Identifying Unmet Needs of Community-dwelling Older Adults: A User-centred Design Approach of a Mobile Health Application

Introduction: ‘Population ageing’ and ‘ageing in place’ are major challenges worldwide. To manage population ageing, it is crucial to fulfil the needs of elderly care. Digital health technologies have emerged to support the needs of Older Adults (OA). Mobile health (mHealth) apps are cost-effective digital tools to achieve health objectives. The unmet needs of community-dwelling OAs need to be identified and incorporated into the development of mHealth apps. Aim: To identify the unmet needs of community-dwelling OAs by adopting the User-centred Design (UCD) approach. Materials and Methods: The present qualitative study was conducted in 3 stages. In stage 1, the interview questions were framed for OAs, informal caregivers, and Healthcare Professionals (HCP). Two qualitative review rounds of these interview questions were conducted by 15 experts/HCPs. In stage 2, the interview questionnaires were translated into Hindi, and then both English and Hindi questionnaires were pilot tested on five OAs and 5 informal caregivers. In stage 3, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 OAs and 10 informal caregivers. The interview responses were audio recorded or written. The recorded interview responses were transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis of interview responses was conducted. Results: Thematic analysis of interview responses resulted in 4 themes and 17 codes that indicated the unmet needs of OAs. The 4 themes included self-care, life essentials, work, leisure and social activity. These findings were incorporated into the design of the mobile app in consultation with a software engineer. Conclusion: The present study established the utility of user involvement to identify the unmet needs among communitydwelling older individuals. Hence, the study guides researchers to include stakeholders in all stages of the creation of mHealth apps, particularly during the initial content development stage. The findings of this study provide input for designing an mHealth app to promote functional independence.