A New Digital Health Program for Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Preliminary Program Evaluation

Area of Science:

• Gastroenterology
• Digital Health
• Patient-Reported Outcomes

Background:

• Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic gastrointestinal condition with unpredictable relapses and remissions.
• Common symptoms include fatigue, stress, and poor sleep quality, impacting patient well-being.
• Current care models struggle with timely assessment and personalized treatment for IBD.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate a novel 16-week digital health program (SK-311 and SK-321) for patients with IBD.
• To analyze user engagement and preliminary effectiveness, focusing on fatigue, stress, and sleep quality.
• To assess the feasibility of digital health interventions in managing IBD.

Main Methods:

• Recruitment of adult IBD patients through online channels for a real-world digital health program.
• Tracking of platform engagement via event logs and self-reported outcomes (stress, fatigue, sleep).
• No strict inclusion/exclusion criteria were applied, reflecting a real-world setting.

Main Results:

• 205 participants (46.2%) were included in the intention-to-treat sample, with high weekly engagement.
• Completers (39%) showed significant reductions in stress (-23.26%) and improvements in energy levels (9.48%).
• No significant improvements were observed in sleep quality.

Conclusions:

• The digital health program (SK-311 and SK-321) is feasible for IBD patients.
• Completion of the program may significantly improve patient-reported stress and energy levels.
• These findings support the use of this digital health program as a complementary approach to standard IBD care.