Meghan Bradway

Kanskje lastet du ned en app for å slutte og røyke, eller begynne å trene. Det kan hende du har en app som hjelper deg med å håndtere angst, eller en som viser hvordan den siste kjeksen du spiste gjorde at blodsukkeret ditt føyk til vers. Vi bruker helseapper stadig mer, og det snur den medisinske verdenen på hodet. Ved å ta i bruk helseapper forandrer du måten vi gjør helseforskning på. Og jeg sier: Utfordring akseptert! Men hvorfor skal du bry deg?

The Introduction of mobile health (mHealth) devices to health intervention studies challenges us as researchers to adapt how we analyse the impact of these technologies. For interventions involving chronic illness self-management, we must consider changes in behaviour in addition to changes in health. Fortunately, these mHealth technologies can record participants’ interactions via usage-logs during research interventions.

The use of mobile diabetes self-management applications (apps) is rising. However, current reviews mainly focus on clinically relevant features, and very little on those that affect a user's perception. This review highlights recent developments of these systems, coupled with user perceptions, public presence and availability. After including novel review criteria, we found that most apps have a comprehensive range of features and received good scores from public reviewers.