DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF ANDROID BASED MOBILE APP FOR DIABETIC FOOT EARLY SELF-ASSESSMENT

The most common serious complication associated with diabetes is diabetic foot ulcers. The main problem is the delay in early detection by the patient that is suspected to be the trigger for diabetic foot. For this reason, this condition requires creative, innovative, effective and easy breakthroughs that allow independent detection anytime and anywhere. This study aims to develop and validate mobile app; which is called the Android-based Mobile Diabetic Foot Early Self-Assessment (M-DFEET) app with simple features for self-use among type 2 diabetes patients. The research design used was a non-experimental quantitative study. Two steps were taken: developing mobile app, namely the M-DFEET app, and testing the internal consistency reliability and content validity of the tool. Five experts and thirty patients who had type 2 diabetes and did not have foot ulceration and severe systemic disorders were involved in assessing content validity, and internal consistency. The results of statistical analysis showed that the mobile app had acceptable content validity (I-CVI was 1.00) and good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.74). The M-DFEET app demonstrates a promising, valid and reliable feature to enable patients with type 2 diabetes to do early self-assessment for their feet. Through this mobile app, patients can perform early detection of diabetes independently anytime and anywhere, in addition to receiving ongoing health education. However, it is necessary to conduct further investigation on the usability and the effectiveness of the mobile app toward patient behaviour in preventing foot ulcers with long-term follow-up.