Kabeza CB, Harst L, Schwarz PEH, et al. Assessment of Rwandan diabetic patients’ needs and expectations to develop their first diabetes self-management smartphone application (Kir’App). Ther Adv Endocrinol Metab 2019; 10: 1-21. Original DOI: 10.1177/2042018819845318
In the above referenced article, the correct abstract is:
Abstract
Background: Knowledge of and coping with diabetes is still poor in some communities in Rwanda. While smartphone applications (or apps) have demonstrated improving diabetes selfcare, there is no current study on the use of smartphones in the self-management of diabetes in Rwanda.The main objective of this study was to assess the needs and expectations of Rwandan diabetic patients for mobile-health-supported diabetes self-management in order to develop a patient-centred smartphone application (Kir’App).
Methods: Convenience sampling was used to recruit study participants at the Rwanda Diabetes Association. Twenty-one patients participated in semi-structured, in-depth, face-to-face interviews. Thematic analysis was performed using Mayring’s method of qualitative content analysis.
Results: The study included 21 participants with both type 1 (female = 5, male = 6) and type 2 (female = 6, male = 4) diabetes. Participants’ age ranged from 18 to 69 years with a mean age of 35 and 29 years, respectively. Eight main themes were identified. These were (a) diabetes education and desired information provision; (b) lack of diabetes knowledge and awareness: (c) need for information in crisis situations; (d) required monitoring and reminder functions; (e) information on nutrition and alcohol consumption; (f) information on physical activity; (g) coping with burden of disease, through social support and network; (h) app features.
Conclusion: This study provides recommendations that will be used to design the features of the first Rwandan diabetes self-management smartphone application (Kir’App). The future impact of the application on the Rwandan diabetic patients’ self-management capacity and quality of life will be evaluated afterwards.
