Mobile Health Education for Patients with Diabetes and Prediabetes: A Pilot Study on Knowledge, Motivation, and Lifestyle Change

Background: To evaluate the effectiveness of a pilot smartphone-based digital health education program in improving diabetes-related knowledge, motivation for lifestyle change, and lifestyle behaviors among adults with diabetes or prediabetes.Methods: We conducted a retrospective observational study using data from 38 adults (aged, 20–70 years; body mass index, ≥23 kg/ m2) with diabetes or prediabetes who participated in an 8-week “Health Curation Service” pilot program in 2024. The intervention delivered personalized health information via a mobile messenger (KakaoTalk) twice weekly (16 sessions) focusing on blood sugar management, diet, and exercise. Participants completed an online survey at program end assessing perceived improvements in diabetes knowledge, motivation for behavior change, and program satisfaction. Lifestyle behaviors were evaluated before and after the program using the diet quality score (0–100) and self-reported physical activity (MET-min/wk). Pre- and post-intervention measures were compared with the Wilcoxon signed-rank test (for 13 respondents, 34.2% response rate).Results: Participants reported high satisfaction with the program and perceived improvements in diabetes knowledge (mean score, 4.3/5) and motivation to change lifestyle behaviors (mean score, 4.0/5). The mean diet quality score showed no statistically significant change (79.8 pre-intervention vs. 79.4 post-intervention, P=0.67), although the number of participants classified as having “good” dietary habits (score≥80) increased from 6 to 9. Physical activity levels increased from 1,003.1 to 1,290.5 MET-minutes per week, but this change was not statistically significant (P=0.53).Conclusions: This pilot study suggests that a mobile health education program may be a feasible approach for delivering personalized health information to individuals with diabetes or prediabetes. However, no statistically significant changes were observed in diet quality or physical activity over the 8-week intervention. Further studies involving larger populations, extended follow-up periods, and more interactive components are needed to more rigorously evaluate the potential of mobile-based interventions for behavioral change in chronic disease management.