Project to use mobile app, smart scale for chronic disease self-management

The Center for Patient, Family, and Community Engagement in Chronic Care Management (CENTRIC) has funded a pilot project that will use a mobile app and smart scale for chronic disease self-management of co-occurring cardiometabolic conditions (hypertension, type II diabetes, obesity) in Hispanic/Latino adults.

Sheri Rowland, Ph.D., assistant professor at the UNMC College of Nursing Lincoln Division, will be principal investigator on the grant, along with co-investigators Athena Ramos, Ph.D., assistant professor in the UNMC College of Public Health, and Christine Eisenhauer, Ph.D., assistant professor in the UNMC College of Nursing Northern Division.

The investigators received a $50,000 grant titled “Feasibility, Acceptability, and Preliminary Impact of an mHealth Intervention on Cardiorespiratory Fitness in a Rural Hispanic Adult Population.”

“mHealth” refers to mobile health apps.

This is an intervention that will utilize consultations with a nurse practitioner, health promotion texts, and MyFitnessPal premium with a smart scale to self-monitor daily calories, steps, and weight. UNMC’s 36-foot mobile RV nursing clinic will travel to Columbus and Schuyler in Nebraska to reach participants and deliver the intervention. The intervention is expected to improve cardiorespiratory fitness and cardiometabolic health through development of health behavior self-monitoring using mHealth technology.

CENTRIC funds interventions for use in varied clinical and community settings that test the efficacy or effectiveness of self-management interventions for chronic conditions to reduce burden and disability, improve functioning and health-related quality of life, strengthen patient activation and participation in health care, and prevent illness and complications.

Go to the CENTRIC website to read the specific aims of this pilot as well as previously funded CENTRIC pilots.

If you are interested in learning more about CENTRIC and the pilot funding offered, visit the website.