Cargando…

Developing Typologies of User Engagement With the BRANCH Alcohol-Harm Reduction Smartphone App: Qualitative Study

BACKGROUND: Understanding how users engage with electronic screening and brief intervention (eSBI) is a critical research objective to improve effectiveness of app-based interventions to reduce harmful alcohol consumption. Although quantitative measures of engagement provide a strong indicator of ho...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Milward, Joanna, Deluca, Paolo, Drummond, Colin, Kimergård, Andreas
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: JMIR Publications 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6315270/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30545806
http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/11692
_version_ 1783384254867046400
author Milward, Joanna
Deluca, Paolo
Drummond, Colin
Kimergård, Andreas
author_facet Milward, Joanna
Deluca, Paolo
Drummond, Colin
Kimergård, Andreas
author_sort Milward, Joanna
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Understanding how users engage with electronic screening and brief intervention (eSBI) is a critical research objective to improve effectiveness of app-based interventions to reduce harmful alcohol consumption. Although quantitative measures of engagement provide a strong indicator of how the user engages with an app at the group level, they do not elucidate finer-grained details of how apps function from an individual, experiential perspective and why, or how, users engage with an intervention in a particular manner. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to (1) understand why and how participants engaged with the BRANCH app, (2) explore facilitators and barriers to engagement with app features, (3) explore how the BRANCH app impacted drinking behavior, (4) use these data to identify typologies of users of the BRANCH app in terms of engagement behaviors, and (5) identify future eSBI app design implications. METHODS: In total, 20 one-to-one semistructured telephone interviews were conducted with participants recruited from a randomized controlled trial, which evaluated the effectiveness of engagement-promoting strategies in the BRANCH app targeting harmful drinking in young adults (aged 18-30 years). The topic guide explored users’ current engagement levels with existing health promotion apps, their views toward the effectiveness of such apps, and what they liked and disliked about BRANCH, specifically focusing on how they engaged with the app. Framework analysis was used to develop typologies of user engagement. RESULTS: The study identified 3 typologies of engagers. Trackers were defined by their motivations to use health-tracking apps to monitor and understand quantified self-data. They did not have intentions necessarily to cut down and predominantly used only the drinking diary. Cut-downers were motivated to use the app because they wanted to reduce their alcohol consumption Unlike Trackers, they did not use a range of different health apps daily, but saw the BRANCH app as an opportunity to test out a different method of trying to cut down their alcohol use. This typology used more features than Trackers, such as the goal setting function. Noncommitters were characterized as a group of users who were initially enthusiastic about using the app; however, this enthusiasm quickly waned and they gained no benefit from it. CONCLUSIONS: This was the first study to identify typologies of user engagement with eSBI apps. Although in need of replication, it provides a first step in understanding independent categories of eSBI users, who may benefit from apps tailored to a user’s typology or motivation. It also provides new evidence to suggest that apps may be used more effectively as a tool to raise awareness of drinking, instead of reducing alcohol use, and be a step in the care pathway, identifying at-risk individuals and signposting them to more intensive treatment. TRIAL REGISTRATION: International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial Number ISRCTN70980706; http://www.isrctn.com /ISRCTN70980706 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/73vfDXYEZ)
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-6315270
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2018
publisher JMIR Publications
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-63152702019-01-28 Developing Typologies of User Engagement With the BRANCH Alcohol-Harm Reduction Smartphone App: Qualitative Study Milward, Joanna Deluca, Paolo Drummond, Colin Kimergård, Andreas JMIR Mhealth Uhealth Original Paper BACKGROUND: Understanding how users engage with electronic screening and brief intervention (eSBI) is a critical research objective to improve effectiveness of app-based interventions to reduce harmful alcohol consumption. Although quantitative measures of engagement provide a strong indicator of how the user engages with an app at the group level, they do not elucidate finer-grained details of how apps function from an individual, experiential perspective and why, or how, users engage with an intervention in a particular manner. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to (1) understand why and how participants engaged with the BRANCH app, (2) explore facilitators and barriers to engagement with app features, (3) explore how the BRANCH app impacted drinking behavior, (4) use these data to identify typologies of users of the BRANCH app in terms of engagement behaviors, and (5) identify future eSBI app design implications. METHODS: In total, 20 one-to-one semistructured telephone interviews were conducted with participants recruited from a randomized controlled trial, which evaluated the effectiveness of engagement-promoting strategies in the BRANCH app targeting harmful drinking in young adults (aged 18-30 years). The topic guide explored users’ current engagement levels with existing health promotion apps, their views toward the effectiveness of such apps, and what they liked and disliked about BRANCH, specifically focusing on how they engaged with the app. Framework analysis was used to develop typologies of user engagement. RESULTS: The study identified 3 typologies of engagers. Trackers were defined by their motivations to use health-tracking apps to monitor and understand quantified self-data. They did not have intentions necessarily to cut down and predominantly used only the drinking diary. Cut-downers were motivated to use the app because they wanted to reduce their alcohol consumption Unlike Trackers, they did not use a range of different health apps daily, but saw the BRANCH app as an opportunity to test out a different method of trying to cut down their alcohol use. This typology used more features than Trackers, such as the goal setting function. Noncommitters were characterized as a group of users who were initially enthusiastic about using the app; however, this enthusiasm quickly waned and they gained no benefit from it. CONCLUSIONS: This was the first study to identify typologies of user engagement with eSBI apps. Although in need of replication, it provides a first step in understanding independent categories of eSBI users, who may benefit from apps tailored to a user’s typology or motivation. It also provides new evidence to suggest that apps may be used more effectively as a tool to raise awareness of drinking, instead of reducing alcohol use, and be a step in the care pathway, identifying at-risk individuals and signposting them to more intensive treatment. TRIAL REGISTRATION: International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial Number ISRCTN70980706; http://www.isrctn.com /ISRCTN70980706 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/73vfDXYEZ) JMIR Publications 2018-12-13 /pmc/articles/PMC6315270/ /pubmed/30545806 http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/11692 Text en ©Joanna Milward, Paolo Deluca, Colin Drummond, Andreas Kimergård. Originally published in JMIR Mhealth and Uhealth (http://mhealth.jmir.org), 13.12.2018. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in JMIR mhealth and uhealth, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on http://mhealth.jmir.org/, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.
spellingShingle Original Paper
Milward, Joanna
Deluca, Paolo
Drummond, Colin
Kimergård, Andreas
Developing Typologies of User Engagement With the BRANCH Alcohol-Harm Reduction Smartphone App: Qualitative Study
title Developing Typologies of User Engagement With the BRANCH Alcohol-Harm Reduction Smartphone App: Qualitative Study
title_full Developing Typologies of User Engagement With the BRANCH Alcohol-Harm Reduction Smartphone App: Qualitative Study
title_fullStr Developing Typologies of User Engagement With the BRANCH Alcohol-Harm Reduction Smartphone App: Qualitative Study
title_full_unstemmed Developing Typologies of User Engagement With the BRANCH Alcohol-Harm Reduction Smartphone App: Qualitative Study
title_short Developing Typologies of User Engagement With the BRANCH Alcohol-Harm Reduction Smartphone App: Qualitative Study
title_sort developing typologies of user engagement with the branch alcohol-harm reduction smartphone app: qualitative study
topic Original Paper
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6315270/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30545806
http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/11692
work_keys_str_mv AT milwardjoanna developingtypologiesofuserengagementwiththebranchalcoholharmreductionsmartphoneappqualitativestudy
AT delucapaolo developingtypologiesofuserengagementwiththebranchalcoholharmreductionsmartphoneappqualitativestudy
AT drummondcolin developingtypologiesofuserengagementwiththebranchalcoholharmreductionsmartphoneappqualitativestudy
AT kimergardandreas developingtypologiesofuserengagementwiththebranchalcoholharmreductionsmartphoneappqualitativestudy