Methods: A randomized controlled trial was performed in this study. The participants were 51 adults with chronic HBV from out-patient clinic at S university medical center, Seoul, Korea (Experimental group: EG 27, Control group: CG 26). Self-management application, Hep B Care®, was developed based on the theory of Self-Care of Chronic Illness by investigators and this application provided the information including disease process, medication, nutrition, and exercise, encouraged taking medication and performing exercise using alarming, and exchanged messages between healthcare providers and patients to encourage self-management for 12 weeks using Hep B Care®. Saliva cortisol, fatigue, depression, anxiety, knowledge for HBV, and quality of life (QoL) were measured as health outcomes of the Hep B Care®. QoL was measured using Hepatitis B Quality of Life Questionnaire and fatigue was measured using the Rivised Piper Fatigue Scale. Beck 's Depression Inventory and Beck Anxiety Inventory were used to measure depression and anxiety in this study.
Results: Two-thirds of participants were men and the mean ages were 56.8 ±7.2 years in EG and 54.8±7.2 years in CG. There were no differences of genrenal and clinical characteristics between two groups. After received intervention, cortisol level of EG presented the incresed trend but there was not significant difference between two groups. Knowledge level of HBV was significantly improved and the mean anxiety score was significantly decreased in EG after intervention. However, fatigue and QoL were not different between two groups.
Conclusion: Self-management program using smartphone application partially improved health outcomes such as knowledge and anxiety in patients with chronic HBV. The various intervention models should be developed to improve health outcomes for HBV patients.