• Mark Overton, Nicola Swain, Carrie Falling, David Gwynne-Jones, Roger Fillingim, and Ramakrishnan Mani.
• Centre for Health, Activity and Rehabilitation Research, School of Physiotherapy, University of Otago.
• Clin J Pain. 2023 Sep 1; 39 (9): 442451442-451.

BackgroundKnee osteoarthritis (OA) is a prevalent, painful, and disabling musculoskeletal condition. One method that could more accurately monitor the pain associated with knee OA is ecological momentary assessment (EMA) using a smartphone.ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to explore participant experiences and perceptions of using smartphone EMA as a way of communicating knee OA pain and symptoms following participating in a 2-week smartphone EMA study.Materials And MethodsUsing a maximum variation sampling method, participants were invited to share their thoughts and opinions in semistructured focus group interviews. Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim before thematic analysis using the general inductive approach.ResultsA total of 20 participants participated in 6 focus groups. Three themes and 7 subthemes were identified from the data. Identified themes included: user experience of smartphone EMA, data quality of smartphone EMA, and practical aspects of smartphone EMA.DiscussionOverall, smartphone EMA was deemed as being an acceptable method for monitoring pain and symptoms associated with knee OA. These findings will assist researchers in designing future EMA studies alongside clinicians implementing smartphone EMA into practice.PerspectiveThis study highlights that smartphone EMA is an acceptable method for capturing pain-related symptoms and experiences of those expereiencing knee OA. Future EMA studies should ensure design features are considered that reduce missing data and limit the responder burden to improve data quality.Copyright © 2023 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

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