Commercially Available Smartphone Apps to Support Postoperative Pain Self-Management: Scoping Review

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Abstract

Background

Recently, the use of smartphones to deliver health-related content has experienced rapid growth, with more than 165,000 mobile health (mHealth) apps currently available in the digital marketplace. With 3 out of 4 Canadians currently owning a smartphone, mHealth apps offer opportunities to deliver accessible health-related knowledge and support. Many individuals experience pain after surgery, which can negatively impact their health-related quality of life, including sleep, emotional, and social functioning. Smartphone apps that provide remote real-time monitoring and symptom management have the potential to improve self-management skills in patients experiencing postoperative pain. Increased confidence and practice of self-management skills could contribute to decreased postoperative pain and reduce risk of developing persistent pain. Published reviews of general pain self-management apps demonstrate a lack of evidence-based content, theoretical grounding, and health care professional involvement. However, no review to date has focused on the app marketplace specific for individuals with postoperative pain.

Objective

The aim of this study was to characterize and critically appraise the content and functionality of commercially available postoperative pain self-management apps.

Methods

An electronic search and extraction was conducted between December 2016 and March 2017 of the official Canadian app stores for the three major smartphone operating systems (iPhone operating system [iOS], Android, and Windows). Stores were searched separately using predetermined search terms. Two authors screened apps based on information provided in the public app description. Metadata from all included apps were abstracted into a standard spreadsheet. Two authors verified the data with reference to the apps and downloaded apps themselves. The content and functionality of each app as it pertained to postoperative pain self-management was rated.

Results

A total of 10 apps met the inclusion criteria. All included apps were designed exclusively for the Android platform. Education was the most common self-management feature offered (8/10, 80%), with none of the apps offering features related to goal setting or social support. Overall, no single app was comprehensive in terms of pain self-management content. Five (50%) apps reported the involvement of a health care provider in their development. However, not a single app involved end users in their development, and none of the apps underwent scientific evaluation. Additionally, none of the apps were designed for use in pediatric patients.

Conclusions

Currently available postoperative pain apps for patients lack evidence-based content, goal setting, and social support functions. There is a need to develop and test comprehensive theory-based apps to support patients with pain self-management care following surgery.

Related collections

Most cited references 22

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Barriers to treatment adherence in physiotherapy outpatient clinics: A systematic review

Kirsten Jack, Sionnadh Mairi McLean, Jennifer Moffett … (2010)

Poor adherence to treatment can have negative effects on outcomes and healthcare cost. However, little is known about the barriers to treatment adherence within physiotherapy. The aim of this systematic review was to identify barriers to treatment adherence in patients typically managed in musculoskeletal physiotherapy outpatient settings and suggest strategies for reducing their impact. The review included twenty high quality studies investigating barriers to treatment adherence in musculoskeletal populations. There was strong evidence that poor treatment adherence was associated with low levels of physical activity at baseline or in previous weeks, low in-treatment adherence with exercise, low self-efficacy, depression, anxiety, helplessness, poor social support/activity, greater perceived number of barriers to exercise and increased pain levels during exercise. Strategies to overcome these barriers and improve adherence are considered. We found limited evidence for many factors and further high quality research is required to investigate the predictive validity of these potential barriers. Much of the available research has focussed on patient factors and additional research is required to investigate the barriers introduced by health professionals or health organisations, since these factors are also likely to influence patient adherence with treatment.

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Preoperative anxiety and catastrophizing: a systematic review and meta-analysis of the association with chronic postsurgical pain.

Maurice Theunissen, Madelon Peters, Julie Bruce … (2015)

Anxiety and pain catastrophizing predict acute postoperative pain. However, it is not well established whether they also predict chronic postsurgical pain (CPSP). The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to investigate whether high levels of preoperative anxiety or pain catastrophizing are associated with an increased risk of CPSP. Electronic search databases included PubMed and PsychINFO. Additional literature was obtained by reference tracking and expert consultation. Studies from 1958 until October 2010, investigating the association between preoperative anxiety or pain catastrophizing and CPSP in adult surgery patients, were assessed. The primary outcome was the presence of pain at least 3 months postoperatively. Twenty-nine studies were included; 14 instruments were used to assess anxiety or pain catastrophizing. Sixteen studies (55%) reported a statistically significant association between anxiety or pain catastrophizing and CPSP. The proportion of studies reporting a statistically significant association was 67% for studies of musculoskeletal surgery and 36% for other types of surgery. There was no association with study quality, but larger studies were more likely to report a statistically significant relationship. The overall pooled odds ratio, on the basis of 15 studies, ranged from 1.55 (95% confidence interval, 1.10-2.20) to 2.10 (95% confidence interval, 1.49-2.95). Pain catastrophizing might be of higher predictive utility compared with general anxiety or more specific pain-related anxiety. There is evidence that anxiety and catastrophizing play a role in the development of CPSP. We recommend that anxiety measures should be incorporated in future studies investigating the prediction and transition from acute to chronic postoperative pain.

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Smartphone applications for pain management.

Christopher Eccleston, B R Simon Rosser (2010)

Smartphone applications (or apps) are becoming increasingly popular. The lack of regulation or guidance for health-related apps means that the validity and reliability of their content is unknown. We have conducted a review of available apps relating to the generic condition of pain. The official application stores for five major smartphone platforms were searched: iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Nokia/Symbian and Windows Mobile. Apps were included if they reported a focus on pain education, management or relief, and were not solely aimed at health-care professionals (HCPs). A total of 111 apps met the inclusion criteria. The majority of apps reviewed claimed some information provision or electronic manual component. Diary tracking of pain variables was also a common feature. There was a low level of stated HCP involvement in app development and content. Despite an increasing number of apps being released, the frequency of HCP involvement is not increasing. Pain apps appear to be able to promise pain relief without any concern for the effectiveness of the product, or for possible adverse effects of product use. In a population often desperate for a solution to distressing and debilitating pain conditions, there is considerable risk of individuals being misled.

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Author and article information

Contributors

Chitra Lalloo:

The Hospital for Sick ChildrenDepartment of Child Health Evaluative Sciences686 Bay StreetToronto, ON, M5G1X8Canada1 4168137654 ext 3023321 4168138501chitra.lalloo@sickkids.ca

ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2794-7061

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): JMIR Mhealth Uhealth

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): JMIR Mhealth Uhealth

Journal ID (publisher-id): JMU

Title: JMIR mHealth and uHealth

Publisher: JMIR Publications (Toronto, Canada )

ISSN (Electronic): 2291-5222

Publication date Collection: October 2017

Publication date (Electronic): 23 October 2017

Volume: 5

Issue: 10

Electronic Location Identifier: e162

Affiliations

[1] ¹ The Hospital for Sick Children Department of Child Health Evaluative Sciences Toronto, ON Canada

[2] ² Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine University of Western Ontario London, ON Canada

[3] ³ Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing University of Toronto Toronto, ON Canada

[4] ⁴ Department of Anesthesia and Pain Medicine The Hospital for Sick Children Toronto, ON Canada

[5] ⁵ Department of Anesthesia University of Toronto Toronto, ON Canada

Author notes

Corresponding Author: Chitra Lalloo chitra.lalloo@ 123456sickkids.ca

Author information

Chitra Lalloo http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2794-7061

Ushma Shah http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5630-5124

Kathryn A Birnie http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8223-8834

Cleo Davies-Chalmers http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3120-6672

Jordan Rivera http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3458-8984

Jennifer Stinson http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9969-8052

Fiona Campbell http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6482-0743

Article

Publisher ID: v5i10e162

DOI: 10.2196/mhealth.8230

PMC ID: 5673880

PubMed ID: 29061558

SO-VID: eeaa0511-3647-4767-861a-1f67c569bcd0

Copyright © ©Chitra Lalloo, Ushma Shah, Kathryn A Birnie, Cleo Davies-Chalmers, Jordan Rivera, Jennifer Stinson, Fiona Campbell. Originally published in JMIR Mhealth and Uhealth (http://mhealth.jmir.org), 23.10.2017.

License:

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in JMIR mhealth and uhealth, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on http://mhealth.jmir.org/, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.

History

Date received : 22 June 2017

Date revision requested : 13 July 2017

Date revision received : 14 September 2017

Date accepted : 20 September 2017

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