oa Feasibility study of the use of mobile health for diabetes management in Qatar poster

Noor Suleiman1, Dabia Al Mohannadi1, Majed Lababidi2, Abdulla Al Misnad2, Mohammed Bashir1, Luis Luque3, Abdul Badi Abou-Samra1 Keywords: diabetes, mobile technology, internet, eHealth, smartphone, chronic condition Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is a chronic disease characterized by an elevated level of blood glucose and carries the risk of acute and chronic complications resulting in significant healthcare burden. DM has a high prevalence across many nations especially within the Middle East. In Qatar, DM prevalence in the adult population is approximately 16.7%. DM management is a well-known complex process that requires both lifestyle changes and effective pharmacologic treatment plans. To avoid DM complications, effective behavioral change, extensive education and promotion of appropriate self-management are key. Self-management tools are developing fast. Data recording of blood glucose and lifestyle changes have progressed from writing them on paper, to uploading them to computers, to recording them on mobile phones using traditional phone functions, and finally to using smartphone apps. Mobile health is becoming one of the fastest growing areas of effective healthcare delivery in many countries with health education and awareness programs being increasingly recognized as the key players. The surge of mobile healthcare (m-Health) in the last few years is due to the massive demand of such systems to alleviate and provide more efficient and effective healthcare delivery mechanisms especially for chronic disease management and self-care. Diabetes mobile technology is an emerging and rapidly expanding field that seeks to combine cutting edge behavioral insights with best practice in diabetes self-management education to improve patient empowerment and deliver better patient outcomes. However, there is a lack of research on the use of mobile technology to support diabetes self-management in the Arab world. The question that arises is whether or not, diabetes mobile applications are effective in improving glycemic control, clinical outcomes, quality of life and overall patient satisfaction, in diabetic patients in Qatar. We have the hypothesis that with utilization of the mobile application, patients will have improved diabetes knowledge, patient satisfaction and empowerment; glycemic control and diabetes outcomes; together with improved patient-educator/doctor interaction Qualitative research methods such as focus groups and interviews have been conducted among dozens of patients and health care professionals to identify strategies to design a patient-centered mobile application for diabetes, named droobi health. The main purpose of this application is to enhance patient care and improve clinical outcomes of diabetic patients through an active engagement with patients. Patients will have access to tools to monitor, manage and control their diabetes, enabling communication between patients and care providers while providing access to up-to-date diabetes educational materials. droobi health will provide a single source of patient self-management and lifestyle information for better collaboration between patient and care providers to positively interact and engage with the patient and personalize educational material when it is required. This app has the home-advantage of being created in Qatar for our particular patient population, taking into account the cultural adaptation and context, which is missing in the existing apps. We have completed the design based on feedback from healthcare providers and patients. Droobi provides a platform where the patient and his or her clinical care team can interact in order to address the patient's concerns in a timely manner. Additionally, Droobi aims to empower the patient towards implementing self-management together with providing robust education and training for the patients towards their disease resulting in increased knowledge and awareness. The feasibility of Droobi will be conducted in a small pilot, with its effectiveness later examined in a clinical trial. Hamad Medical Corporation Trio InvestmentsQatar Computing Research Institute