Diabetes is a major cause of disability in the aging Chinese population, and many of them located in rural areas don’t have immediate access to health care. A team of researchers in China have developed a smartphone technology that they believe could help diabetics.
Called the Chinese Aged Diabetic Assistant or CADA, the technology aims to provide assistance to patients and doctors alike. The program can monitor the patient’s blood pressure, weight, diet, exercise routine, mood and blood glucose levels. It is also designed to be interactive so that the patients will learn self-management that’s right for their condition. When the project started, the developers were not aiming for program that’s centered on gaming. But further studies on the target population revealed that gaming “was a persuasive way to engage patients in managing their personal health.” According to ScienceDaily, one of the games in the program is a food pyramid game that’s designed to encourage patients to eat healthy. There’s also a trivia game and a tile-matching game that aims to educate the patients on what’s needed to live a healthy lifestyle.
The program was designed for the smartphone since the researchers found that many of the patients are already in possession of mobile phones and smartphones, making the devices a logic choice for the patients to be interested in the technology. Moreover, smartphones are mobile, giving the developers more options for the technology’s improvement. In the future, developers aim to improve the technology so that patients will be able to send their information to health care providers.
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