Page 180 - Petelin, Ana, ur. 2021. Zdravje starostnikov / Health of the Elderly. Zbornik povzetkov z recenzijo / Book of Abstracts. Koper: Založba Univerze na Primorskem/University of Primorska Press
P. 180
avje starostnikov | health of the elderly Usability of mobile applications to support patients with diabetes
Tomaž Ujčič, Tina Hočevar, Tina Ažbe, Andrej Starc
University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Introduction. The use of modern information communitation technology is a
powerful tool for promotion of a healthy lifestyle. In the last few years the
use of technology has increased even among elderly people. Social media has
made information more accessible and changed the course of communication.
Mobile applications are just one of many tools that the patients can use, and
they are becoming more important in patient education. These applications
are small specialized programmes that are used to diagnose, treat and prevent
diseases. They are accessible, easy to use and have the potential to reach glob-
al population. Social media now plays an important role even with the elderly.
The number of patients that are suffering from diabetes has increased for over
300 millions over the past 40 years. Diabetes can cause many serious compli-
cations. Lately, more and more mobile applications for diabetic patients have
become available, and they could represent a potential solution to treating pa-
tients with diabetes.
Methods. The descriptive method of work with literature rewiew was used.
The search through the literature was conducted by using the following da-
tabases: CINAHL, Medline and ScienceDirect using DiKul search engine. The
articles included in the review had to be written in English and published af-
ter 2015. The keywords “mobile application”, “diabetes” and “usability” with
Boolean operators “AND” and “OR” were used.
Results. The researches show that in the users’ opinions mobile applications
are efficient and easy to use. Patients see them as tools to promote better self-
care, they make it easier to keep the disease under control, help to achieve
their goals and motivate them towards a healthier lifestyle. There have also
been positive results with keeping the blood sugar levels more stable and pa-
tients suffering from less hypoglycemic episodes. The biggest obstacles for us-
ing mobile applications are: not seeing the applications as a legitimate tool for
healthcare, internet accessability, internet literacy and manual data entering.
Discussion and conclusion. Patients with diabetes see the mobile applications as
something new, sometimes even difficult to use. But at the same time they rep-
resent a possibility for better disease management, a way to a healthier lifestyle
and better blood sugar levels control. Internet illiteracy and physical incapaci-
ties (sight problems, problems with hands, cognitive impairment) are the most
common causes for patients to not use the applications. The world population
is aging, so it is very important to take older users’ opinions and perspectives
into consideration when developing new applications and systems.
Keywords: diabetes, mobile health application, usability, self-management
178
Tomaž Ujčič, Tina Hočevar, Tina Ažbe, Andrej Starc
University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Introduction. The use of modern information communitation technology is a
powerful tool for promotion of a healthy lifestyle. In the last few years the
use of technology has increased even among elderly people. Social media has
made information more accessible and changed the course of communication.
Mobile applications are just one of many tools that the patients can use, and
they are becoming more important in patient education. These applications
are small specialized programmes that are used to diagnose, treat and prevent
diseases. They are accessible, easy to use and have the potential to reach glob-
al population. Social media now plays an important role even with the elderly.
The number of patients that are suffering from diabetes has increased for over
300 millions over the past 40 years. Diabetes can cause many serious compli-
cations. Lately, more and more mobile applications for diabetic patients have
become available, and they could represent a potential solution to treating pa-
tients with diabetes.
Methods. The descriptive method of work with literature rewiew was used.
The search through the literature was conducted by using the following da-
tabases: CINAHL, Medline and ScienceDirect using DiKul search engine. The
articles included in the review had to be written in English and published af-
ter 2015. The keywords “mobile application”, “diabetes” and “usability” with
Boolean operators “AND” and “OR” were used.
Results. The researches show that in the users’ opinions mobile applications
are efficient and easy to use. Patients see them as tools to promote better self-
care, they make it easier to keep the disease under control, help to achieve
their goals and motivate them towards a healthier lifestyle. There have also
been positive results with keeping the blood sugar levels more stable and pa-
tients suffering from less hypoglycemic episodes. The biggest obstacles for us-
ing mobile applications are: not seeing the applications as a legitimate tool for
healthcare, internet accessability, internet literacy and manual data entering.
Discussion and conclusion. Patients with diabetes see the mobile applications as
something new, sometimes even difficult to use. But at the same time they rep-
resent a possibility for better disease management, a way to a healthier lifestyle
and better blood sugar levels control. Internet illiteracy and physical incapaci-
ties (sight problems, problems with hands, cognitive impairment) are the most
common causes for patients to not use the applications. The world population
is aging, so it is very important to take older users’ opinions and perspectives
into consideration when developing new applications and systems.
Keywords: diabetes, mobile health application, usability, self-management
178
