Research aims to drag asthma management into the 21st Century

05 May 2017

A new study by researchers from the School of Biological Sciences has probed the features that both patients and healthcare professionals want from an asthma management app.

Currently asthma treatment is managed by the use of written plans. However only a quarter of patients receive these and often find them hard to stick to. Over 200 smartphone apps have been developed to help but these are often not informed by patient or professional needs.

The study is part of a long-term, EU funded project called myAirCoach, to develop a useful and accessible mHealth device. Researchers examined focus group responses and written questionnaires from 183 patients and 63 professionals to evaluate the features that will help to inform future designs for apps.

Lead researcher Dr Andrew Simpson said: “While smartphones have great potential for helping people manage their health, there has been such an explosion of different apps and devices that patients and professionals don’t know what works best or if the design is up to the job.

“The idea of myAirCoach is to carefully work with these groups to find the best design and range of functions which help people manage their asthma.”

One of the main functions that patients wanted from a mobile healthcare or ‘mHealth’ app was information on environmental conditions such as pollen or pollution. They also wanted to be able to collect data that they could show their doctors. Professionals wanted apps to alert patients about when to receive medical help and to monitor adherence to their medication.

With 5.4 million in the UK affected by it, asthma is ideal for an ‘mHealth’ approach. If a device or app can be created which is useful for both patients and healthcare professionals it has the potential to save lives, reduce hospital admissions and reduce the use of rescue medication.

Dr Simpson concluded: “Although patients and health care professionals we asked had differing priorities, there was overwhelming support for the creation of evidence-based mHealth to support asthma management. The challenge is now to find the right design and technology to make this a reality.”

Read the full article HERE.