Wellness Information Network (WIN): A Patient Empowerment Mobile Application for Improved Health Literacy and Disease Management for Type-2 Diabetes
Recent studies have begun to shed light onto the relationship between general literacy and health literacy. The impact of poor health literacy ranges from not understanding basic discharge instructions written by medical practitioners to grasping available treatment options. Poor comprehension of disease literature and treatment options leads to inadequate self-care management. Leveraging the Design Science Research Framework, this study aims to build and evaluate a strategic patient empowerment artifact called Wellness Information Network (WIN). WIN focuses on disseminating health literature to users, improving self-care management, motivating users to make healthier dietary choices, and increase diabetes numeracy skills. This study further addresses the need to enhance overall patient empowerment, such as through understanding nutritional goals and being able to pose strategic questions of health practitioners. In particular, the focus of this study is on the case of Type 2 diabetes. The study was carried out on a group of 10 Type 2 Diabetes patients that responded to three sections of the WIN application (Facts, Measures, Actions) daily for 30 days. The recruitment and exit process integrated the Qualtrics platform to gain insight into disease management confidence level and application usability experience. The selected population included an equal amount of men and women from the United States with varying age and A1C levels. The results of the Pre-Survey, WIN application usage, and Post-Survey were evaluated to gain an understanding of the study impact. The success of this study is determined in terms of improved disease management skills, enhanced numeracy skills, and a post study lower Hemoglobin A1C level. The study results showed evidence of stronger patient confidence level and improved health literacy as users gained disease management knowledge from Facts, nutritional and numeracy dimensions from Measures, and physical activity experience from the Actions feature of the WIN application.
Disease Management, Health Literacy, Patient Confidence, Strategic Patient Empowerment, Type 2 Diabetes Managment, Wellness Information Network (WIN)
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