Exploring the Influence of a Smartphone App (Young with Diabetes) on Young People’s Self-Management: Qualitative Study

Abstract

BackgroundAdequate self-management is the cornerstone of preventing type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) complications. However, T1DM self-management is challenging for young people, who often struggle during the transition from childhood to adulthood. The mobile health (mHealth) app Young with Diabetes (YWD) was developed in collaboration with young people to enhance their T1DM self-management during this transition.ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to explore the influence of YWD on young people’s self-management during a 12-month period.MethodsA qualitative explorative approach was used, comprising a purposive sample of 20 young people (11 females and 9 males, ages 15 to 23 years, with app use of 3 to 64 days) from 3 pediatric and 3 adult departments. Participants were interviewed individually using a semistructured interview guide. Data were collected from January to March 2017 and analyzed using thematic analysis.ResultsA total of 5 themes were identified: (1) not feeling alone anymore (“we are in this together”); (2) gaining competence by sharing experiences and practical knowledge (“they know what they are talking about”); (3) feeling safer (“it’s just a click away”); (4) breaking the ice by starting to share thoughts and feelings and asking for help (“it is an outstretched hand”); and (5) lack of motivating factors (“done with the app”). Young people reported that YWD promoted self-management by peer-to-peer social support, exchanging messages with health care providers, and sharing YWD with parents. Participants recommended YWD as a supplement to self-management for newly diagnosed young people with T1DM and suggested improvements in app content and functionality.ConclusionsThe mHealth app YWD has the potential to support self-management. In particular, peer-to-peer support reduced feelings of loneliness and helped young people to gain knowledge and skills for managing T1DM. A need exists for alternative ways to train health care providers in using YWD and to support collaboration between young people and their parents to further improve young people’s self-management of T1DM.

Benefits of Mobile Apps in Pain Management: Systematic Review

“…Patients’ symptoms and medication usage are recorded, and recommendations to adapt treatment, for example, to increase the dose of inhaled drugs, are provided [ 5 ]. Patients with type 1 diabetes appreciate an app as a supplement for disease management (eg, communication with health care professionals) [ 6 ]. The use of a smartphone app shortens times for medical personnel to review glucose-level diaries from patients [ 7 ] and has the potential for improving glucose control in type 1 and 2 diabetes [ 7 , 8 ].…”

Testing a Smartphone App (Young with Diabetes) to Improve Self-Management of Diabetes Over 12 Months: Randomized Controlled Trial (Preprint)

“…Qualitative evaluation is needed to further explore and address benefits and shortcomings of the intervention [35]. Alternative evaluation methods should be considered when testing self-management mHealth applications among young people.…”

“…Further qualitative evaluation [35] is needed to understand why most young people reported being helped by using YWD, despite failing to improve glycemic control and maintain app use. In addition, successful adoption of self-management applications is hard to achieve without additional strategies for enhancing patient motivation and engaging healthcare providers [36].…”

Testing a Smartphone App (Young with Diabetes) to Improve Self-Management of Diabetes Over 12 Months: Randomized Controlled Trial

“…Further qualitative evaluation [ 36 ] is needed to understand why most young people reported being helped by using YWD, despite failing to improve glycemic control and maintain app use. Also, successful adoption of self-management apps is hard to achieve without additional strategies for enhancing patient motivation and engaging health care providers [ 37 ].…”