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Clinical care/education/nutrition/psychosocial research
Willingness of patients with diabetes to use an ICT-based self-management tool: a cross-sectional study
  1. Tomomi Shibuta1,
  2. Kayo Waki2,3,
  3. Nobuko Tomizawa2,
  4. Ayumi Igarashi1,
  5. Noriko Yamamoto-Mitani1,
  6. Satoko Yamaguchi2,
  7. Hideo Fujita2,
  8. Shigeko Kimura2,
  9. Katsuhito Fujiu2,
  10. Hironori Waki3,
  11. Yoshihiko Izumida3,
  12. Takayoshi Sasako3,
  13. Masatoshi Kobayashi3,
  14. Ryo Suzuki3,
  15. Toshimasa Yamauchi3,
  16. Takashi Kadowaki3,
  17. Kazuhiko Ohe4
  1. 1School of Health Sciences and Nursing, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
  2. 2Department of Ubiquitous Health Informatics, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
  3. 3Department of Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
  4. 4Department of Biomedical Informatics, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
  1. Correspondence to Dr Kayo Waki; kwaki-tky{at}umin.ac.jp

Abstract

Objectives To examine the prevalence of the willingness of patients with diabetes to use a self-management tool based on information and communication technology (ICT) such as personal computers, smartphones, and mobile phones; and to examine the patient characteristics associated with that willingness.

Research design and methods We conducted a cross-sectional interview survey of 312 adults with diabetes at a university hospital in an urban area in Japan. Participants were classified into 2 groups: those who were willing to use an ICT-based self-management tool and those who were unwilling. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors associated with the willingness, including clinical and social factors, current use of ICT, self-management practices, self-efficacy, and diabetes-related emotional distress.

Results The mean age of the 312 participants was 66.3 years (SD=11.5) and 198 (63%) were male. Most of the participants (93%) had type 2 diabetes. Although only 51 (16%) currently used ICT-based self-management tools, a total of 157 (50%) expressed the willingness to use such a tool. Factors associated with the willingness included: not having nephropathy (OR=2.02, 95% CI 1.14 to 3.58); outpatient visits once a month or more (vs less than once a month, OR=2.13, 95% CI 1.13 to 3.99); current use of personal computers and/or smartphones (OR=4.91, 95% CI 2.69 to 8.98); and having greater diabetes-related emotional distress (OR=1.10, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.20).

Conclusions Approximately half of the patients showed interest in using an ICT-based self-management tool. Willing patients may expect ICT-based self-management tools to complement outpatient visits and to make self-management easier. Starting with patients who display the willingness factors might optimize programs based on such tools.

  • Self-Management
  • Information Technology
  • Needs Assessment
  • Observational Study

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjdrc-2016-000322

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors TS (the first author) designed the research, collected and analyzed the data, and wrote the manuscript. KW designed the research, interpreted the data, and revised the manuscript. NT collected the data and contributed to the discussion. AI, NY-M, and SY advised about analyses and reviewed the manuscript. HF recruited participants and supervised the research. SK, KF, TY, TK, and KO contributed to the discussion. HW, YI, TS, MK, and RS recruited participants and reviewed the manuscript.

    • Funding This study was funded by NTT DOCOMO and was partly supported by Japan Society for Promotion of Science KAKENHI grant numbers 26460858 to KW.

    • Disclaimer Employees of NTT DOCOMO were not involved in any procedures of this study: design, collection or analysis of the data, or writing the manuscript.

    • Competing interests This study was conducted at the Department of Ubiquitous Health Informatics, which is engaged in a cooperative program between the University of Tokyo and NTT DOCOMO, the funder of the study. KW, NT, SY, HF, SK and KF are members of the department.

    • Ethics approval Research Ethics Committee of Graduate School of Medicine and Faculty of Medicine, The University of Tokyo.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Data sharing statement Request for additional unpublished data can be made to the corresponding author and will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. These data may be available with consent of our study team and proper IRB approval.