Long-Term Engagement with Health-Management Technology: a Dynamic Process in Diabetes

Diabetes management is a complex, dynamic process that is largely incumbent on patient choices and behavior. We explore how health-management needs-and the needs for technological support-change over time for individuals with diabetes. Through interviews and a focus group, we found that after initial diagnosis, individuals face acute information needs and chiefly turn to mobile applications and Internet resources to help understand the diabetes-specific factors that affect their health. Over time their focus shifts from highly regimented routines to more flexible ones that enable them to maintain a quality of life. Our results suggest that long-term engagement with health technology does not necessarily require continuous, sustained use: routine disease management could lead to a decrease in use, until a new event occurs. Our findings point to a need for tools that help patients with diabetes to effectively manage their health as their bodies, treatment and circumstances change over time.