Perceptions of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and their health care providers towards using mHealth for self-management of exacerbations: a qualitative study

Table 1 Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Participants
Patients with a clinical diagnosis of COPD
Inclusion	Exclusion
• Age > 40 years	• Severe problems with vision or hearing
• FEV1/FVC ratio < 70%	• Diagnosed with cognitive impairments
• GOLD stage ≥2, Spirometry FEV1 < 80% predicted	• Primary diagnosis of asthma, cardiac disease or other major functionally limiting diseases
• ≥ 1 exacerbation^a in the last 12 months prior to entering this study (to ensure adequate recall of their experience of an exacerbation).	• Life expectancy ≤ three months
Health care providers
Inclusion	Exclusion
• Having a patient-health care provider relationship with COPD patients	NA
• Supporting COPD patients in self-management.
• At least 1 year experience in COPD care.

Abbreviation: NA = not applicable; GOLD, Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease; FEV₁, forced expiratory volume in 1 s; FVC, forced vital capacity
^aAn exacerbation was defined as a period of symptom deterioration in which use of a course of corticosteroids and/or antibiotics was required or hospitalization was necessary; Clinical diagnosis was based on data from Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease [1].

ISSN: 1472-6963