Behavioral Intervention Functions in Type 2 Diabetes Apps: Literature Review

As type 2 diabetes (T2D) is expected to increase, self-management becomes more crucial. Mobile apps are increasingly supporting self-management with tasks like blood glucose monitoring and medication management. Understanding the behavioral intervention functions used by diabetes apps today, is essential for improving future apps and systems for diabetes management.

To analyze the behavioral intervention functions used in apps for managing T2D that integrate the three main elements: medication management, nutrition tracking, and blood glucose management.

We conducted a literature review on T2D diabetes apps using SCOPUS, PubMed, and PsycINFO. After screening and removing duplicates, we analyzed app details and behavioral intervention functions based on the Behavior Change Wheel (BCW) framework.

We reviewed 644 scientific publications describing diabetes apps in clinical studies, narrowing it down to 20 studies, including 16 unique apps, after screening and exclusions. These studies were published between 2016 and 2024. Among the identified apps, automatic processing of medication data was reported in one study, while blood glucose data were automatically processed in 13 studies. Nutrition data processing varied. Most apps used Enablement and Persuasion as behavioral intervention functions, with Education and Training reported less frequently. Environmental Restructuring, Incentivization, Coercion, Restriction, and Modeling were not reported as being used in any studies.

This review shows that while Enablement and Persuasion are common, other behavioral intervention functions seem to be underused or underreported. Future research could explore the potential of integrating additional behavioral intervention functions to enhance diabetes app efficacy and users' self-management.