Exploring Patient Experiences with Digital Health Monitoring during Stem Cell Therapy
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Abstract
Digital health technologies have become integral to patient care, particularly in regenerative medicine such as stem cell therapy. While their clinical utility is well established, limited attention has been given to the subjective experiences of patients who use digital health monitoring during complex treatments. What remains unclear is how patients interpret and make meaning of their interactions with these technologies throughout their healing process. This study applies an interpretative phenomenological approach to explore the lived experiences of patients undergoing stem cell therapy while using digital health monitoring applications. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight participants (aged 34–67 years; 5 males and 3 females) who were receiving outpatient stem cell therapy in a metropolitan hospital in Southeast Asia. Interviews were held in private consultation rooms within the hospital to ensure comfort and confidentiality data were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis to identify core experiential themes. The findings revealed four essential themes: reassurance through digital guidance, emotional strain from constant monitoring, reconstructed trust in therapy, and the emergence of digital companionship. These themes highlight the complex and often paradoxical emotional dynamics between patients and the technologies intended to support them. The study enhances our understanding of how patients internalize and navigate their digitally mediated care, offering new insights for designing patient-centered digital health interventions and supporting future phenomenological investigations in similar medical contexts.
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References
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