Scoping the Need for a Tailored mHealth App to Improve Health and Well-being Behavioral Transformation in the Police: Exploring the Views of UK Police Workers via Web-Based Surveys and Client Meetings

Abstract

Background Police officers often work long, unsocial hours in a highly pressurized environment and may experience difficulties in managing their health and well-being. Their jobs can be highly stressful and feature unusual working hours and multiple shift patterns. When considering the policing environment of 2021, many roles that were previously the domain of warranted officers are now being carried out by nonwarranted police staff equivalents. These police staff roles are relatively new to policing but put staff under some of the same stresses as police officers. A UK police force requested help to investigate technologies that could be used to improve health and well-being and research how these technologies could be used to measure and track health behavior change. Objective Historical research studies need to be appraised in light of this new policing environment, and new research also needs to include this shift in dynamics when considering aspects of policing, including their health and well-being. This study explores police officer and staff attitudes toward and their use of existing health-related technology, highlights existing practices, and gathers views about how technology could be used more effectively. Methods A web-based survey was completed by police officers and staff (N=213) during the initial period of the UK lockdown in 2020. The survey was designed to find the solutions that participants used outside of those supplied by their employer, identify issues or problems, and find what they would like a hypothetical app to focus on. Additional requirements data were captured through client meetings, including discussions concerning previously attempted solutions and those currently in place. Thematic analysis was undertaken to identify the key themes. Results Attitudes toward and uses of existing health-related technology were captured, and existing practices were highlighted. Participants identified a need for an app to consider that a user was on shift—an important point, as many issues and problems with elements of their health and well-being involved shift work. Data also highlighted that a multifunctional tool would be more beneficial to participants than focusing on just 1 element. The key features and four domains were identified for app coverage. The prioritized order of importance of the four domains was activity, food and diet, sleep, and fluid intake. Conclusions For police officers and staff, research data suggest that there is a previously unidentified requirement for a mobile app that could provide an easily accessible platform for them to use, regardless of the current location; one that could provide guidelines on diet, lifestyle habits, and health behavior to help the user make informed decisions to assist in personalized behavior change. Notably, one which is multifunctional and which also aligns effectively with the irregular shift patterns of its users.

A Tailored mHealth App for Improving Health and Well-Being Behavioral Transformation in UK Police Workers: Usability Testing via a Mixed Methods Study

“…As our previous study has highlighted, there are currently a number of health and fitness solutions available on multiple platforms in use by police officers and staff [ 15 ]. Notably, most apps focus on a particular element of health and well-being.…”

“…Web-based surveys were used to gather feedback and information from the user base. Survey data were gathered from 213 participants of the UK commissioning force [ 15 ]. Data highlighted that a multifunctional tool would be more beneficial than focusing on a single element.…”

“…Initial requirements were categorized using the MoSCoW (Must Have, Should Have, Could Have, Won’t Have) framework [ 18 ], with findings from the web-based questionnaire and client meetings informing initial draft requirements. Paper designs were sketched leading to the creation of low-fidelity wireframes [ 15 ]. These were shown to the client for feedback before high-fidelity designs were created.…”

“…Although some risk factors relating to health and an individual’s risk of certain health issues are nonmodifiable such as age and genetics, modifiable lifestyle factors can be self-managed by individuals to reduce the risk. Currently, there is a large number of health and fitness solutions available on multiple platforms, but none are tailored to specific issues that the police force face or are configurable for the types of routines and working patterns they regularly encounter [ 15 ]. Behavior change is made more difficult given the variable working environments that officers and staff can encounter [ 1 , 2 ].…”

Obstacles to Health Big Data Utilization Based on the Perceptions and Demands of Health Care Workers in South Korea: Web-Based Survey Study

“…(1) currently working in South Korea as a doctor, nurse, medical technician, pharmacist, hospital employee, pharmaceutical company or medical equipment company employee, health care-related department professor, or health care-related field researcher and (2) those who voluntarily agreed to participate. The number of participants was calculated as 384, which satisfies the confidence level of 95% and the maximum sampling error of 5%, and finally, 400 people were surveyed in consideration of the dropout rate [16][17][18].…”