Usability and utility of a remote monitoring system to support physiotherapy for people with Parkinson's disease
BackgroundPhysiotherapy for persons with Parkinson's disease (PwPD) could benefit from objective and continuous tracking of physical activity and falls in daily life.ObjectivesWe designed a remote monitoring system for this purpose and describe the experiences of PwPD and physiotherapists who u...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2023-10-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Neurology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fneur.2023.1251395/full |
| _version_ | 1797661208618205184 |
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| author | Robin van den Bergh Luc J. W. Evers Luc J. W. Evers Nienke M. de Vries Ana L. Silva de Lima Bastiaan R. Bloem Giulio Valenti Marjan J. Meinders Marjan J. Meinders |
| author_facet | Robin van den Bergh Luc J. W. Evers Luc J. W. Evers Nienke M. de Vries Ana L. Silva de Lima Bastiaan R. Bloem Giulio Valenti Marjan J. Meinders Marjan J. Meinders |
| author_sort | Robin van den Bergh |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | BackgroundPhysiotherapy for persons with Parkinson's disease (PwPD) could benefit from objective and continuous tracking of physical activity and falls in daily life.ObjectivesWe designed a remote monitoring system for this purpose and describe the experiences of PwPD and physiotherapists who used the system in daily clinical practice.MethodsTwenty-one PwPD (15 men) wore a sensor necklace to passively record physical activity and falls for 6 weeks. They also used a smartphone app to self-report daily activities, (near-)falls and medication intake. They discussed those data with their PD-specialized physiotherapist (n = 9) during three regular treatment sessions. User experiences and aspects to be improved were gathered through interviews with PwPD and physiotherapists, resulting in system updates. The system was evaluated in a second pilot with 25 new PwPD (17 men) and eight physiotherapists.ResultsWe applied thematic analysis to the interview data resulting in two main themes: usability and utility. First, the usability of the system was rated positively, with the necklace being easy to use. However, some PwPD with limited digital literacy or cognitive impairments found the app unclear. Second, the perceived utility of the system varied among PwPD. While many PwPD were motivated to increase their activity level, others were not additionally motivated because they perceived their activity level as high. Physiotherapists appreciated the objective recording of physical activity at home and used the monitoring of falls to enlarge awareness of the importance of falls for PwPD. Based on the interview data of all participants, we drafted three user profiles for PwPD regarding the benefits of remote monitoring for physiotherapy: for profile 1, a monitoring system could act as a flagging dashboard to signal the need for renewed treatment; for profile 2, a monitoring system could be a motivational tool to maintain physical activity; for profile 3, a monitoring system could passively track physical activity and falls at home. Finally, for a subgroup of PwPD the burdens of monitoring will outweigh the benefits.ConclusionsOverall, both PwPD and physiotherapists underline the potential of a remote monitoring system to support physiotherapy by targeting physical activity and (near-)falls. Our findings emphasize the importance of personalization in remote monitoring technology, as illustrated by our user profiles. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T18:41:10Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-bd75ccd75e3d43a881efb65769b631c1 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-2295 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T18:41:10Z |
| publishDate | 2023-10-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Neurology |
| spelling | doaj.art-bd75ccd75e3d43a881efb65769b631c12023-10-12T13:10:02ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Neurology1664-22952023-10-011410.3389/fneur.2023.12513951251395Usability and utility of a remote monitoring system to support physiotherapy for people with Parkinson's diseaseRobin van den Bergh0Luc J. W. Evers1Luc J. W. Evers2Nienke M. de Vries3Ana L. Silva de Lima4Bastiaan R. Bloem5Giulio Valenti6Marjan J. Meinders7Marjan J. Meinders8Radboud University Medical Center, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Department of Neurology, Center of Expertise for Parkinson and Movement Disorders, Nijmegen, NetherlandsRadboud University Medical Center, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Department of Neurology, Center of Expertise for Parkinson and Movement Disorders, Nijmegen, NetherlandsRadboud University, Institute for Computing and Information Sciences, Department of Data Science, Nijmegen, NetherlandsRadboud University Medical Center, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Department of Neurology, Center of Expertise for Parkinson and Movement Disorders, Nijmegen, NetherlandsRadboud University Medical Center, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Department of Neurology, Center of Expertise for Parkinson and Movement Disorders, Nijmegen, NetherlandsRadboud University Medical Center, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Department of Neurology, Center of Expertise for Parkinson and Movement Disorders, Nijmegen, NetherlandsPhilips Research, Department of Connected Care and Remote Patient Management, Eindhoven, NetherlandsRadboud University Medical Center, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Department of Neurology, Center of Expertise for Parkinson and Movement Disorders, Nijmegen, NetherlandsRadboud University Medical Center, Radboud Institute for Health Sciences, Scientific Center for Quality of Healthcare, Nijmegen, NetherlandsBackgroundPhysiotherapy for persons with Parkinson's disease (PwPD) could benefit from objective and continuous tracking of physical activity and falls in daily life.ObjectivesWe designed a remote monitoring system for this purpose and describe the experiences of PwPD and physiotherapists who used the system in daily clinical practice.MethodsTwenty-one PwPD (15 men) wore a sensor necklace to passively record physical activity and falls for 6 weeks. They also used a smartphone app to self-report daily activities, (near-)falls and medication intake. They discussed those data with their PD-specialized physiotherapist (n = 9) during three regular treatment sessions. User experiences and aspects to be improved were gathered through interviews with PwPD and physiotherapists, resulting in system updates. The system was evaluated in a second pilot with 25 new PwPD (17 men) and eight physiotherapists.ResultsWe applied thematic analysis to the interview data resulting in two main themes: usability and utility. First, the usability of the system was rated positively, with the necklace being easy to use. However, some PwPD with limited digital literacy or cognitive impairments found the app unclear. Second, the perceived utility of the system varied among PwPD. While many PwPD were motivated to increase their activity level, others were not additionally motivated because they perceived their activity level as high. Physiotherapists appreciated the objective recording of physical activity at home and used the monitoring of falls to enlarge awareness of the importance of falls for PwPD. Based on the interview data of all participants, we drafted three user profiles for PwPD regarding the benefits of remote monitoring for physiotherapy: for profile 1, a monitoring system could act as a flagging dashboard to signal the need for renewed treatment; for profile 2, a monitoring system could be a motivational tool to maintain physical activity; for profile 3, a monitoring system could passively track physical activity and falls at home. Finally, for a subgroup of PwPD the burdens of monitoring will outweigh the benefits.ConclusionsOverall, both PwPD and physiotherapists underline the potential of a remote monitoring system to support physiotherapy by targeting physical activity and (near-)falls. Our findings emphasize the importance of personalization in remote monitoring technology, as illustrated by our user profiles.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fneur.2023.1251395/fullParkinson's diseasephysiotherapyremote monitoringphysical activityfallstelemedicine |
| spellingShingle | Robin van den Bergh Luc J. W. Evers Luc J. W. Evers Nienke M. de Vries Ana L. Silva de Lima Bastiaan R. Bloem Giulio Valenti Marjan J. Meinders Marjan J. Meinders Usability and utility of a remote monitoring system to support physiotherapy for people with Parkinson's disease Frontiers in Neurology Parkinson's disease physiotherapy remote monitoring physical activity falls telemedicine |
| title | Usability and utility of a remote monitoring system to support physiotherapy for people with Parkinson's disease |
| title_full | Usability and utility of a remote monitoring system to support physiotherapy for people with Parkinson's disease |
| title_fullStr | Usability and utility of a remote monitoring system to support physiotherapy for people with Parkinson's disease |
| title_full_unstemmed | Usability and utility of a remote monitoring system to support physiotherapy for people with Parkinson's disease |
| title_short | Usability and utility of a remote monitoring system to support physiotherapy for people with Parkinson's disease |
| title_sort | usability and utility of a remote monitoring system to support physiotherapy for people with parkinson s disease |
| topic | Parkinson's disease physiotherapy remote monitoring physical activity falls telemedicine |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fneur.2023.1251395/full |
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