Ye Qing, Khan Uzma, Boren Suzanne A, Simoes Eduardo J, Kim Min Soon
1 University of Missouri Informatics Institute, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA.
2 Department of Medicine, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA.
J Diabetes Sci Technol. 2018 Jul;12(4):808-816. doi: 10.1177/1932296818754907. Epub 2018 Feb 1.
Diabetes self-management (DSM) applications (apps) have been designed to improve knowledge of diabetes and self-management behaviors. However, few studies have systematically examined if diabetes apps followed the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) Self-Care Behaviors guidelines. The purpose of this study was to compare the features of current DSM apps to the AADE7™ guidelines.
In two major app stores (iTunes and Google Play), we used three search terms "diabetes," "blood sugar," and "glucose" to capture a wide range of diabetes apps. Apps were excluded based on five exclusion criteria. A multidisciplinary team analyzed and classified the features of each app based on the AADE7. We conducted interviews with six diabetes physicians and educators for their opinions on the distribution of the features of DSM apps.
Out of 1050 apps retrieved, 173 apps were identified as eligible during November 2015 and 137 apps during December 2017. We found an unbalanced DSM app development trend based on AADE7 guidelines. Many apps were designed to support the behaviors of Healthy Eating (77%), Monitoring (76%), Taking Medication (58%), and Being Active (45%). On the other hand, few apps explored the behaviors of Problem Solving (31%), Healthy Coping (10%), and Reducing Risks (5%). From interviews, we identified the main reasons why only a few apps support the features related to Problem Solving, Healthy Coping, and Reducing Risks.
Future diabetes apps should attempt to incorporate features under evidence-based guidelines such as AADE7 to better support the self-management behavior changes of people with diabetes.
糖尿病自我管理（DSM）应用程序（应用）旨在提高糖尿病知识和自我管理行为。然而，很少有研究系统地考察糖尿病应用是否遵循美国糖尿病教育者协会（AADE）的自我护理行为指南。本研究的目的是将当前DSM应用的功能与AADE7™指南进行比较。
在两个主要的应用商店（iTunes和谷歌Play）中，我们使用三个搜索词“糖尿病”“血糖”和“葡萄糖”来获取广泛的糖尿病应用。根据五条排除标准排除应用。一个多学科团队根据AADE7对每个应用的功能进行分析和分类。我们采访了六位糖尿病医生和教育工作者，以了解他们对DSM应用功能分布的看法。
在检索到的1050个应用中，2015年11月有173个应用被确定为符合条件，2017年12月有137个应用符合条件。我们发现基于AADE7指南的DSM应用开发趋势不均衡。许多应用旨在支持健康饮食（77%）、监测（76%）、服药（58%）和运动（45%）等行为。另一方面，很少有应用探索解决问题（31%）、健康应对（10%）和降低风险（5%）等行为。通过访谈，我们确定了只有少数应用支持与解决问题、健康应对和降低风险相关功能的主要原因。
未来的糖尿病应用应尝试纳入基于循证指南（如AADE7）的功能，以更好地支持糖尿病患者的自我管理行为改变。
