The project aims at the development and integration of mobile technologies in the management of type 2 diabetes to support patients in achieving their treatment goals and lifestyle modifications by delivering personalized and situational interventions. Moreover, health care professionals will benefit from these modern training and counseling strategies.
Eingereicht von: Mag. Melanie Roth, BSc
Firma/Universität: Fachhochschule Salzburg GmbH
Homepage: www.fh-salzburg.ac.at
Kooperationspartner: Privatklinik Wehrle-Diakonissen; Gemeinnützige Salzburger Landeskliniken Betriebsgesellschaft mbH; Salzburger Gebietskrankenkasse
Type 2 diabetes is a chronic metabolic disease with serious comorbidities, posing major challenges for health care systems worldwide. In May 2017, the Austrian Federal Ministry of Health published the Austrian Diabetes Strategy to structurally and strategically tackle the problems arising from the impact of type 2 diabetes affected individuals on the health care system. The strategy calls for personalized, low-threshold and adequate solutions that enable patients to manage their type 2 diabetes independently and proficiently. With respect to the projected increase in diabetes prevalence in Austria from currently 8-9% to 20% by 2030, the technology-supported self-sufficiency and independency of diabetes patients will be of utmost importance. Especially since drug treatment is more effective when combined with lifestyle modifications.
In order to increase quality of life and to reduce the risk of secondary diseases, long-term treatment adherence and sustainable lifestyle modification are needed. To achieve these desired long-term effects, active participation in educational programs and integration of treatment goals into everyday life by the patients is as relevant as intensive and high-quality counseling by the health care professionals involved.
Therefore, the project aims at the development and integration of mobile technologies in the management of type 2 diabetes in order to support patients in achieving their treatment and lifestyle modification goals by delivering personalized and situational interventions. In addition, health care professionals obtain tools for modern training and counseling strategies.
In line with the demands of personalized medicine, a personal digital coach, adapted to the living environment of each individual (demographic, socio-economic, and cultural factors) and to individual habits and preferences, will be developed. This continuous, personalized support solution will anchor diabetes therapy in the everyday life of those affected in order to achieve a higher treatment adherence and a long-lasting, positive lifestyle change. On the other hand, it will supply health care professionals with valid therapy and lifestyle relevant data such as the degree of implementation of lifestyle modifications, thus enabling an unparalleled ability for treatment adaptations.
The development of the mobile framework is based on an iterative process including all stakeholders. In a first step, type 2 diabetes educational programs in the federal province of Salzburg were systematically observed in order to gain insight into the problem areas regarding the transfer of educational content into everyday life. In addition, guided focus group discussions with diabetes advisors (specialized nurses), dietologists and diabetologists as well as with type 2 diabetes patients were performed to evaluate the challenges in the current standard of care procedures from a multi-professional perspective. Furthermore, this qualitative method gave insight into the perceptions and aspirations of the patients. The persons involved in the focus groups were also given the chance to generate ideas on linking points for the mobile technologies and their desired functions. The second step of the project is the development of the digital framework in an open and iterative process, in which currently a pilot study is being performed to test selected aspects of the alpha-version in a target patient cohort. The final step will be the assessment of the clinically relevant impact of the personalized, situational information delivered by the developed framework.