2015 APHA Annual Meeting & Expo

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335993
PainGauge: A Feasibility Study Comparing the Effectiveness of a Mobile Health App and a Pain Diary in Assessing Pain


Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Divya Periyakoil, high school student, Harker Upper School, San Jose, CA
The PainGauge is a platform-agnostic, HIPAA secure, mobile-health application that can be accessed through any smartphone, iPad, laptop, or desktop and used by patients with chronic pain to transmit pain scores to an encrypted, secure server. Data can be easily retrieved by providers or caregivers (in the form of a graph or table) using a password.

The functionality, usability and user-friendliness the PainGauge App was tested with 7 older-adults to compare its effectiveness against a traditional pain diary. The PainGauge app was installed in each participant’s smartphone. They were asked to record their pain scores at least once every two hours using the App or a diary. All participants utilized both modalities in random order for 3 days each. Data included their pain scores and user feedback at the end of the study period.

Participants recorded more data with the PainGauge (98 data points with accurate time codes) than the diary (54 data points and many missing time codes). All participants preferred the PainGauge as it was easy to use and just required them to press a button and automatically recorded the date and time of the pain scores, minimizing their burden. One participant recommended that the PainGauge should also be available as a “small device worn around the neck with buttons to press to record pain scores” for patients who cannot/do not use smartphones.” Older-adults found PainGauge mHealth App easier to use and preferred it over the traditional pain diary.

Learning Areas:

Chronic disease management and prevention

Learning Objectives:
Demonstrate one example of the effectiveness of mobile health technology in the management of chronic pain: create and test the feasibility of the PainGauge

Keyword(s): Chronic Disease Management and Care, Technology

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I created the Mobile Health App, the PainGauge App. I conceived the idea and built the app. I also carried out the pilot study (with IRB approval) and wrote the abstract for the PainGauge based on the study.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 5001.0: Technology and Communication among Older Adults; Medicare and Medicaid Policy