Application of Handheld Computing and Mobile Phones in Diabetes Self-Care

Application of Handheld Computing and Mobile Phones in Diabetes Self-Care

Abdullah Wahbeh
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-2671-3.ch015
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Abstract

Advances in technology have accelerated self-care activities, making them more practical and possible than before using these technologies. The utilization of new Health Information Technologies (HIT) is becoming more and more apparent in self-care. Many patients incorporate the use of PDAs in diabetes self-care (Forjuoh, et al., 2007; Jones & Curry, 2006). Mobile phones are used in diabetes self-management by diabetes patients (Carroll, DiMeglio, Stein, & Marrero, 2011; Faridi, et al., 2008; Mulvaney, et al., 2012). Also, reminders based on SMS cell phone text messaging are used to support diabetes management (Hanauer, Wentzell, Laffel, & Laffel, 2009). Given the current advances in the field of health care, health care technologies, and handheld computing, this case explores the possible primary usages of mobile phones, PDAs, and handheld devices in self-care management. More specifically, the case illustrates how such technologies can be used in diabetes management by patients and health care providers.
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Setting The Stage

Diabetes management is a complex and difficult. Previously, effective diabetes managements requires continual and demanding daily self-care behaviors and processes in different areas, such as testing and measuring glucose level, insulin injection, diet control, taking medications several times a day, seeking general information on diabetes from the libraries, calculating variable insulin dosage by estimating nutritional content of food, monitoring bodily symptoms and taking steps to feel normal again, exercise, and seeking specific information relating to own diabetes (Freund, Johnson, Silverstein, & Thomas, 1991; Hinder & Greenhalgh, 2012; Johnson, Silverstein, Rosenbloom, Carter, & Cunningham, 1986). Also, because of the difficulty of making lifestyle change, achieving effective management of diabetes has proven to be very difficult (Freund, et al., 1991; Johnson, et al., 1986).

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