Development of an online self-management platform for people with rheumatic and musculoskeletal conditions

Prior, Yeliz; Sammut, L; Vasilica, C

Abstract

Background Patient information and education have been shown to improve pain and self-efficacy and increase overall quality of life in people with chronic musculoskeletal conditions (MSCs). Informed patients are better able to distinguish and manage symptoms, use treatments effectively, access services needed, manage work and cope better with the psychological impact of their conditions. However, there is a need to improve the access to high quality specialist health information for people with rheumatic and MSCs.

Objectives This study aimed to test the usability and acceptability of an online self-management platform developed for people with rheumatic and MSCs to facilitate access to (i) valid and reliable health information (ii) evidence-based Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) (iii) advice on self-help, assistive technologies and rehabilitation (iv) and peer support via an online community.

Methods Phase 1 involved the MSKHUB community development through service-user and health professionals group formation. People with Rheumatic and MSCs (n=15) and their family/carers (n=5) were purposively identified via social media networks and brought in as collaborators to form the MSKHUB Patient and Public Research Advisory Group (PRAG). A multi-disciplinary group of health professionals (n=7) were also identified through the academic and clinical networks to form the MSKHUB Health Professionals Reference Group (HPRG). A digital-lead specialising in health technologies and social media networks also supported the development of the online content and social networks. The digital lead, PRAG and HPRG had face-to-face and online meetings throughout the Phase 1 to inform the development of the MSKHUB through an iterative process. Following the Phase 1, 25 participants with rheumatic and MSCs used the website on their own devices at home and provided feedback by completing a user-experience survey assessing ease of use, helpfulness, and satisfaction with the MSKHUB.

Results Participants completed the registration process and all PROMs on the MSKHUB site in an average of 1.5 hours (SD 30 min); some PROMs required more to complete due to their size and complexity but all PROMs were deemed as relevant and important to include. Participants’ comments were addressed to improve the user-friendliness and ease of use. Participants reported high levels of usefulness and satisfaction in the user-experience survey (80% rated the usefulness as 9/10% and 92% rated satisfaction as 7/10 [1=not useful/not satisfied at all to 10=extremely useful/satisfied]). All participants indicated they would continue using the MSKHUB and recommend it to their families and/or friends with rheumatic and MSCs.

Conclusions MSKHUB Development (Phase 1) involved the creation and testing the usability and acceptibility of an online self-management platform for people with rheumatic and MSCs, which is an important step in developing appropriate and user-friendly online health education platforms. Our study suggested that community dwelling people with rheumatic and MSCs demonstrated a high degree of acceptance of the MSKHUB and could use it easily. The Phase 2 will involve a wider testing of the MSKHUB for general site activity, use and evaluation through a variety of embedded appraisal methods within the sit is currently underway.

Citation

Prior, Y., Sammut, L., & Vasilica, C. (2018). Development of an online self-management platform for people with rheumatic and musculoskeletal conditions. . https://doi.org/10.1136/annrheumdis-2018-eular.7164

• Conference Name: EULAR Annual Meeting
• Conference Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Start Date: Jun 13, 2018
• End Date: Jun 16, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Jun 14, 2018
• Publication Date: Jun 14, 2018
• Deposit Date: Jun 30, 2023
• Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/annrheumdis-2018-eular.7164
• Publisher URL: https://ard.bmj.com/content/77/Suppl_2/132.2