Design, feasibility, and acceptability of an intervention using personal digital assistant-based self-monitoring in managing type 2 diabetes.

Background: The information processing demands associated with behavioral self-management of diabetes are extensive. Pairing personal digital assistant (PDA)-based self-monitoring with a behavioral self-management intervention may improve adherence and patient outcomes.

Methods: ENHANCE is a randomized controlled trial to test an intervention designed to improve regimen adherence in adults with type 2 diabetes.

A preliminary study of PDA-based dietary self-monitoring in hemodialysis patients.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to pilot test an intervention to enhance the adherence of study participants to the hemodialysis dietary regimen.

Design: A single case study design was used to examine the potential effectiveness of the intervention over a 4-month period of time.

Setting: A dialysis center in southwestern Pennsylvania.

Self-monitoring dietary intake: current and future practices.

This article reviews the literature on the use of paper diaries for self-monitoring food intake, identifies the strengths and limitations of paper-and-pencil diaries and their new counterpart, the electronic diary or personal digital assistant (PDA), and reports how participants were trained to use a PDA with dietary software in two pilot studies--one with hemodialysis patients and the other with participants in a weight loss study. The report of the pilot studies focuses on the practical issues encountered in training participants in the use of a PDA and addresses the pros and cons of different dietary software programs. Six hemodialysis patients were trained in the first study and seven participants attempting to lose or maintain their weight were trained in the second pilot study.