Intention of smartphone application usage in diabetes self-management and its associated factors among patients with diabetes: A cross-sectional study

INTRODUCTION: Many Malaysians with diabetes lack sufficient knowledge about diabetes selfmanagement. With the widespread adoption of smartphones, mobile health (mHealth) solutions could help empower patients with diabetes to self-manage their condition effectively. This study aimed to determine the intention of patients with diabetes to use diabetes self-management applications (DSMAs) and its associated factors in a primary care setting.

METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted at a government health clinic in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur from 1 July to 30 September 2019. We recruited 723 patients with diabetes using systematic random sampling. A validated self-administered questionnaire was used to evaluate patients' intention to use DSMAs and its associated factors were determined via multiple logistic regression.

RESULTS: Among 719/723 patients with diabetes included in the analysis, 49.9% intended to use DSMAs. Those who had a household income of >RM 6000 (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 10.652, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.709-66.398, P<0.011), agreed (AOR=8.959, 95% CI=3.327- 24.128, P<0.001) or neutrally agreed (A0R=3.403, 95% CI= 1.188-9.749, P=0.023) with the perceived usefulness of DSMAs, did not have resistance to change (A0R=2.458, 95% CI= 1.2934.672, P=0.006) and had a facilitating condition (A0R=9.454, 95% CI=2.718-32.881, P<0.001) had higher odds of intending to use DSMAs than their counterparts.

CONCLUSION: Nearly half of patients with diabetes intend to use DSMAs, indicating the potential of DSMAs as alternative tools for assisting in diabetes self-management. Education focusing on the usefulness of DSMAs and exploring facilitating conditions with patients can help increase the intention of patients to use DSMAs.