Table 1.

Physical context factors, their definitions, and examples from three studies.

Factor and its definition	Examples from data*
Weather and environment Characteristics and quality of indoor or outdoor ambient environment.	(R1C) “They want me to walk every day back and forth [for exercise]. That’s fine. But it’s cold.” (R2A) “… [I]f I know it’s going to be a heavy pollen day [because of information available on the technology], … I know I need to take a [allergy medicine]… Maybe I’ll have a little bit of an asthma [attack], but I may not have to use my rescue inhaler.”
Distance, layout, and surface Proximity and physical properties of places of interest.	(R3C) “It’s a whole block around through there [the grocery store]… by the time you go through every aisle, oh boy!” (R4C) “My closest hospital is approximately, what, 30 miles.” (R5C) “I wanna be able, you know to go to the store, go down to my sister’s and brother’s house… and go to my church, all these are right in my neighborhood, you know? … The drugstore’s right up the street you know? … But I haven’t done that in a while … I mean my daughters have to take me you know. Everybody’s busy and I feel you know, I don’t wanna impose on everybody’s schedule and I’m staying at home all day and they working, you know?” (R6A) “… I guess it’s helpful to make sure that I take [flovent] because I live in a small city, …but there’s a lot of cars, so it’s kind of [a lot of traffic], so it’s really helpful to make sure I take it before I leave because if I’m gone there’s no going back [to take it].” (R7A) “… [W]ith [the app], it’s beautiful! I don’t have to remember to do all those extra things. It’s right in my pocket, it’s part of my phone, …so if I wanna look at my data on the website, it’s right there.”
Workspace Characteristics or quality of dedicated and ad-hoc areas for performing health- related tasks	(R8C) “He’s got like his blood pressure machine and all that stuff in the drawer behind him, so it’s all right there when he sits at the table where he can get to everything. And that makes a difference too. You know that reminds him to do it.” (Caregiver describing father’s health workspace.) (R9A) “[O]ne of the things that’s always irritating to me is how inconvenient in your pocket an inhaler already is. It’s already a fairly big device… you kind of have to watch out for your wallet and anything that’s in your pocket.” (R10B) One COPD patient, on home oxygen, had an extremely long tether that allowed her to remain on oxygen regardless of where she was in her home. The oxygen machine was extremely loud, however, and made conversation at a normal volume difficult to hear. (Ref11C) “But there is no public Wi-Fi (at the clinic), what is up with that?”

^*(A) refers to the Asthma and Technology Study; (B) refers to the Keystone Beacon Project; (C) refers to the Caring Hearts Study.