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Choosing an effective mobile health application to help manage Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus effectively

- Dinath, Wafeequa, Mearns, Martie

Adolescents Using Mobile Health Applications For The Management Of Diabetes

- Dinath, Wafeequa, Mearns, Martie

  • Authors: Dinath, Wafeequa , Mearns, Martie
  • Date: 2019
  • Subjects: Mobile health applications , Type 1 diabetes mellitus , Adolescents
  • Language: English
  • Type: Conference proceedings
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/395658 , uj:32816 , Citation: Dinath, W. & Mearns, M. 2019. Adolescents Using Mobile Health Applications For The Management Of Diabetes.
  • Description: Abstract: The current era can be referred to as a mobile health (mHealth) revolution as mHealth applications created for smartphones are flourishing in the market. Research shows that the quality of life for individuals living with diabetes can be enhanced through the effective management of diabetes by using smartphones. The social, emotional and physical behaviour of adolescents has the biggest impact on trying to achieve this objective. Evidence suggests that the use of mHealth applications can be used for the effective self‐management of diabetes. Therefore, by generating recommendations that adolescents can adhere to, particularly when using mHealth applications could help them manage their illness more effectively. The main objective of this study was to determine what recommendations would enable adolescents to utilise mHealth applications effectively to assist them in managing their diabetes. A qualitative research methodology was carried out in order to find out how mHealth applications can assist adolescents with managing their diabetes more effectively. The sample consisted of 15 adolescents that were finding it difficult to manage their diabetes and were identified by their healthcare practitioners. The group of adolescents used four specific mHealth applications for ten days each. Evaluation criteria tools were then used to rate the specific mHealth applications for diabetes self‐management and focus group interviews were conducted in order to determine the views, opinions and experiences of the adolescents who used the mHealth applications. Recommendations were generated in order to serve as something similar to that of an instruction manual as to how mHealth applications for diabetes self‐management should be used. This instruction manual was then tested to determine whether it could assist adolescents with managing their diabetes using mHealth applications, and was proven successful. One of the key recommendations that were made was that the adolescent needs to identify exactly what he or she finds difficult to manage about diabetes. Then the adolescent needs to find a mHealth application that has that feature which will assist the adolescent with managing the issue.
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A review of expert involvement in developing mHealth applications for diabetes self‐management

- Dinath, Wafeequa

  • Authors: Dinath, Wafeequa
  • Date: 2019
  • Subjects: Mobile health applications , Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus , Diabetes self‐management
  • Language: English
  • Type: Conference proceedings
  • Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/${Handle} , uj:32819 , Citation: Dinath, W. 2019. A review of expert involvement in developing mHealth applications for diabetes self‐management.
  • Description: Abstract: Mobile health (mHealth) applications for the self‐management of Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) are said to have great potential to assist individuals living with T1DM manage their illness more effectively. However, the lack of expert involvement in the development of these mHealth applications pose a serious risk to the consumers. mHealth applications that provide medical advice that is incorrect can harm users that rely on the mHealth application to treat their illness. For this reason, the study reviewed healthcare practitioner and scientific association involvement in the development of mHealth applications for diabetes self‐management. A systematic search comprising of specific search terms, was carried out on Google’s Play Store for mHealth applications intended for managing T1DM. These applications were then reviewed in order to determine the target market, category, developer, date that the application was last updated, price as well as whether a healthcare practitioner or diabetes association took part in the development of the mHealth application. A total of 584 mHealth applications were found on Google Play Store but only 321 mHealth applications met the criteria. In terms of the target market, 77.22% of the applications were targeted towards consumers and only 19.8% were targeted towards healthcare professionals. In terms of category, 48.51% of applications were classified under health and fitness and 45.54% under medical, leading consumers to believe that these applications are credible. In terms of expert involvement in the development of the applications, 31.68% of the applications had scientific society involvement whereas only 28.71% of the applications had healthcare professional involvement. Even though an increasing amount of consumers are turning to mHealth applications to assist them with managing their health, expert involvement in the development of mHealth applications for diabetes self‐management is insufficient. Until this issue is officially addressed, application developers should acquire expert involvement when developing these applications. If consumers can tell which applications are credible, the risks associated with using the applications to help manage their illness will be less.
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