Designing an Artifact to Empower Chronic Patients for Monitoring Health During a Pandemic: A COVID-19 Screening App

Chronic diseases have been declared an invisible epidemic by the World Health Organization (WHO, 2005). Over the past fifty years, the prevalence of chronic conditions has increased, leading to the disease burden caused by cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and mental and substance use disorders (DOH, 2021). Chronic patients need to reimagine how they will empower themselves to effectively manage and monitor their health and wellbeing in a COVID-19 era when frequent in-person health care visits will no longer be feasible. In this study, we propose the dimensions for the design of a mobile-based application that will aid chronic patients and end-users in self-managing and monitoring their health during the pandemic era. Based on an empirical investigation involving pharmacists and researchers, we designed and developed a prototype capable of empowering chronic patients. This study particularly focuses on how technological interventions can help chronic patients self-manage and monitor their health and well-being related to COVID-19 where the user expectations are met with less attrition rates.