Designing for engagement and Perceived Value inParkinson’s Self-Care Technology: A Co-DesignStudy

Despite the growing use of mobile self-care technologies, platforms like Mobistudy remain primarilyoriented toward clinical data collection rather than the lived experiences of people with Parkinson’sdisease. This thesis investigates how co-design and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) strategiescan improve user engagement and perceived value in mHealth applications — digital tools for healthmanagement via smartphones and wearables — for chronic illness management.The study followed a qualitative, multi-step user-centered design approach that was conductedtogether with Spanish-speaking individuals diagnosed with Parkinson’s. It included co-design work-shops, think-aloud sessions combined with low-fidelity prototypes and a concluding validation roundwith the participants. Additionally, the findings were contextualized through an expert interview.Reflexive thematic analysis guided the extraction of key design insights across the different steps.Findings reveal that emotional check-ins, a supportive tone of communication, and adaptiveinteraction flows foster emotional engagement and enhance the perceived value of the system —both functionally and emotionally. This thesis proposes a user-centered design framework thatintegrates emotional, cognitive, and contextual dimensions of engagement, contributing to HCIresearch on value-driven health technologies.