Take it Personally: Accounting for Individual Difference in Designing Diabetes Management Systems

摘要

The goal of this study was to investigate how diabetes patients use health information to support their daily disease management. A qualitative interview study was conducted with type-2 diabetes patients and healthcare providers. The analysis suggests that individual diabetes patients have a unique way of managing their care through the interpretation of personal health experiences. The ways in which patients learn to interact with their diabetes are detailed in this paper in four themes: understanding typical life routine, accommodating atypical activities, disproving & discovering healthy tips and reevaluating personal expectations. The findings of this study call for a diabetes management system that addresses a patient's physiological, social and psychological activities within the process of individual disease management. The finding opens up new opportunities for designing interactive systems to account for individual differences, encouraging positive patient involvement and sustaining long-term health outcomes.