The Development of Guideline to Promote Healthcare Behavior through Mobile Health (mHealth) Application on Peritoneal Dialysis Complication and Quality of Life in Patients Undergoing Peritoneal Dialysis during COVID-19 Situation

Abstract

This research and development aimed to develop and examine the effectiveness of guideline to promote healthcare behavior through mobile health (mHealth) application on peritoneal dialysis complication and quality of life in patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis during COVID-19 situation. The three phases study including phase 1: situation analysis, the samples consisted of the doctors, nurses, and patients/ caregivers (n = 10); phase 2: guideline development and feasibility study, the samples consisted of the nurses (n = 10) and patients/ caregivers (n = 15); and phase 3: examine the effectiveness of the guideline, the samples consisted of patients/ caregivers who were divided into the experimental group (n = 45) and the control group (n = 45). The research instruments included the guideline to promote healthcare behavior through mobile health (mHealth) application for complication prevention and quality of life promotion in patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis during COVID-19 situation, the semi-structured interview, the feasibility of guideline implementation questionnaire with reliability as .93, the demographic questionnaire, the Kidney Disease Quality of Life-Short Form version 1.3 (KDQOL-SF^TM 1.3), and the symptom and complication datasheet. The implementation and data collection were conducted from September, 2020 to January, 2021. Data were analyzed using content analysis, frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, Chi-square test, Fisher’s exact test, paired t-test, and independent t-test.

The research results revealed that 1) the guideline to promote healthcare behavior through mobile health (mHealth) application was the method to deliver the important knowledge information for the patient undergoing peritoneal dialysis to perform self-care behaviors via line application including health assessment, abnormal symptoms, common health problems, nutrition, regular use medicine, and health performance, 2) both nurses and patients/ caregivers indicated that the level of feasibility was high, 3) the experimental group had the incidence of peritoneal dialysis complications lower than those of the control group, and 4) after the experiment, the experimental group had statistically significant higher mean score of quality of life than those of before the experiment and those of the control group.

This research suggests that health care providers should apply this guideline to promote healthcare behavior through mobile health (mHealth) application to promote self-care behavior among patients undergoing peritoneal dialysis or promote caregiver capacity to provide care.