Abstract
Purpose: The increasingly fast development of mHealth technologies, despite being potentially valuable for patients with mental health problems, has not been accompanied by the incorporation of patient preferences and expectations. Considering that this is a crucial factor for sustained adherence and driven by the belief that the specific characteristics (young and highly educated) of individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder are suitable for digital adoption, we sought to investigate mHealth-related desirability factors in this patient population. Fifty-one adults with obsessive-compulsive disorder filled in a self-report questionnaire to evaluate symptom self-management preferences, with a particular emphasis on exploring mHealth options, and a questionnaire about perceptions of patient-centeredness. Results: The smartphone phone app was the top choice of most of the sample for receiving information about symptom status (82.4%), receiving general information about obsessive-compulsive disorder (74.5%), and symptom self-registering (66.7%), with no effect of sex or living location. Although only 23.5% were using a health-related app, most of the participants reported that they would like to use it to receive tips about symptom management (98.1%), medical advice (94.2%), information about symptom evolution (90.2%) and lifestyle (92.2%), fill in their medication status (88.2%), and a short symptom self-report questionnaire (90.2%). The median mHealth-related expected impact on patient perceptions of patient-centeredness, satisfaction, and adherence was positive or very positive. Conclusion: Our data confirms that individuals with OCD show a strong inclination and optimistic expectations regarding technology-based solutions and elucidates some of the preferences of this patient group with potential of translating into real-world app design.