Grant: Applied Research and Development Grants - Level 1

This project is the first step in the development of a software technology application (app) to address the question of ""How to engage massage therapy clients in prescribed homecare practices to increase their healing and wellness?"" Homecare between visits to massage therapists is an essential part of massage therapy as stretching, remedial exercise and other homecare activities can play a significant role in curbing chronic pain conditions and speeding up the healing process. Challenges with the compliance of homecare include: clients not remembering the assigned exercises and/or the required dosage (#of repetitions, time), clients forgetting to complete the assigned care activities, a lack of client motivation, and time consuming written instructions required by the therapist. Kelowna Medical Massage is seeking innovative ways to support massage therapists and their clients and believes that this research will provide the necessary evaluation require for future investment into this area.*This project's objective is to investigate how to engage massage therapy clients in homecare through the use of a software application. This project's research will develop a prototype for Kelowna Medical Massage that can identify which features and potential features (reminders, gamification, software integration) will work best for both clients and therapists taking into account the wide range of technology literacy in both of these groups of users.*