A group-based motivational mobile application for people with diabetes

Abstract

\textit{Diabetes} is a disease defined by raised blood glucose levels, and people with the disorder have to adhere to a strict self-management regime to avoid short- and long-term complications. Today the World Health Organization reports that over 420 million people have diabetes, and the condition is one of the most common causes of death worldwide.

This thesis presents the design and implementation of a group-based motivational application for people with diabetes. The proposed application applies persuasive design techniques and aspects of motivational theory to help people stay motivated in their management of the disorder through groups. Thus, decreasing the risk for short- and long-term complications.

The result is \textit{Salutem}, an application where users can define custom goals, participate in groups, and receive progression updates and notifications that encourage them to motivate each other.

The thesis also shows how other applications can arise from openness with user data. For example, with other application's integration to modern technologies such as HealthKit, the proposed application gathers blood glucose data from the user's CGM through HealthKit.

Because of the ongoing pandemic, an extensive user study of the implemented system is not conducted. As a result, it could not be determined if the application will affect the user's motivation. However, a user study of the application's usability is conducted on a small group of users who reported that the application had an appealing design and work as intended.