Abstract
Pervasive mobile solutions are being designed by many stakeholders to continuously manage chronic diseases. A central issue with these solutions is their (a) fidelity to the established standards of care and (b) usability and acceptability to providers of care, recipients of care, and other stakeholders in the care. We first present preliminary results of a multi-country longitudinal study of the efficacy of such solutions for diabetes care. The objective of the studies is to establish the proof of concept of fidelity and usability of a pervasive mobile solution to facilitate self-care by diabetes patients. The studies are being conducted in Australia, Canada, China, Germany, and the United States. In each country, the study was approved by the respective ethics committees. Subsequently, the solution was tailored to the local data site adopting a user-centered approach. Last, a randomized control trial with a two-period crossover clinical trial strategy was adopted. Results to date establish the benefits of a pervasive mobile solution and highlight the need for a universal systematic approach to envision the benefits of such solutions. An ontology for diabetes care informed by insights to date from the multiple trials addresses this need. The proffered ontology is the theoretical contribution of this paper.