Qualitative assessment of user experiences of a novel smart phone application designed to support flexible intensive insulin therapy in type 1 diabetes

BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making

Research Article

Ingrid J. Hickman¹  Brigid A. Knight²  Marina Noud²  H. David McIntyre³ 

[1] Mater Research Institute, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia;Department of Nutrition & Dietetics, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Brisbane, Australia;Queensland Diabetes and Endocrine Centre, Mater Health Services, Brisbane, Australia;Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital, Brisbane, Australia;Queensland Diabetes and Endocrine Centre, Mater Health Services, Brisbane, Australia;School of Medicine, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia;Mothers and Babies Theme, Mater Research Institute – University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia;Mater Research Institute, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia;

关键词: Intensive management;    Diabetes technology;    iphone;    Applications;    Self-management;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12911-016-0356-6

 received in 2016-01-25, accepted in 2016-08-20,  发布年份 2016

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundModern flexible multiple daily injection (MDI) therapy requires people with diabetes to manage complex mathematical calculations to determine insulin doses on a day to day basis. Automated bolus calculators assist with these calculations, add additional functionality to protect against hypoglycaemia and enhance the record keeping process, however uptake and use depends on the devices meeting the needs of the user. We aimed to obtain user feedback on the usability of a mobile phone bolus calculator application in adults with T1DM to inform future development of mobile phone diabetes support applications.MethodsAdults with T1DM who had previously received education in flexible MDI therapy were invited to participate. Eligible respondents attended app education and one month later participated in a focus group to provide feedback on the features of the app in relation to usability for patient-based flexible MDI and future app development.ResultsSeven adults participated in the app training and follow up interview. App features that support dose adjustment to reduce hypoglycaemia risk and features that enable greater efficiency in dose calculation, record keeping and report generation were highly valued.ConclusionsAdults who are self managing flexible MDI found the Rapidcalc mobile phone app to be a useful self-management tool and additional features to further improve usability, such as connectivity with BG meter and food databases, shortcut options to economise data entry and web based storage of data, were identified. Further work is needed to ascertain specific features and benefit for those with lower health literacy.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2016