Weak Educational Components in mHealth Devices for Diabetes Support Available on the Italian Market

mHealth is an expanding field of research and experimentation, concerned with the potentialities of mobile applications as tools to enhance patients’ abilities in the management of chronic conditions. In general, patient education seems to be an effective trigger for a better management of chronic conditions. However, most of the apps available on the market do not seem to have very developed educational functionalities. Moreover, most of them have not been tested through rigorous studies and it is not clear if they are based on solid theoretical models of behavior change or decision making. The present contribution is the first output of a research project aimed at designing and testing an app for diabetes patients.