Development of a web-based health care intervention for patients with heart disease: Lessons learned from a participatory design study

Abstract

Background: The use of telemedicine technologies in health care has increased substantially, together with a growing interest in participatory design methods when developing telemedicine approaches. Objective: We present lessons learned from a case study involving patients with heart disease and health care professionals in the development of a personalized Web-based health care intervention. Methods: We used a participatory design approach inspired by the method for feasibility studies in software development. We collected qualitative data using multiple methods in 3 workshops and analyzed the data using thematic analysis. Participants were 7 patients with diagnosis of heart disease, 2 nurses, 1 physician, 2 systems architects, 3 moderators, and 3 observers. Results: We present findings in 2 parts. (1) Outcomes of the participatory design process: users gave valuable feedback on ease of use of the platforms' tracking tools, platform design, terminology, and insights into patients' monitoring needs, information and communication technologies skills, and preferences for self-management tools. (2) Experiences from the participatory design process: patients and health care professionals contributed different perspectives, with the patients using an experience-based approach and the health care professionals using a more attitude-based approach. Conclusions: The essential lessons learned concern planning and organization of workshops, including the finding that patients engaged actively and willingly in a participatory design process, whereas it was more challenging to include and engage health care professionals.