Chinese Smartphone App for 6-18 Years With T1DM - RCT

Moving into the era of electronic communication, it changes the way we shall engage our children and adolescents. According to data of the Census and Statistics Department of Hong Kong releases in 2019, more than 80% and up to 99.4% of those aged 10-14 years, and aged 15-24 years respectively had a mobile phone device. A recent survey carried by Kebede et al. (2019) had shown that using diabetes apps was positively associated with self-care behavior in type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM). A systematic review carried in Spain by Quevedo Rodríguez et al. (2018) had found most of the available smartphone apps lacked quality certification and very few provide scientific references on their content. In Hong Kong, there is currently no Chinese smartphone application targeting for the pediatric type 1 population, therefore, most of the education is based on face-to-face or telephone communication with the diabetic nurse and endocrinologists in limited encounters. For families or patients with limited command of English language, apart from one adult oriented DM information smartphone application, the chance of having on-hand mobile device support is truly limited. In light of this context, we shall first design an evidence-based locally tailored Chinese smartphone application for pediatric type 1 DM and then evaluate its effectiveness in improving management of type 1 DM in a robust manner. The main research question for this project is whether a self-help smartphone application in local Chinese language, tailored to include local clinical practice, culture and food spectrum, can improve diabetes control and psychological wellbeing in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus aged 6-18 years. Eligible participants will be randomized to either using the smartphone application (on top of standard diabetic care) or continue standard diabetic care. The study aims to compare the difference between the two groups for their diabetic control and the psychological wellbeing.