Designing and evaluating a mobile-based self-care program for patients with liver cirrhosis

Abstract

ABSTRACT Introduction: Today, despite the progress in the field of people's health, in many developed and developing countries, telemedicine has been considered to reduce costs, increase the quality of health care, save the time of doctors and patients, access of the general public to specialized services and become a fundamental pillar, It has changed in the health system. Considering that liver diseases, including liver cirrhosis, if left untreated, lead to liver transplantation and death of patients in the final stages, therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim of designing and evaluating a mobile-based self-care program for patients with liver cirrhosis. Objective: The present study was conducted with the aim of designing and evaluating a mobile-based self-care program for patients with liver cirrhosis. Methods: This study was of a descriptive-applied type and was conducted cross-sectionally in 2019-2020. In the first phase of the study, determining the data elements, work processes and required capabilities of the mobile-based self-care program for patients with liver cirrhosis was designed based on library studies and clinical guidelines for liver cirrhosis, searching in reliable databases and holding focus group meetings with the treatment team. In the next step, after designing the content, the sample application was designed. After the evaluation and approval of clinical and technical experts, the designed software was implemented in the real environment and evaluated with the cooperation of 30 patients. Results: For the design of the self-care application, all elements of extracted data were recognized as essential by 5 clinical experts and 4 technical experts. The application was designed in different parts such as the Model For End Stage Liver Diseases (MELD) calculator, medication reminders, locating when necessary, drug interactions and side effects, clinical information management, nutritional recommendations, and physical activity. The use of the application by the patients and their companions was determined to be essential with an average of 7.94 (out of a total of 9 points), which was evaluated at a good level. Conclusion: The application program was evaluated by the patients and their companions in the five dimensions of the QUIS questionnaire, including the overall function of the software, the screen, the set of terms and information of the software, the ability to learn the software, and the overall capabilities of the software at a good and satisfactory level.