Clinicians and Older Adults’ Perceptions of the Utility of Patient-Generated Health Data in Caring for Older Adults: Exploratory Mixed Methods Study

BACKGROUND: Many people are motivated to self-track their health and optimize their well-being through mobile health apps and wearable devices. The diversity and complexity of these systems have evolved over time, resulting in a large amount of data referred to as patient-generated health data (PGHD), which has recently emerged as a useful set of data elements in health care systems around the world. Despite the increased interest in PGHD, clinicians and older adults’ perceptions of PGHD are poorly understood. In particular, although some clinician barriers to using PGHD have been identified, such as concerns about data quality, ease of use, reliability, privacy, and regulatory issues, little is known from the perspectives of older adults. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to explore the similarities and differences in the perceptions of older adults and clinicians with regard to how various types of PGHD can be used to care for older adults. METHODS: A mixed methods study was conducted to explore clinicians and older adults’ perceptions of PGHD. Focus groups were conducted with older adults and health care providers from the Greater Toronto area and the Kitchener-Waterloo region. The participants were asked to discuss their perceptions of PGHD, including facilitators and barriers. A questionnaire aimed at exploring the perceived usefulness of a range of different PGHD was also embedded in the study design. Focus group interviews were transcribed for thematic analysis, whereas the questionnaire results were analyzed using descriptive statistics. RESULTS: Of the 9 participants, 4 (44%) were clinicians (average age 38.3 years, SD 7 years), and 5 (56%) were older adults (average age 81.0 years, SD 9.1 years). Four main themes were identified from the focus group interviews: influence of PGHD on patient-provider trust, reliability of PGHD, meaningful use of PGHD and PGHD-based decision support systems, and perceived clinical benefits and intrusiveness of PGHD. The questionnaire results were significantly correlated with the frequency of PGHD mentioned in the focus group interviews (r=0.42; P=.03) and demonstrated that older adults and clinicians perceived blood glucose, step count, physical activity, sleep, blood pressure, and stress level as the most useful data for managing health and delivering high-quality care. CONCLUSIONS: This embedded mixed methods study generated several important findings about older adults and clinicians’ perceptions and perceived usefulness of a range of PGHD. Owing to the exploratory nature of this study, further research is needed to understand the concerns about data privacy, potential negative impact on the trust between older adults and clinicians, data quality and quantity, and usability of PGHD-related technologies for older adults.