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Assessing the Use of Mobile Health Technology by Patients: An Observational Study in Primary Care Clinics

BACKGROUND: There is significant potential for mobile health technology to improve health outcomes for patients with chronic diseases. However, there is a need for further development of mobile health technology that would help to improve the health of lower-income communities. OBJECTIVE: The study...

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Autores principales: Ramirez, Veronica, Johnson, Emily, Gonzalez, Cesar, Ramirez, Vanessa, Rubino, Barbara, Rossetti, Gina
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: JMIR Publications Inc. 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4858592/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27095507
http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/mhealth.4928
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author Ramirez, Veronica
Johnson, Emily
Gonzalez, Cesar
Ramirez, Vanessa
Rubino, Barbara
Rossetti, Gina
author_facet Ramirez, Veronica
Johnson, Emily
Gonzalez, Cesar
Ramirez, Vanessa
Rubino, Barbara
Rossetti, Gina
author_sort Ramirez, Veronica
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: There is significant potential for mobile health technology to improve health outcomes for patients with chronic diseases. However, there is a need for further development of mobile health technology that would help to improve the health of lower-income communities. OBJECTIVE: The study objective was to assess mobile phone and app usage among a culturally diverse patient population, and to determine whether patients would be interested in using mobile health technology to help manage their chronic diseases. METHODS: An observational study was conducted with patients of the Internal Medicine resident primary care clinics of Los Angeles County and University of Southern California (LAC+USC) Medical Center. Self-reported information regarding demographics, current mobile phone usage, current mobile health app and social media usage, barriers to using mobile phones or mobile health apps, and interest in using a mobile health app was collected. RESULTS: Ninety-one percent of patients owned a mobile phone, with 76% (169/223) of these reporting having a mobile phone with Internet capability. Fifty-seven percent of subjects used mobile apps on their mobile phones, and 32% (41/130) of these used mobile apps related to their health. Eighty-six percent (207/241) of respondents voiced interest in using a mobile app to improve their health, and 40% (88/221) stated they would use such an app daily. Patients stated they would find the mobile health app most useful for nutrition, exercise, and obtaining general information on medical conditions. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the fact that the majority of our primary care patients were of lower socioeconomic status, they utilized mobile phones with Internet and mobile app capabilities to a great extent. There was substantial interest among our patients in using mobile health technology to both manage chronic disease and improve overall health. Given that cultural, educational, and socioeconomic disparities strongly correlate with higher rates of chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes and hypertension, access to culturally relevant mobile health tools may empower patients in these populations to improve health outcomes.
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spelling pubmed-48585922016-05-23 Assessing the Use of Mobile Health Technology by Patients: An Observational Study in Primary Care Clinics Ramirez, Veronica Johnson, Emily Gonzalez, Cesar Ramirez, Vanessa Rubino, Barbara Rossetti, Gina JMIR Mhealth Uhealth Original Paper BACKGROUND: There is significant potential for mobile health technology to improve health outcomes for patients with chronic diseases. However, there is a need for further development of mobile health technology that would help to improve the health of lower-income communities. OBJECTIVE: The study objective was to assess mobile phone and app usage among a culturally diverse patient population, and to determine whether patients would be interested in using mobile health technology to help manage their chronic diseases. METHODS: An observational study was conducted with patients of the Internal Medicine resident primary care clinics of Los Angeles County and University of Southern California (LAC+USC) Medical Center. Self-reported information regarding demographics, current mobile phone usage, current mobile health app and social media usage, barriers to using mobile phones or mobile health apps, and interest in using a mobile health app was collected. RESULTS: Ninety-one percent of patients owned a mobile phone, with 76% (169/223) of these reporting having a mobile phone with Internet capability. Fifty-seven percent of subjects used mobile apps on their mobile phones, and 32% (41/130) of these used mobile apps related to their health. Eighty-six percent (207/241) of respondents voiced interest in using a mobile app to improve their health, and 40% (88/221) stated they would use such an app daily. Patients stated they would find the mobile health app most useful for nutrition, exercise, and obtaining general information on medical conditions. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the fact that the majority of our primary care patients were of lower socioeconomic status, they utilized mobile phones with Internet and mobile app capabilities to a great extent. There was substantial interest among our patients in using mobile health technology to both manage chronic disease and improve overall health. Given that cultural, educational, and socioeconomic disparities strongly correlate with higher rates of chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes and hypertension, access to culturally relevant mobile health tools may empower patients in these populations to improve health outcomes. JMIR Publications Inc. 2016-04-19 /pmc/articles/PMC4858592/ /pubmed/27095507 http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/mhealth.4928 Text en ©Veronica Ramirez, Emily Johnson, Cesar Gonzalez, Vanessa Ramirez, Barbara Rubino, Gina Rossetti. Originally published in JMIR Mhealth and Uhealth (http://mhealth.jmir.org), 19.04.2016. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/) ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in JMIR mhealth and uhealth, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on http://mhealth.jmir.org/, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.
spellingShingle Original Paper
Ramirez, Veronica
Johnson, Emily
Gonzalez, Cesar
Ramirez, Vanessa
Rubino, Barbara
Rossetti, Gina
Assessing the Use of Mobile Health Technology by Patients: An Observational Study in Primary Care Clinics
title Assessing the Use of Mobile Health Technology by Patients: An Observational Study in Primary Care Clinics
title_full Assessing the Use of Mobile Health Technology by Patients: An Observational Study in Primary Care Clinics
title_fullStr Assessing the Use of Mobile Health Technology by Patients: An Observational Study in Primary Care Clinics
title_full_unstemmed Assessing the Use of Mobile Health Technology by Patients: An Observational Study in Primary Care Clinics
title_short Assessing the Use of Mobile Health Technology by Patients: An Observational Study in Primary Care Clinics
title_sort assessing the use of mobile health technology by patients: an observational study in primary care clinics
topic Original Paper
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4858592/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27095507
http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/mhealth.4928
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