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A couple of brief questions, all responses appreciated!!

A

Aguyandanapp

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4
As a bit of background, I am currently developing an app for a business class a have a couple of brief questions. All responses are appreciated as they help supplement my current collection of research.
1. How do you log your carb and insulin consumption?
2. If using an app to help monitor diabetes, would a trophy system like fitbit help motivate you to stay in control? Examples of trophies: Tested 5 times a day for a week, stayed in ideal range for 75% of the week, Used less then x amount of insulin (in -terms of leveling out using insulin for basils and boulus the same)
Thank you all again!
 
Trophies and unlocks are a good incentive. People love unlocking things, good luck with the app.
 
I use mySugr and I log my bg, carbs and insulin values in it. They have challenges, which are fun to participate in, and do make me want to log more.

I strongly advise against "less than x amount of insulin". While less insulin is preferred for many (that means less carbs and less insulin resistance), a diabetic's needs differ per person, and even in the diabetic themselves. I may more need insulin on day X than I would on day Y even though I eat the same things and exercised the same amount. Setting goals for less insulin can potentially make people feel bad about needing more insulin (there's no shame in controlling your blood sugars), and then they end up taking less when they need more to meet the goal. This is very dangerous and can contribute to diabulimia.
 
What age is your target audience?
 
1) My pump logs carbs and insulin usage, all can be downloaded and viewed using the Diabass software.

2) No being rewarded with trophies wouldn't interest (or motivate) me in the slightest.

Good luck with the app
 
I use MySugar now which i find usefull for loging carbs and calculating dosage and linking the the freestyle libre. However one thin that would be an improvement is that currently the insulin/carb calculator only calculates the ratio based on carbs and current BS levels, it does not take account of any insulin on board therefore can only calulate insulin requirements 4 hours following last injection. What would be great is if the insulin dosage algorithm also took acount of insulin on board so that if i wanted a snack 2 hours after a meal the app would correctly calculate my new insulin requirementa taking account that i still have x amout of insulin still in my system. Hope this makes sense. - And No... games or challenges would not interest me - however could see the appeal if the app was designed to help children. Good luck with the app.
 

1. My pump records everything.

2. I don't see the point of trophies. Managing diabetes and the real life consequences is stressful enough without an app making up arbitrary goals. I would certainly question the value of the trophy examples you mention, staying in range can often be entirely out of my control based on illness, stess etc, being out of range is quite enough of a punishment without being given a punishment by some app of not getting a trophy, you shouldn't be limiting the amount of insulin you take, if your levels say you need a correction dose you need a correction dose - not taking insulin or seeing insulin as a bad thing to be limited seems a strange/dangerous approach.
 
I wouldn't like or want trophies either. Type 1 isn't about abiding by rules and then everything being ok. It doesn't work like that. It's possible to do everything right and still get bad results for reasons beyond your control.

Trophies would only work if Type 1 was a condition where 100% compliance gave 100% successs. But it isn't.
 
Just don't incorporate Facebook into it whatever you do. I'm not big on providing my personal information to facebook so they can sell the database to the highest bidder.

I'm looking at you Egypt.
 
Are you tackling this the right way? Personally I would decide who your target audience is first, and then decide what they want (or need to achieve) from an app. Offering trophies to me personally is futile. My rewards are achieving in-range sugars with minimal highs and lows - full stop. Trophies for a teenager may well be an exciting reward, but then if it encourages them to stop taking insulin or carbs, or take more insulin to induce hypos just to lower average BGs just to get trophies is simply dangerous. You are talking about a condition that has very real complications - I do wish you luck with the app, but I would definitely consider the underlying message portrayed by it.
 

That's what discailmers are for
 
mist said:
That's what discailmers are for
Click to expand...
Very true, but how many people actually read disclaimers !? From very bitter experience, I know that as a youngster growing up with diabetes, I had zero appreciation of the risks and this just feels like it is going to encourage risky behaviour in order to win trophies! If it encourages the right behaviour, then I am all for it, but that's why I suggest more investment needs to go into the targets.
 
MySugr does account for insulin on board. My version does at least!

 
It accounts for IOB from boluses. The risk becomes when you are doing TBRs and have higher than normal background insulin.
 
noblehead said:
It's a term used in pumping, a TBR stands for temporary basal rate.
Click to expand...
Ah right, thank you!

Regarding the trophies, I think they should be manually opt-in at all times and be phrased carefully.

They should be fun, not stressful. If you phrase a challenge as 'How about today we try to achieve ___?" and provide useful tips for self-management, it feels very different than if it were a "Today you're not allowed to ____". The focus should be on 'let's make trying your best something fun' rather than 'let's make trying your best the daily drag it always is'. This is not for everyone, of course, but people like myself benefit hugely from it.

After-care in these things is also important. If I fail a challenge in my app, I get words of encouragement. 'It's okay, it happens! Let's try again another time!' I even get this when I log hypers and hypos, and it really helps me not blame myself for the less than ideal values. It reinforces the idea that my aim is to do my best, not to be perfect, because perfection doesn't exist.

This is also why trophies and challenges can be brutal and devastating. If you don't develop them right, they're going to increase stress and feel like punishment. It's a delicate line to walk, for sure.
 
I'm afraid I'm with the "forget the trophies" crowd.
 
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