D-WISE - A Diabetes Web-Centric Information and Support Environment: An E-health Solution Operationalizing Behaviour Change Models and Clinical Guidelines for Patient-centered Diabetes Self-management

About 3 million Canadians live with diabetes that is associated with serious complications and enormous economic burden, both of which are preventable though proper diabetes management. Psychosocial and life-style factors along with proper control of blood sugar are vital in diabetes management. Psychosocial support and behavior change are important strategies for chronic disease management, and in case of diabetes the application of these strategies can help patient compliance with their therapies and lifestyle choices. This research project aims to use e-health technologies to empower patients to achieve self-efficacy in managing their diabetes in a home setting. The project will develop patient-centered interventions that will provide personalized behavior change strategies to diabetic patients to help them increase their knowledge and skills in self-management of diabetes. We will develop a mobile app that will proactively deliver educational and motivational messages to patients over their smart phone (or tablets) in order to help them manage their diabetes. For care providers, especially family physicians, we will develop a web-based decision support system that will help them administer evidence-based behavior change strategies for their diabetic patients. In summary, the project will offer a unique e-health framework to incorporate behavior change models to provide personalized self-management support to diabetic patients