Reimagined diabetic care approach: A qualitative study on the acceptability of mhealth interventions in a LMIC

Ola Sukkarieh, Leonard Egede, Mona Osman, Maya Bassil and Myrna A A Doumit

PLOS ONE, 2026, vol. 21, issue 2, 1-12

Abstract: Background: Lebanon is a lower-middle income country in the MENA region that continues to be drained structurally by the socioeconomic upheaval. The estimated prevalence of T2DM in Lebanese adults is 9%. Despite the rapid growing use of mHealth and favorable health outcomes worldwide, the impact is understudied in Lebanon. Purpose: Our study aimed to assess the acceptability of the use of mHealth intervention delivered via mobile phones that promotes diabetes self-management behaviors for Lebanese patients with T2DM. Design and Methods: We used a descriptive qualitative approach for the study. Nine study participants were recruited based on purposeful and maximum variation sampling. Interviews were analyzed using the conventional content analysis. Results: Analysis of the interviews revealed four major categories: (A) Transformative Approach to Care: Feeling Safe and Secure; (B) One Approach does not fit all; (C) Addressing psychological well-being; (D) Time and Economic gains. Conclusion: This study provides compelling evidence that mHealth is highly acceptable among Lebanese adults with T2DM and offers significant potential to enhance diabetes care in LMICs. Participants embraced mHealth as a complementary tool that enhances communication, supports psychological well-being, and reduces financial barriers.

Date: 2026
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0343711 (text/html)
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id= ... 43711&type=printable (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0343711

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0343711

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in PLOS ONE from Public Library of Science
Bibliographic data for series maintained by plosone ().