Development of the Shift Smartphone App to Support the Emotional Well-Being of Junior Physicians: Design of a Prototype and Results of Usability and Acceptability Testing
BackgroundJunior physicians report higher levels of psychological distress than senior doctors and report several barriers to seeking professional mental health support, including concerns about confidentiality and career progression. Mobile health (mHealth) apps may be utili...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
JMIR Publications
2021-12-01
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| Series: | JMIR Formative Research |
| Online Access: | https://formative.jmir.org/2021/12/e26370 |
| _version_ | 1797735547647557632 |
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| author | Isabelle Counson Alexandra Bartholomew Joanna Crawford Katherine Petrie Geetanjali Basarkod Victoria Moynihan Josie Pires Rachel Cohen Nicholas Glozier Samuel Harvey Samineh Sanatkar |
| author_facet | Isabelle Counson Alexandra Bartholomew Joanna Crawford Katherine Petrie Geetanjali Basarkod Victoria Moynihan Josie Pires Rachel Cohen Nicholas Glozier Samuel Harvey Samineh Sanatkar |
| author_sort | Isabelle Counson |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
BackgroundJunior physicians report higher levels of psychological distress than senior doctors and report several barriers to seeking professional mental health support, including concerns about confidentiality and career progression. Mobile health (mHealth) apps may be utilized to help overcome these barriers to assist the emotional well-being of this population and encourage help-seeking.
ObjectiveThis study describes the development and pilot trial of the Shift mHealth app to provide an unobtrusive avenue for junior physicians to seek information about, and help for, well-being and mental health concerns, which is sensitive to workplace settings.
MethodsA 4-phase iterative development process was undertaken to create the content and features of Shift involving junior physicians using the principles of user-centered design. These 4 phases were—needs assessment, on the basis of interviews with 12 junior physicians; prototype development with user experience feedback from 2 junior physicians; evaluation, consisting of a pilot trial with 22 junior physicians to assess the usability and acceptability of the initial prototype; and redesign, including user experience workshops with 51 junior physicians.
ResultsQualitative results informed the content and design of Shift to ensure that the app was tailored to junior physicians’ needs. The Shift app prototype contained cognitive behavioral, mindfulness, value-based actions, and psychoeducational modules, as well as a tracking function that visualized patterns of daily variations in mood and health behaviors. Pilot-testing revealed possible issues with the organization of the app content, which were addressed through a thorough restructuring and redesign of Shift with the help of junior physicians across 3 user experience workshops.
ConclusionsThis study demonstrates the importance of ongoing end user involvement in the creation of a specialized mHealth app for a unique working population experiencing profession-specific stressors and barriers to help-seeking. The development and pilot trial of this novel Shift mHealth app are the first steps in addressing the mental health and support-seeking needs of junior physicians, although further research is required to validate its effectiveness and appropriateness on a larger scale. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T12:59:42Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a1809c61f9bf4c7eb971fc4d6fa25f51 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2561-326X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T12:59:42Z |
| publishDate | 2021-12-01 |
| publisher | JMIR Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | JMIR Formative Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-a1809c61f9bf4c7eb971fc4d6fa25f512023-08-28T19:55:18ZengJMIR PublicationsJMIR Formative Research2561-326X2021-12-01512e2637010.2196/26370Development of the Shift Smartphone App to Support the Emotional Well-Being of Junior Physicians: Design of a Prototype and Results of Usability and Acceptability TestingIsabelle Counsonhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-8446-4288Alexandra Bartholomewhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-9286-2756Joanna Crawfordhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-4947-1626Katherine Petriehttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-6285-8518Geetanjali Basarkodhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-3708-2751Victoria Moynihanhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-0586-1451Josie Pireshttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-2443-0078Rachel Cohenhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-5277-1822Nicholas Glozierhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-0476-9146Samuel Harveyhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-9580-3743Samineh Sanatkarhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-9962-163X BackgroundJunior physicians report higher levels of psychological distress than senior doctors and report several barriers to seeking professional mental health support, including concerns about confidentiality and career progression. Mobile health (mHealth) apps may be utilized to help overcome these barriers to assist the emotional well-being of this population and encourage help-seeking. ObjectiveThis study describes the development and pilot trial of the Shift mHealth app to provide an unobtrusive avenue for junior physicians to seek information about, and help for, well-being and mental health concerns, which is sensitive to workplace settings. MethodsA 4-phase iterative development process was undertaken to create the content and features of Shift involving junior physicians using the principles of user-centered design. These 4 phases were—needs assessment, on the basis of interviews with 12 junior physicians; prototype development with user experience feedback from 2 junior physicians; evaluation, consisting of a pilot trial with 22 junior physicians to assess the usability and acceptability of the initial prototype; and redesign, including user experience workshops with 51 junior physicians. ResultsQualitative results informed the content and design of Shift to ensure that the app was tailored to junior physicians’ needs. The Shift app prototype contained cognitive behavioral, mindfulness, value-based actions, and psychoeducational modules, as well as a tracking function that visualized patterns of daily variations in mood and health behaviors. Pilot-testing revealed possible issues with the organization of the app content, which were addressed through a thorough restructuring and redesign of Shift with the help of junior physicians across 3 user experience workshops. ConclusionsThis study demonstrates the importance of ongoing end user involvement in the creation of a specialized mHealth app for a unique working population experiencing profession-specific stressors and barriers to help-seeking. The development and pilot trial of this novel Shift mHealth app are the first steps in addressing the mental health and support-seeking needs of junior physicians, although further research is required to validate its effectiveness and appropriateness on a larger scale.https://formative.jmir.org/2021/12/e26370 |
| spellingShingle | Isabelle Counson Alexandra Bartholomew Joanna Crawford Katherine Petrie Geetanjali Basarkod Victoria Moynihan Josie Pires Rachel Cohen Nicholas Glozier Samuel Harvey Samineh Sanatkar Development of the Shift Smartphone App to Support the Emotional Well-Being of Junior Physicians: Design of a Prototype and Results of Usability and Acceptability Testing JMIR Formative Research |
| title | Development of the Shift Smartphone App to Support the Emotional Well-Being of Junior Physicians: Design of a Prototype and Results of Usability and Acceptability Testing |
| title_full | Development of the Shift Smartphone App to Support the Emotional Well-Being of Junior Physicians: Design of a Prototype and Results of Usability and Acceptability Testing |
| title_fullStr | Development of the Shift Smartphone App to Support the Emotional Well-Being of Junior Physicians: Design of a Prototype and Results of Usability and Acceptability Testing |
| title_full_unstemmed | Development of the Shift Smartphone App to Support the Emotional Well-Being of Junior Physicians: Design of a Prototype and Results of Usability and Acceptability Testing |
| title_short | Development of the Shift Smartphone App to Support the Emotional Well-Being of Junior Physicians: Design of a Prototype and Results of Usability and Acceptability Testing |
| title_sort | development of the shift smartphone app to support the emotional well being of junior physicians design of a prototype and results of usability and acceptability testing |
| url | https://formative.jmir.org/2021/12/e26370 |
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