Qualitative study
’, infection, RA, FM
INFECTION
To explore the user experiences with the app, we conducted qualitative phone interviews with IG RA patients from one center (University Hospital Erlangen, Germany) and participating physicians from three German centers (University Hospital Erlangen, Hospital Bad-Bramstedt and Rheumatological-immunological medical practice Templin) that had used the software for at least 3 months. Participants were selected using purposive sampling [Interviews were conducted by two health services researchers (FM and SM), and one medical student (K.H.) using two analogous open-ended interview guides that were developed to elicit patients’ and physicians’ perspectives on app-supported rheumatology care. The interview guides were developed by F.M., one physician (J.K.) and one app developer (M.G.). The interview guides (Supplemental Material 1 and 2) included the following three main topics: 1. Study procedure and participants’ experiences; 2. Description of the app and its usability; 3. Impact of the app on rheumatology care. Initial exploratory questions were then specified by follow-up questions. We conducted pilot interviews to test and refine the interview guides. No revisions were necessary. Additional sociodemographic data were collected, including gender, age, diagnosis, education and occupation or medical practice. To reduce the risk of infection and lower participant burden, the interviews were conducted via telephone.The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Qualitative analysis of the interviews was performed iteratively by F.M. and S.M. based on Kuckartz’s structured qualitative content analysis [