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Appl Clin Inform 2025; 16(03): 698-707
DOI: 10.1055/a-2564-7682
Review Article

Consumer Involvement in the Co-Design of Diabetes Self-Management Smartphone Apps: A Scoping Review

Christie L. Martin    *
1   School of Nursing, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
,
Caitlin J. Bakker    *
2   Dr. John Archer Library and Archives, University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
,
Sayantani Sarkar 
3   Yale School of Nursing, Yale University, Orange, Connecticut, United States
,
Rachael M. Kang 
4   Department of Information Sciences, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland, United States
,
Nick F.H. Reid 
5   Department of Biomedical Informatics and Medical Education, University of Washington Seattle, Washington, United States
,
Ming-Yuan Chih 
6   College of Health Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, United States
,
Scott Sittig 
7   Department of Health Sciences, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, Louisiana, United States
,
Grace Gao 
8   School of Nursing, Saint Catherine University, Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States
,
Corey B. Smith 
9   Department of Pathology, University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States
,
Brad Morse 
10   School of Medicine-General Internal Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, Colorado, United States
,
Katherine K. Kim 
11   Department of Public Health Sciences, School of Medicine, University of California Davis, Davis, California, United States
,
Liliana Laranjo    **
12   Westmead Applied Research Centre, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Westmead Hospital, Westmead, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
,
Velma L. Payne    **
13   Kasiska Division of Health Sciences, Department of Community and Public Health, Idaho State University, Meridian, Idaho, United States
14   Department of Veterans Affairs, Boise VA Medical Center, Idaho, United States
› Author Affiliations
Funding None.
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Abstract

Objectives

Consumer involvement in the co-design of diabetes self-management smartphone apps is vital. This scoping review explored how consumers are involved in the co-design processes and methods and approaches guiding this research.

Methods

Our review was guided by Arksey and O'Malley's five-stage framework, PRISMA-ScR guidelines, and Witteman and colleagues' 11-item user-centered design (UCD-11) framework. We searched literature across five databases and examined types of consumer involvement in co-design and frequency of methods and approaches (i.e., co-design approaches, behavioral theories, and other frameworks), synthesizing findings in SPSS and Excel.

Results

Of the 14,206 initial items, 283 articles were included. Most studies were conducted in Asia (33.2%) and focused on type 2 diabetes (43.1%). All articles addressed at least one UCD principle, and prototype evaluation (UCD-3) was the most frequent (82.3%); 85.2% addressed iterative responsiveness (factor 2). Most articles (66.8%) did not report a particular method or approach; 20.5% used design-related approaches, with user-centered design being the most common (7.4%). Few articles (3.9%) utilized social cognitive theory.

Conclusion

Overall, co-design activities were isolated by phase. Consumers were primarily involved in evaluating prototypes and had limited engagement in the early stages. Iterative responsiveness factor activities were underreported or limited in scope. The use of approaches, theories, and frameworks was inconsistent. Consumer involvement in the co-design of diabetes self-management apps is often limited to later phases, with minimal engagement during the critical preprototype phase. To enhance the relevance, effectiveness, and adoption of diabetes self-management apps, app designers should improve the reporting of co-design activities and engage consumers across all co-design phases.

Keywords

smartphone - diabetes - self-management - consumer health informatics - mobile applications

Protection of Human and Animal Subjects

This project did not include human or animal subjects.


* Co-first author.


** Co-senior author.


Supplementary Material



Publication History

Received: 11 December 2024

Accepted: 21 March 2025

Article published online:
23 July 2025

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