The acceptability and practicability of smartphone applications in self- management of Parkinson's disease patients in China

Objective：To determine the practicability and attitudes among the elderly with Parkinson's disease (PD) in China unto the use of smartphone applications (APPs) for self-management of chronic condition. Methods：Patients with PD who participated in the study ranged in age from 52 to 87 years. Questionnaires were collected for attitudes towards using APPs for chronic condition from 204 PD patients, and the results were statistically analyzed. Results：The surveyed population had a smartphone ownership rate of about 65.19%; Among all patients, 82.84% were willing to use an APP for PD managing; among these patients, those who were inclined to use APPs were at younger ages, web users and with higher education, better medication adherence, longer PD courses, and worse conditions of PD（P＜0.001, P＝0.001, P＜0.001, P＝0.041, P<0.001, P＝0.013）. Additionally, the willingness of patients to use APPs for PD self-management is positively related to education level(P<0.001) while the age and PD course are negatively related to it (P=0.017, P<0.001). Conclusion：Patients with PD have relatively low smartphone coverage. They are positive about using APP to manage PD and thus using APPs to help manage PD is a practicable method. Consequently, it is still necessary to improve the smartphones’ coverage and develop practical and handy APPs for PD self-management.