TY  - JOUR
AU  - Flaucher, Madeleine
AU  - Berzins, Sabrina
AU  - Jaeger, Katharina M
AU  - Nissen, Michael
AU  - Rolny, Jana
AU  - Trißler, Patricia
AU  - Eckl, Sebastian
AU  - Eskofier, Bjoern M
AU  - Leutheuser, Heike
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/3/31
TI  - Perception and Evaluation of a Knowledge Transfer Concept in a Digital Health Application for Patients With Heart Failure: Mixed Methods Study
JO  - JMIR Hum Factors
SP  - e56798
VL  - 12
KW  - health literacy
KW  - digital Literacy
KW  - user-centered design
KW  - digital health app
KW  - heart failure
KW  - mixed methods study
KW  - user centered deign
KW  - usability
KW  - patient engagement
KW  - mHealth app
KW  - development
AB  - Background: Digital health education can enhance the quality of life of patients with heart failure by providing accessible and tailored information, which is essential for effective self-care and self-management. Objective: This work aims to develop a mobile health knowledge transfer concept for heart failure in a user-centered design process grounded in theoretical frameworks. This approach centers on enhancing the usability, patient engagement, and meaningfulness of mobile health education in the context of heart failure. Methods: A user-centered design process was employed. First, semistructured stakeholder interviews were conducted with patients (n=9) and medical experts (n=5). The results were used to develop a health knowledge transfer concept for a mobile health app for heart failure. This concept was implemented as a digital prototype based on an existing German mobile health app for patients with heart failure. We used this prototype to evaluate our concept with patients with heart failure in a study composed of user testing and semistructured patient interviews (n=7). Results: Stakeholder interviews identified five themes relevant to mobile health education: individualization, content relevance, media diversity, motivation strategies, and trust-building mechanisms. The evaluation of our prototype showed that patients value the adaptation of content to individual interests and prior knowledge. Digital rewards such as badges and push notifications can increase motivation and engagement but should be used with care to avoid overload, irrelevance, and repetition. Conclusions: Our findings emphasize the importance of tailoring mobile health education to the specific needs and preferences of patients with heart failure. At the same time, they also highlight the careful implementation of motivation strategies to promote user engagement effectively. These implications offer guidance for developing more impactful interventions to improve health outcomes for this population. 
SN  - 2292-9495
UR  - https://humanfactors.jmir.org/2025/1/e56798
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/56798
DO  - 10.2196/56798
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/56798
ER  -