Design and Evaluation of a Mobile-Based Self-care Application for Chronic Kidney Disease Patients

Maryam  Jahany; Bahareh  Marghoob; Shadi Hazhir; Vijayakumar  Varadarajan; Seyed Ali Fatemi Aghda; Mohammad Hossein  Langarizadeh

doi:10.22034/AIMI.2026.19.11

Authors

Maryam Jahany Department of Health Information Management, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Bahareh Marghoob Hasheminejad Kidney Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Shadi Hazhir Student Research Committee, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
Vijayakumar Varadarajan EAI Fellow, Visiting Professor, School of Engineering ,University Of Diponegoro, Indonesia
Seyed Ali Fatemi Aghda Mother and Newborn Health Research Center, Comprehensive Research Institute for Maternal and Child Health, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran Corresponding Author
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4099-1879
afatamy@yahoo.com
Mohammad Hossein Langarizadeh Department of Computer Sciences, Faculty of Mathematics Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22034/AIMI.2026.19.11

Keywords:

Chronic kidney disease, Educational Needs Assessment, mobile health (mHealth), self-management, Health Apps, smartphone

Abstract

Introduction: The global prevalence of chronic diseases, including chronic kidney disease (CKD), is on the rise, leading to numerous challenges for patients, their families, and governments. Mobile health interventions have the potential to improve quality of life in chronic patients. This study aimed to design and evaluate a mobile-based self-care application for CKD patients.

Material and Methods: This study was conducted in three phases in 2024. Initially, by reviewing previous studies and specialized guidelines, the informational needs and capabilities of the self-care application were extracted and validated through a questionnaire distributed to 25 physicians and 15 CKD patients at teaching hospitals in Iran. Then, the application was designed based on the validated needs using Basic4Android (B4A) environment. The usability of the application was evaluated by 60 patients using the user interface satisfaction (QUIS) questionnaire.

Results: The validated informational elements were categorized into five main domains: clinical history, disease information, lifestyle, medication and application functions, with 55 out of 61 items being approved. The usability evaluation of the application, conducted by the patients, received an average score of 8.16±0.48 out of 9 and was reported to be good.

Conclusion: The use of mobile health, taking into account the views of physicians and patients, leads to better design, increased usability and user satisfaction of the application.

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