User-Centered Development of a Digital Platform to Provide Neurorehabilitation Patients With Feedback on Health Data (Preprint)

BACKGROUND An increasing amount of digital health data is being collected across rehabilitation settings - but its integration into routine clinical practice remains limited, despite its potential to motivate patients or inform clinical decision-making. OBJECTIVE This study presents a mobile application that delivers structured, interpretable feedback from clinical and technology-based assessments to neurorehabilitation patients and healthcare practitioners (HCPs). METHODS Developed through an iterative co-design process with 17 persons after a neurological injury and 15 HCPs, the app integrates common conventional assessment outcomes, and digital health metrics from the Virtual Peg Insertion Test - as a proof of concept for the integration of technology-based assessments. Stakeholders evaluated feedback types, visualization formats, and usability across three structured sessions. RESULTS Progress bars and simple illustrations were consistently preferred for clarity and engagement. The resulting mobile application prototype demonstrated high usability (System Usability Scale: patients = 93.6; clinicians = 80.9) and enhanced the perceived value of feedback in supporting patient motivation and clinical decision-making, compared to perceptions reported before users were shown how such feedback could be presented. CONCLUSIONS These findings underline the potential of digital tools to bridge data interpretation gaps in neurorehabilitation and support value-based, personalized care delivery.