Impact of Mobile Diabetes Self-Care System on patients’ knowledge, behavior and efficacy

• Verify that a mobile interactive system could have impacts on diabetes patients’ knowledge and behavior in self-care practices, which are critical in properly managing the disease.
• Offer characteristics of a mobile healthcare system which may attract users.
• Suggest directions for future research as well as development in mobile healthcare system for chronic disease management.

Evaluating the impact of emerging mobile technology on chronic disease management such as diabetes mellitus has been a persistent concern among healthcare professionals. However, most of the previous studies have focused on assessing metabolic outcomes, rather than changes in patients’ self-care ability and practices, which have been found critical in properly managing the disease. The research team developed a system, called Mobile Diabetes Self-Care System, for people with diabetes, which facilitates the patients to enhance their self-care ability and practices with the flexibility of timing, location and choices. The study evaluates the system's effectiveness in patients’ self-care knowledge, behavior and efficacy. Twenty-eight patients with type 2 diabetes participated in the six-week intervention. Questionnaires were used to measure their changes before and after the intervention. The results indicate that the mobile system enhanced the patient's self-care knowledge and behavior by 17% and 22%, respectively, with statistical significance, yet only marginally increased their self-efficacy. The majority of the participants have enjoyed using the system. Remarks on the biggest advantages of using the system include portability, convenience in maintaining and accessing personal records, and flexibility in learning necessary information. Integrating mobile technology with patient education and support services bears great potential in combating the global burden of chronic diseases.