The SEAS mHealth intervention facilitated autonomy, competence, and relatedness among 11 rural patients with COPD, who valued its convenience, usability, and potential for improved access to care.
Does the SEAS mHealth intervention facilitate autonomy, competence, and relatedness in rural patients with COPD?
mHealth interventions like SEAS can facilitate autonomy, competence, and relatedness for rural patients with COPD, highlighting the need for tailored implementation strategies.
Abstract Rationale Individuals living in rural areas face higher rates of COPD prevalence, exacerbations, and mortality compared to their urban counterparts, partly due to barriers to specialized pulmonary care in rural areas, such as long travel distances and limited provider availability. Mobile health (mHealth) technologies have shown promise in expanding access to quality healthcare and could be a valuable solution to improve health outcomes in rural communities. However, perspectives from rural end-users are rarely included in COPD mHealth intervention research. Methods To address this gap, we conducted a qualitative study with semi-structured interviews (n = 11) within a larger parent feasibility and acceptability study of the Spirometry, Education, and Action (SEAS) intervention, a mHealth intervention with Bluetooth-enabled remote spirometry, in rural South Carolina. Purposeful sampling methods were employed to capture diverse information-rich perspectives. The Self-Determination Theory (SDT), which includes three core concepts of autonomy, competence, and relatedness, served as a guiding framework for the initial thematic analysis, with both deductive and inductive methods used to refine thematic codes. Results Five main themes emerged across the core concepts of the SDT, mostly focused on competence. These included facilitating autonomy in care (autonomy), ease of use (competence), self-awareness of symptoms (competence), barriers to use (competence), and desire for reciprocal care engagement (relatedness). Conclusions Findings support that mHealth interventions like SEAS can facilitate autonomy, competence, and relatedness for patients with COPD living in rural areas, with a particular emphasis on enhancing competence. Participants valued convenience, usability, and potential for improved access to care. They emphasized the need for ongoing education and a desire for reciprocal provider engagement. These results support the importance of tailoring mHealth interventions to rural populations to ensure that implementation strategies address individual patient barriers and foster sustained engagement. This abstract is funded by: South Carolina Center for Rural and Primary Healthcare (SCRPH) and Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA)
Morgan et al. (Fri,) conducted a other in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) (n=11). Spirometry, Education, and Action (SEAS) intervention was evaluated on Themes across the core concepts of the Self-Determination Theory (autonomy, competence, and relatedness). The SEAS mHealth intervention facilitated autonomy, competence, and relatedness among 11 rural patients with COPD, who valued its convenience, usability, and potential for improved access to care.