Remco Arensman

53 Patient perspectives on a smartphone app to support home-based exercise Willingness to Use the App Participants were unaware that Physitrack existed before starting treatment, but all were willing to try the app to see if it would be useful for them. The perceived benefit from using the app during treatment determined its continued use for the participants. I didn’t have any expectations, and I went pretty open-minded into it. I thought that if it adds anything, it’s great, but if it doesn’t, I can just remove it from my phone. [Participant #2] Although patients were open-minded, perceived privacy issues were a concern for participant #1. After reinstalling the app on my phone, I had to look through my old e-mails to find the login code, and it’s, of course, strange that if anyone else gets his hands on that e-mail, they can see all my exercises and my private information. [Participant #1] Importance of instruction Participants found it essential to be taught how to use the app and told which functions of the app are important for them. The interviewees saw the physical therapist as the person responsible for properly instructing patients in the use of the app. I only used the videos because the physical therapist showed me, but I didn’t look for any other options. I think that if you want to use all the functions of the app, the physical therapist has to explain them or provide a manual or something. [Participant #4] Patients rarely mentioned experiencing problems when using the app, suggesting that instructions by the physical therapist were sufficient to use the app in daily life. The only issues mentioned were setting the reminder for the exercises and not receiving the reminders. After checking, I found that reminders were turned off, which is odd since I turned the reminders on and then didn’t get any. [Participant #1] 3

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