A review of expert involvement in developing mHealth applications for diabetes self-management

Abstract

Mobile health (mHealth) applications for the self-management of Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) are said to have great potential to assist individuals living with T1DM to manage their illness more effectively. However, the lack of expert involvement in the development of these mHealth applications pose a serious risk towards consumers. mHealth applications that provide medical advice that is incorrect can harm users that rely on the mHealth application to treat their illness. For this reason, the study reviewed healthcare practitioner and scientific association involvement in the development of mHealth applications for diabetes self-management. A systematic search comprising of specific search terms, was carried out on Google's Play Store for mHealth applications intended for managing T1DM. These applications were then reviewed in order to determine the target market, categories, developer, the date that the application was last updated, price as well as whether a healthcare practitioner or diabetes association took part in the development of the mHealth application. A total of 584 mHealth applications were found on Google Play Store but only 321 mHealth applications met the criteria. In terms of the target market, 77.22% of the applications were targeted towards consumers and only 19.8% were targeted towards healthcare practitioners. In terms of categories, 48.51% of applications were classified under health and fitness and 48,52% under medical, leading consumers to believe that these applications are credible. In terms of expert involvement in the development of the applications, 31.68% of the applications had scientific society involvement, 28.71% of the applications had healthcare practitioner involvement and 39.61% had no expert involvement. Even though an increasing amount of consumers are turning towards mHealth applications to assist them with managing their health, there is a lack of expert involvement in the development of mHealth applications for diabetes self-management. Until this issue is officially addressed, application developers should acquire expert involvement when developing these applications. If consumers can tell which applications are credible, the risks associated with using the applications to help manage their illness will be less.