Kwan Yu Heng, Ong Zhi Quan, Choo Dawn Yee Xi, Phang Jie Kie, Yoon Sungwon, Low Lian Leng
Department of Pharmacy, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
Health Services and Systems Research, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, Singapore.
Patient Prefer Adherence. 2023 Jan 5;17:1-11. doi: 10.2147/PPA.S386456. eCollection 2023.
Diabetes is a global public health issue, causing burden on healthcare system and increasing risk of mortality. Mobile applications (apps) can be a promising approach to facilitate diabetes self-management. An increasingly utilized approach to facilitate engagement with mobile health (mHealth) technology is to involve potential users in the creation of the technology.
The aim of this study was to use co-design for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) self-management mHealth development.
Three rounds of iterative rapid prototyping panel sessions were conducted with a total of 9 T2DM participants in an Asian setting between Oct 2020 and April 2021. The participants were recruited through convenience sampling. For each round, feedback was gathered through qualitative interviews, and the feedback was used as a reference by the development team to develop and test a more refined version of the app in the next round. Transcribed semi-structured interview data was analyzed thematically using an inductive approach.
Participants' ages ranged from 40 to 69 years. Data saturation was reached, with no new themes emerging from the data. During the sessions, the participants expressed a variety of concerns and feedback on T2DM self-management using EMPOWER app and raised suggestions on the features of ideal T2DM self-management app. Important features include 1) reminders and notifications for medications, 2) Bluetooth integration with glucometers and blood pressure machines to minimize manual entry, 3) enlarged local food database including information on sugar content and recommendations for healthier options, 4) one touch for logging of routine medications and favorite foods, 5) export function for data sharing with physicians. Overall inputs concerned aspects such as user-friendliness of the app, customization possibilities, and educational content for the features in the mobile app.
In this study, we explored users' opinions on a T2DM self-management mobile app using co-design approach. This study adds to the growing body of literature on co-designing behavioral mHealth interventions and can potentially guide researchers in mobile app design for other chronic conditions.
糖尿病是一个全球性的公共卫生问题，给医疗系统带来负担，并增加死亡风险。移动应用程序（应用）可能是促进糖尿病自我管理的一种有前景的方法。一种越来越常用的促进与移动健康（mHealth）技术互动的方法是让潜在用户参与技术的创建。
本研究的目的是使用共同设计来开发2型糖尿病（T2DM）自我管理的移动健康应用。
2020年10月至2021年4月期间，在亚洲地区对9名T2DM参与者进行了三轮迭代式快速原型小组会议。参与者通过便利抽样招募。对于每一轮，通过定性访谈收集反馈，开发团队将这些反馈作为参考，在下一轮中开发和测试更完善的应用版本。使用归纳法对转录的半结构化访谈数据进行主题分析。
参与者年龄在40至69岁之间。数据达到饱和，没有新的主题出现。在会议期间，参与者对使用EMPOWER应用进行T2DM自我管理表达了各种担忧和反馈，并对理想的T2DM自我管理应用的功能提出了建议。重要功能包括：1）药物提醒和通知；2）与血糖仪和血压计的蓝牙集成，以尽量减少手动输入；3）扩大本地食物数据库，包括糖含量信息和更健康选择的建议；4）一键记录常规药物和喜爱的食物；5）数据导出功能，用于与医生共享。总体意见涉及应用的用户友好性、定制可能性以及移动应用中功能的教育内容等方面。
在本研究中，我们使用共同设计方法探索了用户对T2DM自我管理移动应用的看法。本研究为越来越多关于共同设计行为mHealth干预措施的文献增添了内容，并可能指导研究人员进行针对其他慢性病的移动应用设计。
