Characteristics of Chinese m-Health Applications for Diabetes Self-Management

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 AndroidÔ (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.

Chinese Cardiovascular Disease Mobile Apps’ Information Types, Information Quality, and Interactive Functions for Self-Management: Systematic Review

“…The Health Information Wants (HIW) framework suggests 7 types of information that patients typically desire in health care contexts: (1) information about the specific health condition, (2) treatment, (3) laboratory tests, (4) self-care, (5) complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), (6) psychosocial aspects, and (7) health care providers (HCPs) [ 6 - 8 ]. Empirical research using the HIW framework has shown that diabetes-related mobile apps for Mainland Chinese users offer inadequate information [ 9 ]. However, little is currently known about whether Chinese CVD mobile apps might offer a broad range of high-quality information and functions that can facilitate effective CVD self-management.…”

“…Although mHealth apps have the potential to promote effective self-management and person-centered care [ 17 , 18 ], existing apps tend to provide limited types of information [ 9 ], lack information quality assurance [ 19 - 21 ], and offer inadequate functionalities [ 22 ]. These limitations may have negative impacts on mHealth app users.…”

Levels and Barriers of Glycemic Control and Self-Management Among Diabetic Patients in Primary Health Care in Jeddah: A Cross-Sectional Study.

“…Enhancing DSM has been shown to improve both treatment adherence and glycemic control (15,(33)(34)(35). Different approaches have been developed, and a range of education programs are available; furthermore, different scales are available to measure the overall quality and specific components of DSM (36)(37)(38)(39)(40).…”

Health information sources for different types of information used by Chinese patients with cancer and their family caregivers

“…However, among our Chinese participants, the Internet was the least used source of information. Plausible reasons include, first, compared with the vast amount of high‐quality online information available to English speakers, much less such information is available in Chinese . Second, compared with their Western counterparts, Chinese participants may have lower levels of computer/Internet access and literacy .…”