title: Exploring the Challenges and Opportunities of Health Mobile Apps for Individuals with Type 2 Diabetes Living in Rural Communities.
abstract: Many adults with type 2 diabetes (T2D), living in rural communities, are not optimally managing the disease through their diet and physical activities. Mobile apps have the potential to facilitate self-management activities, such as providing educational content, assisting with problem solving, and self-regulation. The goal of this study was to understand the perceived barriers, benefits, and facilitators among rural adults with T2D regarding the use of free mobile apps available in Apple App store or Google Play store for diabetes management or behavior monitoring.
  
  
  
  Four focus groups were conducted with 18 participants with T2D who owned a smartphone (age: M = 54.4, SD = 12.7; 27.8% male). The participants were asked about their general app and health-specific app usage. They were then shown features of four apps related to diabetes self-management (Glucose Buddy, mySugr, MyFitnessPal, and MapMyWalk) and prompted to provide feedback. The focus groups were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and coded using inductive thematic analysis.
  
  
  
  Four themes were identified as follows: (1) perceived barriers to use or continuous use, (2) perceived benefits of desired features of diabetes self-management, (3) facilitators to motivate use, and (4) information sharing with family, friends, and health professionals.
  
  
  
  The findings provide initial user perceptions regarding the feasibility and acceptability of mobile apps for T2D self-management. These findings regarding perceived barriers, benefits, and facilitators can guide the development and design of apps for individuals with T2D and help researchers determine best practices when developing apps for other chronic conditions.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Media and Information, Michigan State University , East Lansing, Michigan.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: 2 Department of Advertising and Public Relations, Michigan State University , East Lansing, Michigan.
authors.forename: Shupei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.affiliation: 2 Department of Advertising and Public Relations, Michigan State University , East Lansing, Michigan.
authors.forename: Bree E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Holtz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D063731:Mobile Applications; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D012424:Rural Population; D012648:Self Care / Q000379:methods*; D000068997:Smartphone; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000379:methods*
keywords: chronic disease self-management; health mobile apps; m-health; qualitative research; rural community; technology adoption; telemedicine; type 2 diabetes