JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

mHealth interventions are increasingly being used to help improve self-management among patients with diabetes. However, these interventions have not been adopted by a large number of patients and often have high dropout rates. Patients’ personality characteristics may play critical roles in app adoption and adherence, but little research has focused on this question.

Objective:

This study aims to address a gap in understanding the relationship between personality traits and mHealth treatment for patients with diabetes. We tested the role of the Big Five personality traits (openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism/emotional stability) in mHealth treatment preference and user adherence.

Methods:

We developed an mHealth app (DiaSocial) aimed to encourage self-management. We recruited 98 patients with diabetes who freely chose standard care or the mHealth app treatment. Patients’ demographic information and their Big Five personality characteristics were assessed at baseline. App usage data was collected to measure user adherence. Logistic regression models were employed to explore factors predicting preferences and retention.

Results:

Of 98 study participants, 58.1% opted into the treatment group and downloaded the app. The results revealed that relatively younger patients with diabetes (mean age of samples =59.2) had 15% (OR=0.85, 95% CI: 0.78-0.93, P<.001) higher odds of trying to use the app compared to the older patients with diabetes. Extraversion (OR=0.74, 95%CI: 0.52-1.03, P=.076) were negatively associated, and openness to experience (OR=1.60, 95%CI: 0.97-2.64, P=.066) was positively associated with preference for the mHealth app at .10 significance level. However, gender, education, and baseline HbA1c were not associated with app adoption. Among those in the treatment group, low education level (P=.003) and high level of openness to experience (OR=2.19, 95% CI: 1.17-4.07, P=.014) were associated with app adherence. In turn, app adherence was associated with greater drops in HbA1c (B=-0.58, P=.013).

Conclusions:

This is one of the first studies to investigate how different personality traits influence the adoption of and adherence to a mHealth app among patients with diabetes. The research findings suggest that personality should be considered when trying to identify patients who would benefit the most from apps for diabetes management.