The User-Centered Design of a Clinical Dashboard and Patient-Facing App for Gestational Diabetes

The number of pregnancies affected by gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is growing. With the increased use of smartphones and predictive modeling, a mobile health (mHealth) solution could be developed to improve care and management of GDM while streamlining care through risk stratification.

A user-centered mHealth tool was designed from ethnographic observations and 11 semi-structured interviews (six health care professionals [HCPs] and five women with GDM), followed by iterative changes and evaluation from three feedback groups with 31 participants (17 HCPs, 14 researchers) and 13 questionnaires with women with GDM.

"MyGDM" includes a clinical dashboard that centralizes the clinic's patients, highlighting off-target blood glucose and predicting the need for pharmacological intervention. It is linked with a patient-facing app that includes structured education, culturally inclusive language options, and meal ideas. Through the feedback sessions, iterative changes were made around visualization and patient safety, and participants were positive toward the potential user experience. In the 13 questionnaires with women with GDM, 100% said it would fit into their lifestyle and help them manage GDM. Educational resources and the "request a call" functions were well received with 61.5% (8/13) and 69.2% (9/13) saying they were very likely or likely to use these, respectively.

A user-centered mHealth tool consisting of a clinical dashboard linked with a patient-facing app for GDM care and management has been designed. Evaluation of the interactive design by end users was positive and showed that it met their needs.