Usability of a smartphone application for patients with interstitial lung disease: Results from the Registry for Better Understanding of ILD (RE-BUILD) pilot study.

2025-02

Glenn, Laura M

Jackson, Dan

Barton, Carly

Lan, Doris

Fuhrmeister, Lisa

Symons, Karen

Turnour, Louise

Tefay, Ben

Holland, Anne E

Goh, Nicole S L

Troy, Lauren K

Brooke, Mark

Glaspole, Ian N

Corte, Tamera J

IPF

digital health

idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

interstitial lung disease

self‐management

smartphone application

Journal Article

0000-0001-6468-6468

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#PLACEHOLDER_PARENT_METADATA_VALUE#

0009-0003-2342-0032

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0000-0003-2061-845X

0000-0003-2065-4346

0000-0002-7426-336X

0009-0004-9595-3548

#PLACEHOLDER_PARENT_METADATA_VALUE#

0000-0002-7096-9365

10.1111/resp.14874

Digital technologies offer opportunities for remote monitoring, increased patient engagement and incorporation of patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) into interstitial lung disease (ILD) care and research. This study evaluated the usability and patient experience of the RE-BUILD (Registry for Better Understanding of ILD) application, an ILD-specific smartphone app. Patients with ILD aged ≥18 years were recruited from three tertiary ILD centres to use the RE-BUILD app for 6 months. The mHealth App Usability Questionnaire (MAUQ) was evaluated at 1, 3 and 6 months and patients received monthly prompts to enter clinical and PROM data. Qualitative interviews regarding patient experience were performed in a subset of 10. Fifty patients, with mean age 66.9 ± 10.3 years, 25 (50%) female were included. Participants used the app for a median of 48 (IQR 21-178.3) sessions, equivalent to 8 sessions (IQR 3.5-29.71) per month. Median number of days that the app was accessed was 37 (IQR 14-96.8), with 13 (26%) patients using the app >30 times per month. The most accessed app feature was physical activity, followed by 'air quality'. Participants agreed or strongly agreed that the app was easy to use (76.0%) easy to learn to use (79.8%) and well-organized with accessible information (74.8%). The median overall MAUQ score for usability was 5.69 (IQR 5.03-6.19). There was also a high rate of engagement with app functionalities. RE-BUILD is a usable and intuitive platform for self-monitoring and data collection in ILD. Patients report a high degree of satisfaction and have provided valuable feedback for its further development.

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Respirology (Carlton, Vic.) 2025-02; 30(2)

Respirology (Carlton, Vic.)

1440-1843