Combination of a Self-Regulation Module and Mobile Application to Enhance Treatment Outcome for Patients with Acne

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Acne, an inflammatory disorder of the pilosebaceous unit associated with both physiological and psychological morbidities, should be considered a chronic disease. The application of self-regulation theory and therapeutic patient education has been widely utilized in different health-related areas to help patient with a chronic disease to attain better behavioral modification. The present study aims at investigating the treatment efficacy of combining a self-regulation-based patient education module with mobile application in acne patients. Materials and Methods: This was one-grouped pretest–posttest design at a single tertiary referral center with the enrollment of 30 subjects diagnosed with acne vulgaris. Relevant information was collected before (week 0) and after (week 4) treatment in the present study, including the Acne Self-Regulation Inventory (ASRI), Cardiff Acne Disability Index (CADI), and Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) that involved a questionnaire-based subjective evaluation of the patient’s ability in self-regulation and quality of life as well as clinical Acne Grading Scores (AGS) that objectively assessed changes in disease severity. To reinforce availability and feasibility, an individualized platform was accessible through mobile devices for real-time problem solving between hospital visits. Results: Thirty subjects completed the designed experiment. An analysis of the differences between scores of pretest and posttest of ASRI demonstrated substantial elevations (p < 0.001). The questionnaire survey of CADI and DLQI dropped significantly after the application of a self-regulation-based patient education module with a mobile application, revealing substantial reductions in both parameters (p < 0.001). The sign test demonstrated a remarkably significant difference in AGS (Z = −7.38, p < 0.001), indicating notable improvement in the clinical severity of acne after treatment. Conclusions: After incorporating modern mobile application, a self-regulation-based therapeutic patient education module could significantly improve treatment outcomes among acne patients.

Clinical experience and psychometric properties of the Cardiff Acne Disability Index (CADI)*

“…Both studies reported significant improvement in CADI scores following intervention, with the greatest improvement in the text‐message group. Additionally, one study reported the impact of patient education alongside the use of a mobile application on the enhancement of treatment outcome 59 …”

“…Additionally, one study reported the impact of patient education alongside the use of a mobile application on the enhancement of treatment outcome. 59 Four studies [60][61][62][63] reported using phototherapy in treating acne. Two studies reported CADI scores showing a significant improvement following intervention and two gave descriptive accounts of improvement in CADI score; however, P-values were not always reported.…”

“…Three studies [57][58][59] reported the outcome of nonpharmacological interventions with an educational focus (Table 4). One study compared the use of daily text-message reminders and patient information leaflets alongside the application of benzoyl peroxide, in comparison with standard patient instructions.…”

A mixed methods systematic review of digital interventions to support the psychological health and well-being of people living with dermatological conditions

“…Thus, we argue that the contents of this paper on trichotillomania are likely to be of relevance to the dermatology community, justifying its inclusion in this systematic review. Furthermore, we identified several papers at the full text screening stage which were of some relevance to this review, but these were excluded on the basis that they involved people as young as 12 (15,(87)(88)(89)(90) and 16 (91,92) years old and pooled the results (93)(94)(95)(96), preventing us from extrapolating the results specific to our population of interest. It is possible that we missed information related to the review questions by excluding these papers.…”

Psychodermatology of acne: Dermatologist's guide to inner side of acne and management approach

“…Many lesions such as, comedones, papules, pustules, nodules, and cysts can be seen together in patients, as well as causing scarring and pigmentation changes. AV may be associated with much physiological and psychological comorbidity in patients 1 …”