Abstract

DINATH, Wafeequa  and  MEARNS, Martie. Choosing an effective mobile health application to help manage Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus effectively. SAJIM (Online) [online]. 2019, vol.21, n.1, pp.1-10. ISSN 1560-683X.  http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/sajim.v21i1.1050.

BACKGROUND: The current era can be called a mobile health revolution as medical applications created for smartphones are flourishing in the market. Individuals living with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) need to count carbohydrates, monitor blood glucose levels and determine insulin dosages OBJECTIVE: By finding out which mobile health applications individuals living with diabetes are using to manage their illness effectively, a set of recommendations could be developed to support individuals who are less effective in managing their condition to use when choosing and using these specific mobile health applications METHOD: A qualitative research methodology was carried out to investigate how mobile health applications can assist individuals with managing diabetes more effectively. Evaluation criteria tools were used to rate specific mobile health applications for diabetes self-management, and focus group interviews were conducted to find out about the views, opinions and experiences of the individuals who used the mobile health applications RESULTS: The findings showed that selecting the correct type of mobile health application to manage their diabetes better is possible. Based on this, recommendations were then developed for individuals to effectively use mobile health applications to help them manage their diabetes as well as recommendations for healthcare practitioners to encourage individuals to make use of mobile health applications and for application developers to improve their mobile health applications CONCLUSION: Recommendations for using mHealth apps effectively have been established to help individuals manage their T1DM, provided that the individual is committed to using the mobile health application correctly

Keywords : Mobile health applications; Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus; diabetes self-management recommendations; healthcare practitioners; application developers.

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