Lisa Nie1, Bo Xie1,2, Yan Yang3, Yan Min Shan4. 1. 1 School of Nursing, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, Texas. 2. 2 School of Information, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, Texas. 3. 3 Department of Endocrinology, Sichuan Academy of Medical Sciences & Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital , Chengdu, Sichuan, China . 4. 4 Department of Diabetes Education, 2nd Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine , Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China .
Abstract
PURPOSE: To examine the features and types of health information provided in Chinese diabetes mobile applications (apps) for patients' self-management. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Through multiple rounds of screening, we identified a total of 95 relevant iOS (Apple, Cupertino, CA) and Android™ (Google, Mountain View, CA) apps and examined each app's features and health information types based on each app's description in the app stores. We used a 15-feature algorithm to evaluate the apps' abilities for supporting diabetic patients' self-management, based on U.S. national standards for diabetes self-management. We also adapted the health information wants framework to analyze the types of information that the apps provided for diabetic patients. RESULTS: Diabetes education was the most common feature, provided by 75% of the apps. Blood glucose checking was enabled by 65% of the apps. Diet management, insulin checking, and physical activity monitoring were enabled by 53%, 49%, and 44% of the apps, respectively. Only a small percentage of the apps enabled psychosocial support (29%) or tracking of blood pressure (14%), cholesterol (14%), or body mass index (11%). None of the apps provided all seven types of information posited by the health information wants framework. Only a small percentage of the apps provided information about psychosocial support (29%), healthcare providers (24%), or healthcare facilities (24%). Information about complementary and alternative medicine was the least likely type of information provided in the apps, with only 7% of the apps providing this type of information. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings have important implications for improving the quality of Chinese diabetes mobile apps to facilitate patients' self-management.
PURPOSE: To examine the features and types of health information provided in Chinese diabetes mobile applications (apps) for patients' self-management. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Through multiple rounds of screening, we identified a total of 95 relevant iOS (Apple, Cupertino, CA) and Android™ (Google, Mountain View, CA) apps and examined each app's features and health information types based on each app's description in the app stores. We used a 15-feature algorithm to evaluate the apps' abilities for supporting diabeticpatients' self-management, based on U.S. national standards for diabetes self-management. We also adapted the health information wants framework to analyze the types of information that the apps provided for diabeticpatients. RESULTS:Diabetes education was the most common feature, provided by 75% of the apps. Blood glucose checking was enabled by 65% of the apps. Diet management, insulin checking, and physical activity monitoring were enabled by 53%, 49%, and 44% of the apps, respectively. Only a small percentage of the apps enabled psychosocial support (29%) or tracking of blood pressure (14%), cholesterol (14%), or body mass index (11%). None of the apps provided all seven types of information posited by the health information wants framework. Only a small percentage of the apps provided information about psychosocial support (29%), healthcare providers (24%), or healthcare facilities (24%). Information about complementary and alternative medicine was the least likely type of information provided in the apps, with only 7% of the apps providing this type of information. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings have important implications for improving the quality of Chinese diabetes mobile apps to facilitate patients' self-management.
Entities:
Keywords:
e-health; mobile health; technology; telehealth
Authors: Courtney Rees Lyles; Lynne T Harris; Tung Le; Jan Flowers; James Tufano; Diane Britt; James Hoath; Irl B Hirsch; Harold I Goldberg; James D Ralston Journal: Diabetes Technol Ther Date: 2011-03-15 Impact factor: 6.118