Usability of a Mobile Self-Help Tool for People with Diabetes: the Easy Health Diary

• Published in: 2007 IEEE International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering pp. 863 - 868
• Main Authors: Arsand, E., Varmedal, R., Hartvigsen, G.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE 01.09.2007
• Subjects: Automation; Blood; Diabetes; Fingers; Personal communication networks; Prototypes; Smart phones; Sugar; USA Councils; Usability
• ISBN: 9781424411535; 142441153X
• ISSN: 2161-8070; 2161-8089
• DOI: 10.1109/COASE.2007.4341807

Changes in diet and lifestyle are leading to a dramatic worldwide increase in chronic diseases, including type 2 diabetes [1]. The demand for health-related support is thus growing, and many self-help tools are available. However, few of these are easy to use and to integrate with users' daily routines and necessary medical or fitness equipment in a way that motivates long-term use. Our research group is working with the easy health diary, a self-help tool for people with type 2 diabetes. The tool is based on smartphones, and its functionality applies to each of the three cornerstones of diabetes management: physical activity, nutrition and healthy blood glucose values. The target user group is typically aged 50 or more, so it is especially important that a self-help tool should have low technical thresholds and a highly usable design. Such tools may also support applications to help the general population meet today's vast health challenges. A prototype has been designed and tested on 32 people: 12 users with type 2 diabetes and 20 individuals without diabetes. All informants had a generally positive reaction to the prototype and the user group was more positive than the reference group. The informants emphasized the importance of making the tool extremely easy to use and integrated with the everyday routines of the users.