Accepted for/Published in: JMIR mHealth and uHealth
Date Submitted: Jan 11, 2019
Date Accepted: Mar 29, 2019
The Potential of Self-Management mhealth for Paediatric Cystic Fibrosis: Mixed Methods for Health Care and App Assessment
ABSTRACT
Background:
Remote care services and patient empowerment has boosted mHealth. A study of user needs related to mHealth for Paediatric Cystic Fibrosis (PCF) has earlier identified the set of preferred features mobile apps should support, however the potential use of PCF apps and their suitability to fit into PCF clinical management remains unexplored.
Objective:
We examine whether PCF holds potential for the implementation of mHealth care.
Methods:
European CF routine care guidelines are acknowledged in most European countries and treatments are fully covered in almost all countries. The majority of teams in CF units are interdisciplinary. With respect to the systematic review of apps, we reviewed 12 apps for CF management and 9 for general nutrition management in MyHealthApps directory. All analysed apps provided functionalities for recording aspects related to the disease and nutrition, such as medication, meals, measurements, reminders and educational material. None of the apps reviewed in this study supported the Pancreatic Enzyme Replacement Therapy. CF apps proved to be less appealing and usable than nutrition apps (2.66 (1.15) versus 4.01(0.90); P <.001, z-value: -2.6). User needs detected in previous research are partially matched by current apps for CF management.
Results:
European CF routine care guidelines are acknowledged in most European countries and treatments are fully covered in almost all countries. The majority of teams in CF units are interdisciplinary. With respect to the systematic review of apps, we reviewed 12 apps for CF management and 9 for general nutrition management. All analysed apps provided functionalities for recording aspects related to the disease and nutrition, such as medication, meals, measurements, reminders and educational material. CF apps proved to be less appealing and usable than nutrition apps (P <.001, z-value:-2.6). User needs detected in previous research are partially matched by current apps for CF management.
Conclusions:
The healthcare context for PCF is a unique opportunity for the adoption of mHealth. Well established clinical guidelines, heterogeneous clinical teams and the coverage by national healthcare systems provide a suitable scenario for the use of mHealth solutions. However, available apps for CF self-management are not covering essential aspects, such as nutrition and education. To increase the adoption of mHealth for CF self-management, new apps should include these features.
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