Usability of a Daily Mhealth Application Designed to Address Mobility, Speech and Dexterity in Parkinson’s Disease

Abstract

Aim: This study investigated the usability of a mobile health (mHealth) smartphone application to treat gait, speech and dexterity in people with Parkinson’s disease. Methods: Participants either used an mHealth application (intervention) or maintained their normal routine (control) for 12 weeks and were evaluated at baseline and post-test time points for primary outcome measures of adherence, gait, speech and dexterity. mHealth application adherence was compared with percent change scores on gait, speech and dexterity measures. Results: Adherence was moderate and there were no significant group, time or interaction effects for any outcome measures. Correlations between adherence and outcomes were weak and negative. Conclusion: These data suggest that usability of this mHealth application was limited as indicated by low adherence. The application alone in its present form was not adequate to treat symptoms of gait, speech or dexterity in people with Parkinson’s disease.

Keywords: :

• gait
• Parkinson’s disease
• rehabilitation

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge M Hessler for her contribution to participant recruitment and data collection and R Nagel for his contribution to data collection.

Author contributions

AP Horin: acquisition, analysis and interpretation of data, drafting and revising the work, final approval, agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work. ME McNeely: substantial contribution to conception and design, acquisition of data, drafting and revising the work, final approval, agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work. EC Harrison: substantial contribution to conception and design, acquisition of data, drafting and revising the work, final approval, agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work. PS Myers: substantial contribution to conception and design, acquisition of data, drafting and revising the work, final approval, agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work. EN Sutter: acquisition of data, drafting and revising the work, final approval, agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work. KS Rawson: acquisition, analysis and interpretation of data, drafting and revising the work, final approval, agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work. GM Earhart: substantial contribution to conception and design, analysis and interpretation of the data, drafting and revising the work, final approval and agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

This study was funded by a Central Nervous System Recovery/Restoration Award from HealthSouth (GE) and the National Institutes of Health [T32HD007434] (AH and PM). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Ethical conduct of research

The authors state that they have obtained appropriate institutional review board approval or have followed the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki for all human or animal experimental investigations. In addition, for investigations involving human subjects, informed consent has been obtained from the participants involved.

Data sharing statement

The authors certify that this manuscript reports original clinical trial data. The data will not be made publicly available.