Abstract
Objective
To develop and administer a questionnaire to determine what factors may be associated
with app use (including frequency of use, reasons to recommend to clients/patients,
perceived effectiveness on health, health aspects used, features, and types of apps)
by clinicians working in diabetes and weight management patient care settings.
Methods
The Clinician Apps Survey was developed and contained 3 question domains (smartphone
apps use, behavior theory in counseling sessions, and demographics) to explore frequency,
types, preferred features, benefits/barriers of using apps, counseling techniques
used, and clinician demographics. Clinicians (n = 719) were recruited to complete
the online survey through 4 dietetics and diabetes professional groups. Clinician
use and preferences for health-related apps for personal reasons and in patient care
settings were determined, and comparisons were made between high and non-app users.
Descriptive statistics were used with current practices and attitudes about apps.
Chi-square test of independence compared those using apps both personally and professionally
(app enthusiasts) vs those with no app use.
Results
There were more app enthusiasts (53%; n = 380) than non-app users (20%; n = 145).
Whereas 68% recommended pen/paper methods for diet and physical activity monitoring,
62% recommended apps. Most agreed that apps were superior to traditional methods for
patients to track dietary intake (62%) and physical activity (58%), make better food
choices (34%), lose weight (45%), and track blood glucose (43%). App enthusiasts used
the American Association of Diabetes Educators self-care guidelines (P = .001) and advanced counseling techniques (eg, motivational interviewing) more often
than did non-app users (P < .004). Apps most frequently recommended to clients were MyFitnessPal (n = 425),
CalorieKing (n = 356), and Fitbit (n = 312).
Conclusions and Implications
Health-related smartphone apps are being widely used and recommended to patients with
diabetes and obesity by clinicians for self-monitoring of dietary and physical activity
behaviors. Furthermore, many clinicians believe that these types of tracking apps
may improve patient outcomes compared with traditional methods of monitoring dietary
and physical activity behaviors.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
June 10,
2017
Footnotes
Conflict of Interest Disclosure: The authors' conflict of interest disclosures can be found online with this article on www.jneb.org. K. C.-N. serves on the JNEB staff as Editor-in-Chief. Review of this article was handled by another editor to minimize conflict of interest.
Identification
Copyright
©2017 Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior. Published by Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.
