Time to listen: a mixed-method study examining community-based views of mobile technology for interventions to promote physical activity

Introduction A mixed-method, co-design approach to studying the adoption of mobile health (mHealth) technology among African-American (AA) women has not been fully explored. Qualitative data may contextualise existing knowledge surrounding perceptions of mHealth among AA women as part of formative work for designing a physical activity application (app).Methods A convenience sample of 16 AA women completed an informatics survey prior to participating in focus groups exploring their use of mobile technology and health apps. Survey responses provided frequency data, while iterative transcript analysis of focus groups identified themes.Results The majority of participants (mean age=62.1 years, SD=6.6) felt comfortable using a tablet/smartphone (75.0%). Most (68.8%) reported using health-related apps, primarily focused on physical activity and nutrition. Focus groups revealed four overarching concepts, including (1) user attachment, (2) technology adoption, (3) potential facilitators and (4) potential barriers. Important features which may serve as facilitators or barriers to future adoption of a mobile app for an mHealth intervention include individual app tailoring and software concerns, respectively.Discussion Thematic analysis revealed high user attachment to smartphones and described participants’ process for adopting new mHealth technology.Conclusion Early engagement of target end users as a part of a broader co-design and community-based participatory research process for developing mHealth technologies may be useful for sustained adoption of these tools in future mHealth behavioural interventions.