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A Smartphone-Based Application for Self-Management in Multiple Sclerosis Publisher Pubmed



Mokhberdezfuli M1 ; Ayatollahi H3 ; Naser Moghadasi A2
Authors
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Authors Affiliations
  1. 1. Department of Health Information Management, School of Health Management and Information Sciences, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
  2. 2. Multiple Sclerosis Research Center, Neuroscience Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
  3. 3. Health Management and Economics Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Source: Journal of Healthcare Engineering Published:2021


Abstract

Background. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammation of the central nervous system and self-management is necessary for MS patients. The purpose of the present study was to develop a smartphone-based application for self-management in multiple sclerosis. Methods. This research was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, users' requirements were investigated by using a questionnaire. The participants were 120 MS patients and six neurologists. In the second phase, a prototype of the application was designed and its usability was evaluated by using QUIS questionnaire. Results. Most of the proposed educational content, data elements, and the application functions, such as medication time reminder, assessing the severity of fatigue, and calculating the score of the Fatigue Severity Scale were found necessary to be included in the application. Finally, the usability of the application was evaluated by the users and the average of mean values was 7.6 out of 9 which indicated a goodlevel of user satisfaction. Conclusions. The application designed in this study was able to collect patient data and facilitated consulting physicians at the point of need. It is expected that the patients' quality of life and health status can be improved by using this application. However, more research is required to investigate the efficiency and effectiveness of this application in terms of reducing the number of visits to the medical centers, improving self-management skills of MS patients and their quality of life. © 2021 Mahdieh Mokhberdezfuli et al.