Volume 8, Issue 1 (3-2026)                   sjmshm 2026, 8(1): 7-15 | Back to browse issues page


XML Persian Abstract Print


Download citation:
BibTeX | RIS | EndNote | Medlars | ProCite | Reference Manager | RefWorks
Send citation to:

Hosseini A H, Balaghafari A, Siamian H. Mobile Health Applications in Supporting Self-Care for Parkinson’s disease: A Scoping Review. sjmshm 2026; 8 (1) :7-15
URL: http://sjmshm.srpub.org/article-3-252-en.html
1- Student Research Committee, Department of Health Information Technology, School of Allied Medical Sciences, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran
2- Department of Health Information Technology, School of Allied Medical Sciences Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences Sari Iran
3- Associate Professor, Department of Health Information Technology, School of Allied Medical Sciences, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Mazandaran, Iran , siamian.pira@gmail.com
Abstract:   (96 Views)
Parkinson’s disease is one of the most common progressive neurological disorders, characterized by a wide range of motor and non-motor symptoms that negatively affect patients’ quality of life. Due to the chronic nature of the disease and the need for continuous care, supporting patients’ self-care is of particular importance. Mobile health applications, as one of the digital health technologies, can facilitate continuous symptom monitoring and enhance patients’ self-management. This study aimed to investigate the role of mobile health applications in supporting self-care among patients with Parkinson’s disease. This study was conducted as a scoping review based on the six-stage framework proposed by Arksey and O’Malley. A systematic search was performed in PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, SID, and Magiran databases from 2006 to January 1, 2026. After removing duplicates and screening titles, abstracts, and full texts according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 14 eligible studies were included in the final analysis. Data related to study characteristics, application types, and key findings were extracted and analyzed descriptively. The findings showed that mobile health applications were mainly used in three areas: symptom monitoring, improvement of self-management, and enhancement of patient-centered outcomes. The main features of these applications included symptom recording, medication reminders, home-based exercise programs, performance feedback, and communication with healthcare providers. The results of many studies indicated that the use of these applications was associated with increased physical activity, improved medication adherence, enhanced self-efficacy, reduction of some motor and non-motor symptoms, and improved quality of life. In addition, most patients and caregivers evaluated these tools as useful and user-friendly. However, technical problems, limited digital literacy, reduced motivation for long-term use, and heterogeneity of findings were reported as major challenges. Mobile health applications have considerable potential to support self-care among patients with Parkinson’s disease and may contribute to improving the daily management of the disease. However, further clinical trials with larger sample sizes and longer follow-up periods are required to determine the definitive effectiveness of these tools. Keywords: Digital Health, Self-Care, Self-Efficacy, Self-Management, Parkinson Disease
Full-Text [PDF 469 kb]   (77 Downloads)    
Type of Study: Research | Subject: Health Promotion Approaches
Received: 2025/11/12 | Revised: 2025/12/25 | Accepted: 2026/02/22 | Published: 2026/03/28

References
1. Siegert C, Hauptmann B, Jochems N, Schrader A, Deck R. ParkProTrain: an individualized, tablet-based physiotherapy training programme aimed at improving quality of life and participation restrictions in PD patients - a study protocol for a quasi-randomized, longitudinal and sequential multi-method study. BMC Neurology. 2019;19(1):143. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12883-019-1355-x [DOI:10.1186/s12883-019-1423-2] [PMID] [PMCID]
2. Armstrong MJ, Okun MS. Diagnosis and Treatment of Parkinson Disease: A Review. Jama. 2020;323(6):548-60. [DOI:10.1001/jama.2019.22360] [PMID]
3. Radder DLM, Lígia Silva de Lima A, Domingos J, Keus SHJ, van Nimwegen M, Bloem BR, et al. Physiotherapy in Parkinson's Disease: A Meta-Analysis of Present Treatment Modalities. Neurorehabil Neural Repair. 2020;34(10):871-80. [DOI:10.1177/1545968320952799] [PMID] [PMCID]
4. Twelves D, Perkins KS, Counsell C. Systematic review of incidence studies of Parkinson's disease. Mov Disord. 2003;18(1):19-31. [DOI:10.1002/mds.10305] [PMID]
5. Marras C, Beck JC, Bower JH, Roberts E, Ritz B, Ross GW, et al. Prevalence of Parkinson's disease across North America. NPJ Parkinsons Dis. 2018;4:21. [DOI:10.1038/s41531-018-0058-0] [PMID] [PMCID]
6. Mohammad Javd M. Population aging: a socio-demographic phenomenon. Womens Strategic Studies. 2016;19(73):153.
7. Chenoweth L, Gallagher R, Sheriff JN, Donoghue J, Stein-Parbury J. Factors supporting self-management in Parkinson's disease: implications for nursing practice. Int J Older People Nurs. 2008;3(3):187-93. [DOI:10.1111/j.1748-3743.2008.00123.x] [PMID]
8. Linares-Del Rey M, Vela-Desojo L, Cano-de la Cuerda R. Mobile phone applications in Parkinson's disease: A systematic review. Neurologia (Engl Ed). 2019;34(1):38-54. [DOI:10.1016/j.nrl.2017.03.006] [PMID]
9. Brown G, Alkhoury L, Shah SA, Krystal AD, Custodio N, Lanata S. Scalable biomarkers of Parkinson's disease: insights from mobile EEG in Peru. Scientific reports. 2026. [DOI:10.1038/s41598-026-42075-0] [PMID] [PMCID]
10. Emegano DI, Mustapha MT, Isaac EP, Ozsahin I, Uzun B, Ozsahin DU. Predictive modeling of vocal biomarkers for the diagnosis of Parkinson's disease. Cognitive neurodynamics. 2026;20(1):54. [DOI:10.1007/s11571-026-10426-2] [PMID] [PMCID]
11. Hu J, Yuan DZ, Zhao QY, Wang XF, Zhang XT, Jiang QH, et al. Acceptability and practicability of self-management for patients with Parkinson's disease based on smartphone applications in China. BMC Med Inform Decis Mak. 2020;20(1):183. [DOI:10.1186/s12911-020-01187-x] [PMID] [PMCID]
12. Sassen B. Nursing: Health education and improving patient self-management: Springer; 2018. [DOI:10.1007/978-3-319-51769-8] [PMCID]
13. Arksey H, O'Malley L. Scoping Studies: Towards a Methodological Framework. International Journal of Social Research Methodology - INT J SOC RES METHODOL. 2005;8:19-32. [DOI:10.1080/1364557032000119616]
14. Lee J, Yoo S, Kim Y, Kim E, Park H, Sohn YH, et al. Effect of the Yon PD App on the Management of Self-Care in People With Parkinson Disease: Randomized Controlled Trial. J Med Internet Res. 2025;27:e62822. [DOI:10.2196/62822] [PMID] [PMCID]
15. Bhalala KS, Mansoor H. PARKA AI: A Sensor-Integrated Mobile Application for Parkinson's Disease Monitoring and Self-Management. Bioengineering (Basel). 2025;12(10). [DOI:10.3390/bioengineering12101059] [PMID] [PMCID]
16. Lee J, Suh Y, Kim E, Yoo S, Kim Y. A Mobile App for Comprehensive Symptom Management in People With Parkinson's Disease: A Pilot Usability Study. Comput Inform Nurs. 2024;42(4):289-97. [DOI:10.1097/CIN.0000000000001089] [PMID]
17. Alves B, Mota PR, Sineiro D, Carmo R, Santos P, Macedo P, et al. MoveONParkinson: developing a personalized motivational solution for Parkinson's disease management. Front Public Health. 2024;12. [DOI:10.3389/fpubh.2024.1420171] [PMID] [PMCID]
18. Ahn JH, Shin D, Lee D, Kim HY, Youn J, Cho JW. Increasing exercise with a mobile app in people with Parkinson's disease: a pilot study. Brain Impair. 2024;25. [DOI:10.1071/IB23061] [PMID]
19. Putzolu M, Manzini V, Gambaro M, Cosentino C, Bonassi G, Botta A, et al. Home-based exercise training by using a smartphone app in patients with Parkinson's disease: a feasibility study. Front Neurol. 2023;14:1205386. [DOI:10.3389/fneur.2023.1205386] [PMID] [PMCID]
20. Lützow L, Teckenburg I, Koch V, Marxreiter F, Jukic J, Stallforth S, et al. The effects of an individualized smartphone-based exercise program on self-defined motor tasks in Parkinson's disease: a long-term feasibility study. J Patient Rep Outcomes. 2023;7(1):106. [DOI:10.1186/s41687-023-00631-6] [PMID] [PMCID]
21. Khachian A, Zeighami K, Khoubbin Khoshnazar TA, Haghani H. The Effectiveness of Self-Management Education Based on the Mobile Application on the Quality of Life of People with Parkinson's Disease. Middle East J Rehabil Health Stud. 2023;10(2). [DOI:10.5812/mejrh-131057]
22. Gassner H, Friedrich J, Masuch A, Jukic J, Stallforth S, Regensburger M, et al. The Effects of an Individualized Smartphone-Based Exercise Program on Self-defined Motor Tasks in Parkinson Disease: Pilot Interventional Study. JMIR Rehabil Assist Technol. 2022;9(4). [DOI:10.2196/38994] [PMID] [PMCID]
23. Kim A, Yun SJ, Sung KS, Kim Y, Jo JY, Cho H, et al. Exercise Management Using a Mobile App in Patients With Parkinsonism: Prospective, Open-Label, Single-Arm Pilot Study. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2021;9(8):e27662. [DOI:10.2196/27662] [PMID] [PMCID]
24. Theis S, Schäfer D, Haubrich C, Brandl C, Wille M, Kotz SA, et al., editors. Perceived Self-efficacy in Parkinson's Disease Through Mobile Health Monitoring. Lecture Notes in Computer Science; 2020: Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH. [DOI:10.1007/978-3-030-60149-2_57]
25. Kan V, Rajanen D, Opoku Asare KO, Ferreira D, editors. Demo: STOP: A Smartphone-based game for Parkinson's disease medication adherence2018: Association for Computing Machinery, Inc acmhelp@acm.org. [DOI:10.1145/3267305.3267598] [PMID] [PMCID]
26. Tsiouris KM, Gatsios D, Rigas G, Miljković D, Koroušić-Seljak BK, Bohanec M, et al. PD-Manager: An mHealth platform for Parkinson's disease patient management. Healthc Technol Lett. 2017;4(3):102-8. [DOI:10.1049/htl.2017.0007] [PMID] [PMCID]
27. Kim B, Baldwin J, Lukasiewicz K, Hallett M, Harrington J, Altemus A, et al. Development of Tablet Device App for Parkinson's Disease Patients' Continuous Self-Monitoring and Management. Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering. 2015;3(1):40-8. [DOI:10.2174/2213385203666150722234734]
28. Bartsch V, Knitza J. Digital health applications : A new approach in the management of comobidities. Z Rheumatol. 2025;84(10):798-804. [DOI:10.1007/s00393-025-01743-8] [PMID]
29. Bychkova I, Leichtfuß L, Olsavszky V. Medizinische Gesundheits-Apps für Psoriasis und Psoriasisarthritis. Zeitschrift für Rheumatologie. 2025;84(10):780-5. [DOI:10.1007/s00393-025-01745-6] [PMID] [PMCID]

Add your comments about this article : Your username or Email:
CAPTCHA

Send email to the article author


Rights and permissions
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.