BACKGROUND
Adolescents with type 1 diabetes face various challenges which are often associated with poor blood glucose control during their transition to early adulthood. Using appropriate mobile applications for health management can improve the efficiency of disease self-management.
OBJECTIVE
To develop and test a mobile application that supports the disease self-management of adolescents with type 1 diabetes during their transition to early adulthood.
METHODS
A sequential mixed-methods design was employed. The application content was designed according to previously identified care needs and expectations, followed by application development on the Android operating system. From the outpatient clinic of the Department of Pediatric Endocrinology and Metabolism at a medical center in northern Taiwan, 35 individuals aged between 16 and 25 years participated in application testing.
RESULTS
The final application consisted of 11 interfaces, namely: CEO’s Profile, Health Tracking, CEO Knowledge Base, Barrier-free Communication, See Here: Diet and Exercise, Help Me, Detective!, CEO Chat Room, CEO's Secretary, SOS Calls, Q & A, and Who’s the Best CEO . The average user interaction satisfaction score of the application was 4.54 (± 0.41), indicating positive interaction satisfaction.
CONCLUSIONS
In this study, we developed the Healthcare Chief Executive Officer application tailored to the needs of patients with type 1 diabetes in the transition period. The application can support the disease self-management of adolescents with type 1 diabetes in the transition period, as well as provide references for clinical intervention.
CLINICALTRIAL
Future research will use a randomized controlled trial (RCT) design to evaluate the effectiveness of the application. Trial registration: listed on ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier: NCT05022875.