A mobile app for chronic disease self-management for individuals with low health literacy: A multisite randomized controlled clinical trial

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a mobile app designed to improve chronic disease self-management in older adult patients with low health literacy and who had at least one chronic health condition, and to assess the impact of delivering information at different levels of reading difficulty. Methods: A randomized controlled trial was completed at two sites. Individuals 40 years of age and older screened for low health literacy who had at least one chronic health condition were randomly assigned to a tailored information multimedia app with text at one of three grade levels. Four primary outcomes were assessed: patient activation, chronic disease self-efficacy, health-related quality of life, and medication adherence. Results: All groups showed overall increases in activation, self-efficacy, and health-related quality of life, but no change in medication adherence. No between-group differences were observed. Conclusions: The mobile app was effective in increasing participants' levels of several psychosocial variables, but reading difficulty level was not significantly related to outcomes.

A mobile app providing individually-tailored psychoeducation about sleep for older adults with chronic health conditions and low health literacy

“…Following the interpretation suggested by Morin et al (2011), 87 (45%) had subthreshold, 79 (41%) had moderate, and 29 (15%) had severe insomnia. Complete information on recruitment, inclusion, and randomization, including a CONSORT diagram detailing patient flow through the study, is available online as a preprint (Ownby et al, 2023).…”

“…The sleep module was part of a larger intervention for chronic disease self-management which was delivered in three sessions over two to three weeks. Results of tests of the primary hypotheses of the main study are currently under review and available online as a preprint (Ownby et al, 2023). In addition, we assessed the impact of individual topic modules on relevant measures, and in this instance, we evaluated the modules’ impact on sleep using the PSQI.…”