Client Experiences, Perceptions and Acceptability of a Digital Health Enabled Student-Led Exercise Physiology Clinic for Metabolic Conditions: A Qualitative Study

Student-led digital health clinics allow for the practical application of knowledge and learned skills with real world clients. Understanding client perspectives of these programs may provide insights to improve clinics and maximise outcomes for clients and students. This study aimed to evaluate the perceptions and experiences of people with a metabolic condition (n=9) who participated in a student-led digital health exercise physiology clinic. Eligible participants were adults with overweight or obesity and/or a metabolic condition who completed a six-week clinic comprising weekly individual video consultations for exercise prescription and support (including a wearable activity monitor and asynchronous individual program via mobile app). Focus groups were conducted with participants within two weeks of clinic completion. Participant feedback was aligned against the constructs of the Theoretical Framework of Acceptability. Three key themes were identified: i) digital health clinics improve accessibility to exercise physiology services, but introduce an ongoing technical burden, ii) student exercise physiologists are valued, irrespective of their experience level, iii) technology issues are common and challenging for digital health service, but technology features are important to participants. Participants had positive feelings towards the clinic, appreciated the accessibility of the sessions and praised the empathetic and helpful nature of the student exercise physiologists. Challenges to acceptability included technological issues and inefficiencies with clinic structure (such as lack of technical orientation). This student-led digital health exercise physiology clinic had positive participant experiences and high client acceptability from this sample.