MHealth applications prescribed alongside pharmaceutical prescriptions to manage adults’ chronic diseases : a scoping review

Abstract

Managing chronic illnesses is one of the many costly problems the healthcare industry faces. Nearly 71 percent of deaths worldwide occur due to chronic diseases each year, which is why the World Health Organization (WHO) has called for urgent action. This calls for creative and economical solutions to support the efficient management of these chronic illnesses in addition to medication as a response to these novel challenges to the healthcare system. Smartphone interventions through mobile health apps (mHealth) have emerged as one solution to this and many are already being used currently. This study aims to create awareness of the mHealth application that can be actively incorporated alongside pharmaceutical prescriptions by healthcare professionals to manage chronic diseases in adults. The following research objective supports this aim: to identify the most common prescribed mHealth applications used to monitor chronic diseases in adults and the barriers to the prescriptions of mHealth applications. The study adopted a scoping review as the methodology supported by the framework created by Arksey and O'Malley. The study was reported following the guidelines provided by the PRISMA extension for scoping reviews and inductive content analysis was used to examine and interpret its findings. The findings revealed that there are various mHealth apps available for managing various chronic illnesses such as diabetes, asthma, HIV, obesity, depression, dementia and skin cancer diseases, among others. These apps include Short Message Service (SMS) and Multimedia Message Service (MMS), Bant app, WellDoc app, MyBehavior, Asthmahero, eSkinHealth app, SkinScan, SkinVision, NLR SkinApp, MyFitnessPal, SmartDiet, MyMealMate (MMM), SuperBetter, iWander application, SMS and MMS, ITTM EasyWorlsand Twine Health App. This high number of mHealth apps available for chronic disease management may be attributed to the rapid technological advancements that have seen the development of these apps grow tremendously. These mHealth apps on smartphones or tablets facilitated the self-management behaviors of patients with chronic illnesses, hence the management of these diseases. Despite the significance of mHealth apps in helping to manage chronic illnesses, there are still several obstacles that appear to be impeding the adoption of mobile health (mHealth) in the healthcare industry. This study identified three types of barriers: those about the healthcare system, individuals and technology. Accordingly, the study recommended strategies to counter these challenges.