mHealth: providing a mindfulness app for women with chronic pelvic pain in gynaecology outpatient clinics: qualitative data analysis of user experience and lessons learnt

What is it about?

What is it about? Chronic pelvic pain (CPP) in women is a common disease that is expensive and difficult to treat. Earlier research showed that mindfulness meditation may help women with this disease. We changed a commercial smartphone app that teaches mindfulness meditation for women with CPP and compared it to an app teaching muscle relaxation and the usual care in a trial. A group of women with CPP who had volunteered to test the app before the study liked and recommended it. After the study we found that women with CPP who had taken part in the study had not used the apps much. We interviewed those women to find out why. Why is it important? Smartphone health apps are increasingly popular, but not usually tested scientifically. Health apps may be a modern and cost-effective way of health care, but only if patients like them and use them. Our study examined in depth why patients did not use the health apps we asked them to test. Our findings may help others to make health apps in the future that patients use more often. It may be better to develop apps together with patients then to ask them to test a finished app.

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