What are the attitudes and experiences of those with COPD and healthcare professionals around using M-health apps?

Reference: SHLS20043

People increasingly use mobile health apps (m-health) in their everyday life and these tools have the potential to help older adults manage their health. However little research has been done to investigate whether older adults with COPD, want to use these technologies or whether the individuals have access and can use them. If used successfully, these apps could provide an adjunct or alternative to traditional pulmonary rehabilitation programmes for those with COPD. There are potentially four stages to this PhD project. The first will include review of the current published evidence around the use of M-health apps in COPD. The second stage will involve a survey of older adults with COPD undertaking pulmonary rehabilitation on their usage and access to M-health apps. This will be followed by a third stage of interviews with older adults and staff to explore barriers and enablers to using M-health apps. The final stage will look at uptake and implementation of the MyCOPD app in clinical practice.

This project will use a mixture of participants with a diagnosis of COPD attending pulmonary rehabilitation and healthcare professionals. The project will have a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methodologies.

Glasgow Caledonian University’s research is based around the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, addressed via three societal challenge areas of Inclusive Societies, Healthy Lives and Sustainable Environments. The successful candidate will be part of the research activity of the Ageing Well Research Group (https://www.gcu.ac.uk/hls/research/researchgroups/ageingwell/), a multidisciplinary group with a wide range of expertise in physical activity, rehabilitation, psychology and research methods.