Usability of a smartphone application for patients with interstitial lung disease: Results from the Registry for Better Understanding of ILD (RE‐BUILD) pilot study

Abstract Background and Objective Digital technologies offer opportunities for remote monitoring, increased patient engagement and incorporation of patient‐reported outcome measures (PROMs) into interstitial lung disease (ILD) care and research. This study evaluated the usability and patient experience of the RE‐BUILD (Registry for Better Understanding of ILD) application, an ILD‐specific smartphone app. Methods Patients with ILD aged ≥18 years were recruited from three tertiary ILD centres to use the RE‐BUILD app for 6 months. The mHealth App Usability Questionnaire (MAUQ) was evaluated at 1, 3 and 6 months and patients received monthly prompts to enter clinical and PROM data. Qualitative interviews regarding patient experience were performed in a subset of 10. Results Fifty patients, with mean age 66.9 ± 10.3 years, 25 (50%) female were included. Participants used the app for a median of 48 (IQR 21–178.3) sessions, equivalent to 8 sessions (IQR 3.5–29.71) per month. Median number of days that the app was accessed was 37 (IQR 14–96.8), with 13 (26%) patients using the app >30 times per month. The most accessed app feature was physical activity, followed by ‘air quality’. Participants agreed or strongly agreed that the app was easy to use (76.0%) easy to learn to use (79.8%) and well‐organized with accessible information (74.8%). The median overall MAUQ score for usability was 5.69 (IQR 5.03–6.19). There was also a high rate of engagement with app functionalities. Conclusion RE‐BUILD is a usable and intuitive platform for self‐monitoring and data collection in ILD. Patients report a high degree of satisfaction and have provided valuable feedback for its further development.