Exploring Spirituality and Technology Receptivity Among a Sample of Older Blacks to Inform a Tailored Chronic Disease Self-Management mHealth Intervention

Abstract

Introduction

Having multiple chronic conditions (MCC) is the most common health condition in older US adults of which Blacks are disproportionally affected. The management of each condition presents many challenges. Blacks in the US frequently cite spirituality as facilitator to well-being. More information is needed to understand the many aspects of spirituality that older Black patients use to manage MCCs.

Methods

In the current study, focus groups were conducted with 30 black men and women with MCCs to examine how spirituality can be incorporated into a mobile health intervention designed to increase chronic disease self-management (CDSM) skills by improving health literacy. Groups discussed spiritual practices used to facilitate CDSM and their perceptions about mobile technology use.

Results

Inductive thematic analysis suggested that a chronic disease wellness plan that acknowledges the relationship between spirituality and health was preferred by most participants. Additionally, the desire for mobile health (mHealth) among this group points to an opportunity for intervention.

Discussion

Creating culturally appropriate educational messages about CDSM that incorporate spiritual practices may be a useful method for building sustainable CDSM skills. Next steps include the development of a mHealth intervention prototype based on the results and pre-testing it prior to deployment.

Keywords:

• spirituality
• African American
• qualitative
• medication adherence
• folk medicine

Disclosure

Research reported in this manuscript was supported by Dr. Thomas-Purcell’s grant from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R01MD010368 -03S1. Dr. Raymond Ownby reports grants from the US National Institutes of Health, during the conduct of the study; in addition, Dr Raymond Ownby has a patent pending US2019/ 013319, Assessment of human comprehension by an automated agent. The authors report no other conflicts of interest in this work.

Additional information

Funding

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R01MD010368 −03S1. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.