A Yoga Exercise App Designed for Patients With Axial Spondylarthritis: Development and User Experience Study (Preprint)

Abstract

BACKGROUND Besides anti-inflammatory medication, physical exercise represents a cornerstone of modern treatment for patients with Axial Spondylarthritis (AS). Digital health applications (DHA) like the Yoga App "YogiTherapy" could empower patients to autonomously and correctly perform exercises remotely. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to develop, design, and test the usability of the smartphone-based app YogiTherapy for patients with Axial Spondylarthritis. METHODS The development of the app and the user experience study took place between October 2020 and March 2021. The DHA was designed by students, rheumatologists, and AS patients. After the initial development process, a pilot version of the app was evaluated prospectively by 5 patients and 5 rheumatologists. Participants had to complete different predefined tasks using the app. Then the competition rate and the experience questionnaire (Attractiveness, Perspicuity, Efficiency, Dependability, Stimulation, and Novelty) were finalized by patients. RESULTS The results of the post-test questionnaires showed that the majority of the patient group was already familiar with digital applications (80 % of the patients). The task completion rate of the usability test was 100 % in tasks i and ii, which included selecting and starting a yoga lesson and navigating to an information page. Rheumatologists felt even more experienced in digital devices (40 % experts, 60 % intermediates). In this case, the task completion rate of the usability test was 100 % (5 /5). In the user experience questionnaire completed by rheumatologists, attractiveness (2.267 SD 0.401) and stimulation (2.250 SD 0.354) achieved the best results compared to dependability (2.00 SD 0.395). Patients reported attractiveness with 2.167 SD 0.565 and stimulation with 1.950 SD 0.873. The lowest mean score was scaled for perspicuity (1.250 SD 1.425). CONCLUSIONS The newly developed and tested DHA YogiTherapy demonstrated high usability among rheumatologists and AS patients, suggesting simple implementation into clinical routine care. The app might potentially be used by patients with AS as a complementary treatment. Prospective trials are needed to prove the benefit of the app.