Mobile health care (mHealth) can improve the quality and accessibility of preventive medical care for patients with risk factors for chronic non-communicable diseases. Integrating mobile apps and mHealth devices into clinical practice is relevant but challenging. The factors that health professionals and patients consider when recommending or using digital mobile health apps are poorly understood.
OBJECTIVE
To study factors influencing the decision of medical professionals and patients to monitor weight loss using remote information technologies on the example of a specialized mobile app, Doctor PM.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
The multicenter randomized controlled trial included surveys of overweight and obese patients who received personalized prevention counseling and surveys of healthcare providers who followed up with these patients remotely for 6 months using the Doctor PM mobile app. This app had a chatbot with motivational, informational, and supportive text messages that patients received automatically based on entered body weight measurements, current physical activity, and information recorded weekly in a food diary. Responses to the questionnaires were evaluated using a 5-point scale of «agreement-disagreement» with the question content. Statistical processing was performed using the SPSS software package (V.23.0). Comparison of qualitative indicators was performed using the c2 test. The differences were considered statistically significant at significance level p<0.05.
RESULTS
It was shown that the level of patients’ satisfaction with the remote technologies during weight loss was higher in females (dependent on gender), in older patients (dependent on age), and among the rural population (dependent on place of residence). Ratings of text messages (convenience and usefulness) received by patients via a mobile app were also statistically significantly higher among women and rural residents. Technical issues using the app were more frequent in patients living in rural areas (p<0.05), and the main barrier to remote control in rural residents compared to urban residents was the low level of technical literacy (4.4 and 3.6 points, respectively, p=0.048). Assessment of healthcare professionals’ opinions and attitudes showed that the majority (68%) assessed remote monitoring technology as a possible alternative to face-to-face visits, with 92% of healthcare professionals expressing their intention to use such technology to manage patients with risk factors. However, 84% of healthcare professionals believe that specialized training in remote monitoring is necessary. The main advantages of remote monitoring named by doctors were the possibility of controlling the health parameters of patients (72%), their trend visualization in the mobile app in real-time (64%), and saving working time (60%).
CONCLUSION
The evaluation of patients and healthcare professionals’ opinions on the use of mHealth technology on the example of a specialized mobile app, Doctor PM, was performed for the first time as part of a randomized controlled study. The results obtained can be considered in the context of the digital transformation of medical prevention measures and solving organizational issues of their implementation in real-world practice.
