Exploring the usability of a smartphone application to monitor fatigue and activity for people with acquired brain injury.

The study included only seven participants, so the findings describe individual experiences rather than a general pattern. Providing a separate study phone meant participants had to carry two devices, which directly contributed to missed notifications and poor sensor data quality. Phone sensors for noise and activity were largely ineffective because participants did not carry the phone on their person. There were no objective measures of usability, so the frequency of specific problems like the activity question difficulty was not quantified.

The lead author was funded by Oxford Brookes University. Other authors had funding from the Elizabeth Casson Trust, Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre, Science Foundation Ireland, and Allied Irish Banks. The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest.

Do not assume the app's high usability score means it works as a clinical assessment tool. The phone sensors failed to capture accurate activity or noise data, and the act of monitoring itself changed patient behaviour, so the data collected may not represent their typical daily experience.