Darcy Ummels

Using an activity tracker in daily clinical practice | 117 6 Figure 6.1 Guideline of the development process To support the embedded use of an activity tracker in daily clinical practice, in the plan phase (1), a draft manual including a flowchart (Figure 6.2) was developed by the research team (DU, EB, SB, AB). The research team consisted of three professors and one Ph.D. student. All team members have backgrounds as physical therapists and one is still practicing as a physical therapist. The content of the manual and the flowchart was based on an earlier developed framework about the feasibility of activity trackers in healthcare and on literature about the needs of healthcare professionals and patients in using measurement tools and eHealth during treatment. 28,36 ‐ 39,45 ‐ 51 Topics such as characteristics, correct functioning, goal, and use of the activity tracker were derived from the framework and supplemented with relevant topics (e.g., what, how, when) from literature. Following, in the act and observe phase (2), the activity tracker was used in daily clinical practice by the healthcare professionals. The act and observe phase (2) lasted for at least 4 weeks, in which part of the data collection took place. In the reflect phase (3), the rest of the data collection took place, and the draft manual was further developed by the healthcare professionals to their context and the needs of the therapists based on the gathered experiences of themselves and their patients. The act and observe phase (2), reflect phase (3), and revised plan phase (4) were iterative cycles and were planned to be repeated until there was no need for further development of the manual, i.e., when the therapists were able to embed the activity tracker in their daily clinical practice. This study was approved by the local ethics board Medical Ethical Committee METC Z (METCZ20190073).