Evaluating the Knowledge Level, Practice, and Behavioral Change Potential of Care Managers in Pressure Injury...

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Nursing Research
• Public Health

Background:

• Mobile apps are increasingly used to enhance health knowledge and practices.
• Studies on apps for pressure injury (PI) prevention among home-care social welfare employees, specifically care managers (CMs), are scarce.
• PI is more prevalent in resource-limited home-care settings compared to acute care environments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the effectiveness of a mobile app (Pips-Map) in improving PI prevention knowledge, practice, and behavioral change potential among CMs.
• To test the hypothesis that CMs using a mobile app would show improved knowledge and practice in PI prevention.

Main Methods:

• A 6-month, single-arm, pre-post pilot study involving 27 Japanese CMs.
• Utilized a self-administered questionnaire to evaluate knowledge and practice before and after app use.
• Employed the App Behavior Change Scale to analyze behavioral change potential, adhering to CONSORT guidelines for pilot studies.

Main Results:

• Significant increase in mean knowledge scores (30.9 to 36.1, P=.0003) among 19 analyzed participants.
• Proportion of participants with adequate PI prevention knowledge (>70%) increased from 11% to 36.8% (P=.07).
• No statistically significant changes observed in practice scores (15.2 to 16.2, P=.16); usability and incentive concerns noted.

Conclusions:

• The Pips-Map app enhanced PI prevention knowledge among Japanese CMs after 6 months of use.
• The app did not significantly improve the practice level of CMs in PI prevention.
• App revisions are necessary to improve usability and incorporate incentives for better adaptation to home-based care needs and behavioral change.