to improve the app’s usability and quality for patients. After refinement, we evaluated the app by conducting a study with 16 patients with AS (4 female and 12 male; mean age 48.1, SD 16.8 y). We assessed the usability of YogiTherapy with a task performance test (TPT) with a think-aloud protocol and the quality with the German version of the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS). Results: In the TPT, the participants had to solve 6 tasks that should be performed on the app. The overall task completion rate in the TPT was high (84/96, 88% completed tasks). Filtering for videos and navigating to perform an assessment test caused the largest issues during the TPT, while registering in the app and watching a yoga video were highly intuitive. Additionally, 12 (75%) of the 16 participants completed the German version of MARS. The quality of YogiTherapy was rated with an average MARS score of 3.79 (SD 0.51) from a maximum score of 5. Furthermore, results from the MARS questionnaire demonstrated a positive evaluation regarding functionality and aesthetics. Conclusions: The refined and tested YogiTherapy app showed promising results among most participants. In the future, the app could serve its function as a complementary treatment for patients with AS. For this purpose, surveys with a larger number of patients should still be conducted. As a substantial advancement, we made the app free and openly available on the iOS App and Google Play stores. 
SN  - 2561-326X
UR  - https://formative.jmir.org/2023/1/e47426
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/47426
UR  - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/38085558
DO  - 10.2196/47426
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/47426
ER  -