Barriers to mobile personal health assistant in patients living with diabetes

• Published in: Health informatics journal 2024-10, Vol.30 (4), p.14604582241291522
• Main Authors: Kuo, Mei-Chen, Liou, Chiou-Fang, Lin, Jyh-Horng, Huang, Ching-Feng, Weng, Li-Chueh
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Diabetes; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - psychology; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 - therapy; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Mobile Applications - standards; Mobile Applications - statistics & numerical data; Patient Satisfaction; Personal health; Self Care - methods; Self Care - psychology; Surveys and Questionnaires
• ISSN: 1460-4582; 1741-2811; 1741-2811
• DOI: 10.1177/14604582241291522

Objectives: Continued use of a digital health assistant that helps patients living with diabetes to self-manage and deal with complex problems in order to enhance their health status is a healthcare priority. The objective was to explore the barriers related to the use of a mobile personal health assistant for patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods: Eighty-one participants were offered a personal health assistant through a smartphone application. They completed a questionnaire after initial training (T0) and after 1 month’s experience (T1). Results and Conclusion: Most had a positive behavioral intention before using it, but the opposite was found after 1 month. There were positive correlations between behavioral intention and the eight related factors. The strongest correlations were with satisfaction and perceived usefulness at T0 and T1, respectively. The factors’ mean values decreased after 1 month. The best predictors of behavioral intention were satisfaction and performance expectancy at T0 and T1, respectively, which predicted the status of 88.4% and 82.7% of the sample. Our findings will help health experts to build better tools that satisfy patients and meet their expectations.