Background/Aims: Prevention of Type 2 diabetes among high-risk patients is required to reduce the burden of disease. Mobile technologies offer new possibilities to support patients with behaviour change and lifestyle improvement to prevent type 2 diabetes. This qualitative study aimed to understand patient perspectives on smartphone app use to manage their risk factors.
Methods: This study was conducted at Mount Druitt Medical Centre. Purposive sampling was used to enroll non-diabetic participants with a body mass index > 25 kg/m2 with a smartphone app and/or family history of Type 2 diabetes. Telephone interviews were conducted due to COVID-19 restrictions. Semi-structured Interviews were conducted from May to July 2020 till data saturation was achieved. Thematic data analysis was done using NVivo v. 12.
Results: 10 interviews were conducted with the participants’ ages ranging from 33 to 80 years. The main barriers to adopting a balanced lifestyle were family influence, the high cost of healthy food, comorbidities, and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The main facilitators included family influence, social comparison, environmental factors and autonomy. The main barriers that hindered the use of health apps were lack of digital literacy and app usability. Facilitators of app use encompassed certain features such as the ability to track, self-monitor and personalise health-related goals, ease of use, interact with apps using voice technology, presence of disease and lifestyle-related educational information and recommendation from healthcare providers.
Conclusion: This research shows that the future of smartphone health applications in preventing type 2 diabetes is promising. Features such as personalisation, automated tracking and educational tools were highly valued among users.