Accepted for/Published in: JMIR mHealth and uHealth
Date Submitted: Jun 13, 2019
Open Peer Review Period: Jun 17, 2019 - Jul 20, 2019
Date Accepted: Aug 19, 2019
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Content and Feature Preferences for a Physical Activity App for Adults with Physical Disabilities: Focus Group Findings
ABSTRACT
Background:
Hundreds of thousands of mobile phone applications intended to improve health and fitness are available for download across platforms and operating systems; however few have been designed with people with physical disabilities (PwD) in mind, ignoring a large population that may benefit from an effective tool to increase physical activity.
Objective:
This study represents the first phase in the development process of a fitness tracking app for PwD interested in nontraditional sport. The aim of this research was to explore user preferences for content, appearance, and operational features of a proposed physical activity app for PwD to inform the design of a mobile phone app for increasing physical activity.
Methods:
Four focus groups were conducted with 15 adults with physical disabilities who currently participate in nontraditional, non-Paralympic sport. Data collected from the focus group sessions centered on content, functionality, and appearance of apps currently used by participants as well as preferences for a future app.
Results:
Participants (mean age 35.7, SD 9.2, years) were mostly white (13/15, 87%), and all were currently participating in CrossFit and at least one other sport. Five main themes were identified. Themes included preferences for (1) workout-specific features that were tailored or searchable by disability, (2) user experience that was intuitive and accessible, (3) profile personalization options, (4) gamification features that allowed for competition with self and other users, and (5) social features that allowed increased interaction among users. Participants expressed a primary interest in having a fitness app that was designed for PwD such that the features present in other fitness tracking apps were relevant to them and their community of adaptive athletes.
Conclusions:
The results showed that features related to user experience, social engagement, and gamification are considered important to PwD. Features highlighted by participants as most desired, from a consumer perspective, were in line with research identifying attributes of quality apps that use behavior change techniques to influence positive physical activity behavior change. Such insights should inform the development of any fitness app designed to integrate users with disabilities as a primary user base.
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