Currently submitted to: JMIR Formative Research
Date Submitted: Mar 21, 2025
Open Peer Review Period: Mar 31, 2025 - May 26, 2025
(currently open for review)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
User-Driven Development of a Digital Behavioral Intervention for Chronic Pain: A Multi-Methods Study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Recent research shows that chronic pain affects 27% of the adult population. For many, pain is significantly impairing quality of life and everyday functioning. Behavioral interventions have shown utility, but access remains limited. Digital health solutions can increase reach but there is a need for user-friendly, feasible, and evidence-based digital interventions.
Objective:
This study aims to clarify how a digital behavioral intervention can be developed in a user-centered approach to address the needs and preferences of the target population.
Methods:
This study used a multi-method approach to develop prototypes for a digital behavioral intervention across three phases: Preparation (Phase 0), Design (Phase 1), and Testing (Phase 2). End-user involvement was prioritized through fictional Patient Personas, focus groups with patients (n=5) and therapists (n=12), and pilot testing (n=11 patients, n=3 therapists) of the digital intervention.
Results:
Based on end-user input, a 6-week digital behavioral intervention for chronic pain was created. Focus groups highlighted the importance of accessibility and adaptability of the digital intervention. Results from the pilot testing demonstrated the usability of the intervention.
Conclusions:
Results illustrated the utility of Patient Personas when preparing, focus groups when designing, and end-user feedback when testing this new intervention. Findings indicated that the treatment is promising, while also providing relevant end-user suggestions to guide further improvements.
Citation
Request queued. Please wait while the file is being generated. It may take some time.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.