The Role of Mobile Phones in Adolescent T1DM: A Review of the Literature

Abstract

Adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) often struggle with the requirements of diabetes management and treatment regimen adherence, leading to poor glycemic control and self-management (Kovacs, Goldston, Obrosky, and Iyengar, 1992; Rausch et al., 2012). Many interventions have been proposed to help adolescents improve glycemic control and self-management, but despite these interventions, optimal control continues to be a challenge. Over the past decade, the use of mobile phones to improve diabetes management among adolescents has come to the forefront.More than three fourths of teens have cell phones, almost half of which are smartphones (Madden, Lenhart, Duggan, Cortesi, and Gasser, 2013). The majority of teens have some type of mobile app on their phone, and almost 90% use their phones to send and receive text messages (Lenhart, Ling, Campbell, and Purcell, 2010; Madden, Lenhart, Cortesi, and Gasser, 2013). With mobile phone use becoming so widespread and common among adolescents, mobile-phone-based interventions (MPBIs) could address some of the challenges adolescents with T1DM face on a daily basis. The purpose of this article is to review the literature on MPBIs in adolescents with T1DM and determine their efficacy in improving glycemic control and self-management.