Enhancing Self-Care Education in Celiac Disease Through Mobile Health: A Systematic Review

Celiac disease is a common autoimmune disorder that is triggered in genetically susceptible individuals by consuming the gluten component naturally occurring in wheat, barley, and rye, leading to the destruction of the villi in the short intestinal segment. The only treatment for this disease is to eliminate gluten from the diet, and so far, no other treatment has been found. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of mobile health on educating individuals about self-care for celiac disease.

This systematic review was performed by exploring the reliable scientific databases PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus. The keywords self-care, celiac, and mobile health were examined without time limitation. English-language studies that investigated the role of mobile health in teaching self-care for celiac disease met the study inclusion criteria. Titles and abstracts were separately examined according to the eligibility criteria, and afterward, the full texts of the articles were assessed.

A total of 1342 articles were retrieved, and 10 pertinent articles were selected for inclusion in the study. Sixty-five percent of patients with celiac disease suffer from symptoms and pain caused by the disease, which have been reduced through self-care education and the use of mobile health. In addition, in 5 studies (50%), the role of mobile health in improving of celiac disease and the satisfaction of patients with it was mentioned. In 5 articles (50%), mobile health applications were also referred to for self-care education of celiac disease, which proved to be very useful and effective, enabling users to take care of themselves by creating order in their diet plan.

The results of this study showed overall satisfaction with self-care education in celiac disease. Moreover, self-care education through mobile health has played an effective role in improving the quality of life and psychological-social outcomes of patients.