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. 2022 Mar 14;9(1):e33571. doi: 10.2196/33571

Table 7.

Overview of SWEPPEa and the modules and their content evaluated in the usability tests with the employers (test E1, n=3) and persons with chronic pain (test P2, n=5).b

Module in SWEPPE Description of content Comments from participants in tests E1 and P2
The action planc Goal setting regarding work; identification of barriers to RTW, strategies to handle these barriers, and support wanted from the employer; and weekly evaluation of work ability and fulfillment of the goal
  • “Good help to set a goal with the suggestions and getting a summary in the overview” [P]

  • “Having a goal makes it easier to do the little extra to fulfil your wishes” [P]

  • “By identifying the barriers, it is easier for you to find strategies to work around them. Otherwise, it is easy to end up with bad habits and you don’t know why” [P]

  • “I like the suggestions for strategies because many might not even think about it” [P]

Daily self-ratingc Self-rating of health and psychosocial aspects, work situation, and strategies
  • “A very good part” [P]

  • “Good to be able to choose what health aspects to monitor” [P]

Self-monitoring graphsc Graphs for self-monitoring health aspects, work ability, and progress toward the goal over time
  • “Good with the summary in a graph” [P]

  • “It is easier to capture trends like not doing exercise when you have a lot of other things to do. Then you get the information in black and white that you have skipped exercise too many days and you can follow the pain curve which due to lack of exercise is getting worse” [P]

  • “To follow pain, stress and physical activity would help me a lot. It can help to do more exercise and it gives you a great summary if the activity helps for the pain” [P]

The coachc Opportunity to ask a question and receive a written answer from a coach
  • “Superb function to be able to get help via the app” [P]

  • “Surely good if you need support in some way like how to handle your employer” [P]

The libraryc,d Knowledge database developed based on previous research with information (texts, films, and audio clips) that reflects a biopsychosocial perspective regarding chronic pain, physical activity, managing the situation, activity pacing, balance in daily life, sleep, workplace adaptations, tools for dialogue, and answers from the coach on common questions
  • “Good texts and films. If only the employer has the time and will to learn there is a lot of good material in the app. Not only for the employer but also for me” [P]

  • “This would have been useful for me earlier [in the RTW process]” [P]

  • “I liked the library. A lot of good information” [P]

  • “Gathered information is always good” [E]

Shared information with the employerc,d The person with chronic pain can give the employer access to the library and share information from the action plan and the graph for monitoring work ability and goal fulfillment in SWEPPE, and the employer receives the information from the parts of the action plan the employee has chosen to share; if the employee does not want to share any information from the action plan, the employer still has access to the library
  • “Good and perspicuous arrangement of goal, barriers, strategies and wanted support” [E]

  • “Can meetings be visualized? Reconciliation meetings with the occupational health care services is an important basis that would be good to see in the graph” [E]

  • “It would be valuable to follow up strategies from the employee and employer that have not given results, that is changes in strategies and support wanted from the employer during rehabilitation. What has given results in the right direction and what has not” [E]

  • “Clearer start and goal of the weekly evaluations, it would add value if you could register concrete actions to follow up” [E]

  • “A simple platform for quickly finding gathered information and the employee’s progress” [E]

  • “This is not applicable for me right now but if I would increase my working time, it would be very good to involve the employer. I think SWEPPE would be good both for me and for my employer as long as the employer has the will. The formulation in the app is clear and I think it would make communication between the employer and the employee easier” [P]

  • “It can be difficult to get you employer involved but with SWEPPE it can be easier for the employer to see if there is a negative trend. Unfortunately, I don’t think everybody would dare to share with their employer and some employers will probably not be so engaged or even look in SWEPPE” [P]

  • “It’s good to be able to give you employer insights about how you feel and you choose how much you want to share” [P]

aSWEPPE: Sustainable Worker Digital Support for Persons With Chronic Pain and Their Employers.

bThese modules also constituted the final version of SWEPPE.

cAccessed by persons with chronic pain via the smartphone app.

dAccessed by the employers via the web application.