To identify what patients view as important when tracking migraine/headaches within a headache tracking smartphone application. 

This was a retrospective study where notes from four trials using RELAXaHEAD were extracted and qualitatively analyzed by two separate coders. A code book was developed by the coders and used to code each note. A third coder settled discrepancies. Using grounded theory, themes and subthemes emerged. 

287 subjects in the trials used the notes function. There were 5,364 total notes with an average of 18.7 ± 39.3 notes/user. Qualitative analysis yielded 759 unique codes and the emergence of four major themes. The first theme was “Utility in free text tracking of headache characteristics, medications, and sleep” which emerged from patient notes regarding data tracked in pre-existing app sections. The second theme was “Monitoring coexisting conditions both related to and distinct from headache”. The third theme was “Personal records of behavioral therapy adherence”, which included PMR session frequency and emotions contributed to adherence. The fourth theme was “Migraine trigger, prevention, and relief patterns deciphered through consistent data tracking”.

While the app was designed in order to extract data that would be useful to physicians in treating migraine, our study results indicated that users also prefer a range of tracking capabilities that may or may not be useful to physicians.