Challenges in Working Towards Patient Engagement in Developing Technology Prototypes

TL;DR

This paper discusses the challenges and lessons learned from implementing a digital health tool aimed at supporting self-management in patients with multiple chronic conditions, emphasizing patient engagement.

Contribution

It provides practical engagement lessons derived from a two-month pilot study of a digital health intervention for complex chronic care.

Findings

Identified key factors influencing patient engagement and sustained use.

Provided three implementation lessons for designing effective digital health tools.

Demonstrated the importance of considering patient workload and capacity in design.

Abstract

Creating supportive technologies for people living with multiple chronic conditions is extremely challenging. These patients are often faced with substantial visible and invisible treatment work as well as their everyday responsibilities, including coordinating across providers, tracking information, and repeating communication in emotionally charged contexts. In the Cumulative Complexity Model (CuCoM), the balance between patient workload and patient capacity shapes what patients can realistically take on, including whether a digital tool can be adopted and sustained. In this paper, we report engagement lessons from implementing MyCareCompass, a patient-facing digital health intervention (DHI) intended to support day-to-day self-management for people living with multiple chronic conditions. We define engagement as patient uptake and sustained use during a two-month pilot study of our platform, drawing on usage analytics and follow-up feedback, and distill three implementation lessons for designing for engagement in complex chronic care.