Feedback to Renal Transplant Patients in a Self-Management System

Motivation – A key function of a future self-management support system (SMSS) for renal transplant patients is to provide feedback about their health status. This study investigates patients’ understanding, preference, and trust of such feedback. Research approach – Three types of feedback form, namely simplicity, empathy, and empowerment, were designed and tested with 12 non-patients. The task completeness and the participants’ preference were compared. Findings – The users did trust the empowerment feedback more than other feedback. Furthermore, the feedback types seemed to influence users’ ability of reporting their previous days’ health status. Research limitations/Implications – This research worked out three feedback types and provided insight into their effectiveness and preference. However, the number of participants was small, and they were non-patients, highly educated and relatively young. Originality/Value – This research investigated different feedback types for self-management support systems in the healthcare domain. Take away message – The different way of presenting the same information might influence users’ trust and understanding of their health status.