JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Diabetes is one of the leading noncommunicable chronic diseases globally. Since there is no cure, blood glucose levels need to be monitored regularly and managed. In addition, patients must live a healthy lifestyle and use regular medication to maintain their health and wellbeing. However, various factors contribute to poor adherence to medication.

Objective:

This study aims to systematically review and evaluate applications (apps) available for diabetes medication adherence, identify and analyze high-quality apps that are freely available to the public in the Android and Apple app stores, and present the technical features of the apps.

Methods:

Applying predefined selection criteria, we systematically searched the Apple App Store and Google Play Store for apps to assist in diabetes medication adherence. We assessed high-quality apps using the Mobile App Rating Scale. Apps that achieved a total mean quality score greater than 4 out of 5 in our study were considered high quality.

Results:

We selected eight apps for analysis in this study and discussed them in detail under three main categories: characteristics of the included apps, app features, and diabetes medication adherence. We formulated a task-technology fit matrix to evaluate the apps for diabetes medication adherence. On evaluation, we observed that 25% of the apps promoted high adherence and another 25% of the apps promoted moderate adherence. Finally, we found that 50% of the apps provided low adherence to diabetes medication.

Conclusions:

Our framework to evaluate smartphone apps in promoting diabetes medication adherence considered physiological factors influencing diabetes and app features. Therefore, our findings could have positive implications for the design and development of apps for diabetes patients. Additionally, available apps can be evaluated according to our framework, and those promoting higher medication adherence could be prescribed for better health outcomes.