Exploring Saudi Individuals’ Perspectives and Needs to Design a Hypertension Management Mobile Technology Solution: Qualitative Study

Adel Alzahrani (), Valerie Gay and Ryan Alturki
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Adel Alzahrani: School of Electrical and Data Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney 2007, Australia
Valerie Gay: School of Electrical and Data Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney 2007, Australia
Ryan Alturki: Department of Information Science, College of Computer and Information Systems, Umm Al-Qura University, Mecca 24382, Saudi Arabia

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 19, 1-13

Abstract: Hypertension is a chronic condition caused by a poor lifestyle that affects patients’ lives. Adherence to self-management programs increases hypertension self-monitoring, and allows greater prevention and disease management. Patient compliance with hypertension self-management is low in general; therefore, mobile health applications (mHealth-Apps) are becoming a daily necessity and provide opportunities to improve the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases, including hypertension. This research aims to explore Saudi individuals’ perspectives and needs regarding designing a hypertension management mobile app to be used by hypertension patients to better manage their illnesses. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 Saudi participants to explore their perspectives and views about the needs and requirements in designing a hypertension mobile technology solution, as well as usability and culture in the Saudi context. The study used NVivo to analyze data and divided the themes into four main themes: the app’s perceived health benefits, features and usability, suggestions for the app’s content, and security and privacy. The results showed that there are many suggestions for improvements in mobile health apps that developers should take into consideration when designing apps. The mobile health apps should include physical activity tracking, related diet information, and reminders, which are promising, and could increase adherence to healthy lifestyles and consequently improve the self-management of hypertension patients. Mobile health apps provide opportunities to improve hypertension patients’ self-management and self-monitoring. However, this study asserts that mobile health apps should not share users’ data, and that adequate privacy disclosures should be implemented.

Keywords: hypertension; designing; mobile health applications; Saudi Arabia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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