Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33988515›Full record

ArticleJMIR mHealth and uHealth2021

User-Centered Development of a Mobile App for Biopsychosocial Pain Assessment in Adults: Usability, Reliability, and Validity Study.

Filipa Lopes, Mário Rodrigues, Anabela G Silva

Open access · goldAbstract readValidation Study
In one paragraph

Article in JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
1.3field-weighted citation impact, top 22% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed, 11 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Digital Pain Assessment: Patient and Family Perspectives.Nursing reports (Pavia, Italy) · 2026
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Filipa LopesSchool of Health Sciences, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal.ORCID 0000-0002-4821-6084
Mário RodriguesHigher School of Technology and Management of Águeda, Institute of Electronics and Telematics Engineering of Aveiro (IEETA), University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal.ORCID 0000-0001-8415-9040
Anabela G SilvaCenter for Health Technology and Services Research (CINTESIS.UA), School of Health Sciences, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal.ORCID 0000-0002-4386-5851
University of Aveiro · PTCentre for Health Technology and Services Research · PT

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundPain-related mobile apps targeting pain assessment commonly limit pain assessment to pain behaviors and physiological aspects. However, current guidelines state that pain assessment should follow the biopsychosocial model, clearly addressing biological, psychological, and social aspects of the pain experience. Existing reviews also highlight that pain specialists and end users are not commonly involved in the development process of mobile apps for pain assessment, negatively affecting the quality of the available apps.

objectiveThis study aimed to develop a mobile app for pain assessment (AvaliaDor) and assess its usability, validity, reliability, and measurement error in a sample of real patients with chronic pain recruited from a physiotherapy clinic.

methodsThis study was divided into 2 phases: phase 1-development of the AvaliaDor app; and phase 2-assessment of the apps' usability, reliability, measurement error, and validity. AvaliaDor was developed (phase 1) based on the literature and the recommendations of physiotherapists and patients with pain in cycles of evaluation, inclusion of recommendations, and reevaluation until no further changes were required. The final version of the app was then tested in patients with musculoskeletal pain attending a private physiotherapy practice (phase 2) who were asked to use the app twice on 2 consecutive days for reliability purposes. In addition, participants had to complete a set of paper-based scales (Brief Pain Inventory, painDETECT, Pain Catastrophizing Scale, and Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia), which were used to assess the validity (criterion validity and hypothesis testing) of the app, and the Post-Study System Usability Questionnaire was used to assess its usability.

resultsThe development process (phase 1) included 5 physiotherapists external to the research team and 5 patients with musculoskeletal pain, and it resulted in the creation of an app named AvaliaDor, which includes an assessment of pain intensity, location, and phenotype; associated disability; and the issues of pain catastrophizing and fear of movement. A total of 52 patients with pain (mean age 50.12 years, SD 11.71 years; 39 females) participated in phase 2 and used the app twice. The Pearson correlation coefficient between the scores on the paper-based scales and the app ranged between 0.81 and 0.93 for criterion validity and between 0.41 and 0.59 for hypothesis testing. Test-retest reliability was moderate to good (intraclass correlation coefficient between 0.67 and 0.90) and the score for usability was 1.16 (SD 0.27), indicating good usability.

conclusionsA mobile app named AvaliaDor was developed to assess the intensity, location, and phenotype of pain; associated disability; and the issues of pain catastrophizing and fear of movement in a user-centered design process. The app was shown to be usable, valid, and reliable for assessing pain from a biopsychosocial perspective in a heterogeneous group of patients with pain. Future work can explore the long-term use of AvaliaDor in clinical contexts and its advantages for the assessment and management of patients with pain.

Indexed as

Mobile ApplicationsPain MeasurementAdultFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedReproducibility of ResultsSurveys and QuestionnairesUser-Centered DesignmHealthmobile apppainpain assessmentreliabilityusabilityuser-centered designvalidity

Identifiers

PMID33988515
PMCPMC8164126
OpenAlexW3135020273

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.