Abstract
Objective
Taking family caregivers as the main users of mobile health applications, comprehensively examine their needs and the influencing factors of using applications to support the rehabilitation of older patients with hip fractures.
Design
A qualitative descriptive study employing semi-structured interviews was conducted to collect data between April 2025 and June 2025. The data was analysed using content analysis.
Setting
The orthopaedic ward of a 3000-bed tertiary comprehensive teaching hospital in Hunan Province, China.
Participants
Purposive sampling was conducted to select participants. A total of 21 family caregivers were finally interviewed.
Results
The study identified two key dimensions: user needs and influencing factors, each containing six themes. User needs included content requirements (information and knowledge) and features and functionality (user information management, communication with orthopaedic surgeons, cross-platform and interdisciplinary collaboration, information delivery modalities and task reminders). Influencing factors comprised user-related (user characteristics, patient recovery outcomes, previous experiences and attitudes towards mobile health applications resources, concerns about privacy and information); technology-related (user-friendly and functional, information quality and personalisation).
Conclusion
The findings of this study contribute to the development of mobile health applications tailored for family caregivers. Healthcare providers and researchers should recognise and address caregivers’ needs and influencing factors to optimise application functionality, thereby enhancing patient recovery outcomes and reducing caregiver burden.
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References
Supplementary Material
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