The #EATG facilitated a meeting for the EmERGE community partners on 7 June 2019 in
Lisbon to take stock on the current status of the project and plan further community
involvement for the last 11 months of project. Community members from Antwerp,
Barcelona, Brighton, Lisbon and Zagreb were in attendance.
The EmERGE study, including over 2,200 persons at five sites using the EmERGE app to
replace one of their bi-annual visits to the clinic, is now reaching its final stages and the data
is being analysed. The community group has been instrumental in co-designing the app and
in facilitating interviews and focus groups with the study participants. Currently, the
community activities are focusing on site-specific meetings between the community and
clinical staff to evaluate the accomplished work and the collaboration.
At the meeting, it was decided that the co-design process will continue on a smaller scale for
specific projects around the app development. Workshops will be organised locally to
provide community input for new areas of use for the app functionalities. The local partners
will also work on FAQ pages linking the app users to local community services and
resources.
What will happen to the #EmERGE app after the end of the project in April 2020? The project
team is working hard to attain sustainability. A new non-profit company has been
established to take over the maintenance and development. Some of the clinical sites have
expressed interest to continue, but further promotion and communications efforts are
needed to ensure continued and expanded access. The overarching principle is that the app
should be free to patients. Community has a key role to play in this process, in managing
expectations on the part of the app users and to promote the use of the app in their clinics.