Mobile internet service for self-management of physical activity in people with rheumatoid arthritis: evaluation of a test version.
OBJECTIVE
Life-long adherence to health-enhancing physical activity (PA) is a major challenge for people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Our aim was to evaluate the utilisation of and experiences with a RA-specific, mobile internet PA support service, 'tRAppen', developed through a co-design process.


METHODS
28 participants with RA formed 3 web communities and tested tRAppen for 6 weeks. A mixed-method design was used to combine different types of data. Log data and questionnaire data were analysed quantitatively, while data from telephone interviews were analysed with a directed content analysis.


RESULTS
25 of the 28 participants used tRAppen. Log data indicated that a majority of them registered their PA, sent likes and posted comments to peers, set personal goals and made exercise plans. tRAppen was rated as easy and fun to use, and fairly informative and supportive for PA, and was highly recommended for people with RA. The interview analysis resulted in the following 6 categories describing the utilisation of and experiences with tRAppen: (1) experiences in general, (2) feasibility of features, (3) value as support for PA, (4) enjoyment, (5) ideas for improvements and (6) additional factors.


CONCLUSIONS
tRAppen is the first co-designed mobile internet service developed specifically for the self-management of PA in people with RA. The results are promising and indicate that tRAppen may be useful for supporting a physically active lifestyle in a subpopulation at certain risk of poor health. It will now be revised, launched and continuously updated in an iterative process involving its future users.
Division of Physiotherapy, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society , Karolinska Institutet , Huddinge , Sweden.
Åsa
0000-0003-3419-9292
Å
Revenäs
Division of Physiotherapy, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden; Department of Rheumatology, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
Christina H
CH
Opava
Alfa Bravo AB , Stockholm , Sweden.
Henrik
H
Ahlén
Swedish Rheumatism Association, Stockholm , Sweden.
Maria
0000-0001-8047-6487
M
Brusewitz
Division of Physiotherapy, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden; Department of Rheumatology, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
Susanne
S
Pettersson
Department of Neuroscience, Physiotherapy , Uppsala University , Uppsala , Sweden.
Pernilla
P
Åsenlöf
Health services research; Physcial therapy; Rheumatoid Arthritis