Mobile Health Interventions to Support Self-Management in Youth with Type 1 Diabetes

Youth with type 1 diabetes face demanding daily self-management requirements. Mobile health interventions are a promising approach for supporting diabetes self-management both within clinical care and in everyday contexts. This review synthesizes recent evidence published between 2018 and 2024 on mobile health interventions designed to support self-management in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes.

Forty-four studies met inclusion criteria. Most were early-phase evaluations emphasizing feasibility, usability, and engagement. Across modalities, mHealth interventions were most successful at lowering hemoglobin A1c when they provided real-time, actionable support during insulin dosing or carbohydrate estimation. Engagement trajectory emerged as an important determinant of clinical benefit, suggesting that initial usability alone are insufficient to produce meaningful clinical impact. Mobile health interventions for youth with type 1 diabetes are feasible, acceptable, and effective for improving self-management processes and psychosocial outcomes. Glycemic improvements occur selectively when interventions provide point-of-need decision support and when engagement is sustained. Future research should prioritize mechanisms of action, strategies to support long-term engagement, and rigorous effectiveness-implementation trials to support scalable clinical impact.