College of Medicine and Dentistry, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia.
College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia.
PLoS One. 2018 Dec 10;13(12):e0208942. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0208942. eCollection 2018.
Mobile phone applications (apps) offer motivation and support for self-management of diabetes mellitus (DM), but their use is limited by high attrition due to insufficient consideration of end-users perspectives and usability requirements. This study aimed to examine app usage and feature preferences among people with DM, and explore their recommendations for future inclusions to foster engagement with diabetes apps.
The study was conducted internationally on adults with type 1 or type 2 DM using online questionnaire (quantitative) to investigate usage and preferences for app features that support diabetes self-management and semi structured telephone interview (qualitative) to explore suggestions on fostering engagement and specific educational information for inclusion into diabetes apps. Survey and interview data were analysed using descriptive/ inferential statistics and inductive thematic analysis respectively.
A total of 217 respondents with type 1 DM (38.25%) or type 2 DM (61.8%), from 4 continents (Australia, Europe, Asia and America) participated in the survey. About half of the respondents (48%) use apps, mainly with features for tracking blood glucose (56.6%), blood pressure (51.9%) and food calories (48.1%). Preferred features in future apps include nutrient values of foods (56.7%), blood glucose (54.8%), physical exercise tracker (47%), health data analytics (42.9%) and education on diabetes self-management (40.6%). Irrespective of the type of DM, participants proposed future apps that are user friendly, support healthy eating, provide actionable reminders and consolidate data across peripheral health devices. Participants with type 1 DM recommended customised features with news update on developments in the field of diabetes. Nominated specific educational topics included tips on problem solving, use of insulin pump therapy, signs of diabetes complication and transitioning from paediatric into adult care.
The study has highlighted patients' perspectives on essential components for inclusion in diabetes apps to promote engagement and foster better health outcomes.
移动电话应用程序（apps）为糖尿病（DM）的自我管理提供了动力和支持，但由于未充分考虑最终用户的观点和可用性要求，其使用受到高流失率的限制。本研究旨在研究 DM 患者对应用程序的使用情况和功能偏好，并探讨他们对未来纳入内容的建议，以促进与糖尿病应用程序的互动。
该研究在国际上对 1 型或 2 型糖尿病患者进行了在线问卷调查（定量），以调查支持糖尿病自我管理的应用程序功能的使用情况和偏好，以及半结构化电话访谈（定性），以探讨促进互动和纳入糖尿病应用程序的具体教育信息的建议。调查和访谈数据分别采用描述性/推断性统计和归纳主题分析进行分析。
共有来自 4 大洲（澳大利亚、欧洲、亚洲和美洲）的 217 名 1 型糖尿病（38.25%）或 2 型糖尿病（61.8%）患者参与了调查。约一半的受访者（48%）使用应用程序，主要用于跟踪血糖（56.6%）、血压（51.9%）和食物卡路里（48.1%）。未来应用程序中首选的功能包括食物的营养值（56.7%）、血糖（54.8%）、体育锻炼追踪器（47%）、健康数据分析（42.9%）和糖尿病自我管理教育（40.6%）。无论糖尿病类型如何，参与者都提出了未来的应用程序，这些应用程序易于使用，支持健康饮食，提供可操作的提醒，并整合来自外围健康设备的数据。1 型糖尿病患者建议定制功能，包括糖尿病领域最新发展的新闻更新。提名的具体教育主题包括解决问题的技巧、胰岛素泵治疗的使用、糖尿病并发症的迹象以及从儿科护理过渡到成人护理。
本研究强调了患者对纳入糖尿病应用程序以促进互动和改善健康结果的基本要素的看法。
