Evaluation of Functionality and Usability on Diabetes Mobile Applications: A Systematic Literature Review

Objective: To systematically review the studies related to the functionality and usability evaluation of diabetes mobile apps. Method: We searched three electronic databases: PubMed, Scopus, and Cochrane. The search terms used were “mobile app”, “mobile application”, “diabetes”, and “evaluation”. We limited the articles to those that were written in English and published from January 1, 2006 to October 4, 2016. Results: There were seven articles focused on type 1 diabetes, two articles focused on type 2 diabetes, two articles focused on both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, nine articles focused on diabetes that authors did not state specific type. With regard to types of evaluation, only one study reported solely on functionality, seven studies reported usability, and twelve studies reported both functionality and usability. The methods used for evaluations included survey, interview, laboratory testing, user testing, questionnaire, expert evaluation, and heuristic evaluation. Conclusion: Future studies should consider the standard evaluation methods for evaluate functionality and usability of diabetes self-management (DSM) apps.