Cocreation of Massive Open Online Courses to Improve Digital Health Literacy in Diabetes: Pilot Mixed Methods Study

Yolanda Alvarez-Perez; Lilisbeth Perestelo-Perez; Amado Rivero-Santana; Ana M Wagner; Alezandra Torres-Castaño; Ana Toledo-Chávarri; Andrea Duarte-Díaz; Dácil Alvarado-Martel; Barbara Piccini; Stephan Van den Broucke; Jessica Vandenbosch; Carina González-González; Michelle Perello; Pedro Serrano-Aguilar; IC-Health Project Consortium

doi:10.2196/30603

Cocreation of Massive Open Online Courses to Improve Digital Health Literacy in Diabetes: Pilot Mixed Methods Study

JMIR Diabetes. 2021 Dec 13;6(4):e30603. doi: 10.2196/30603.

Authors

Yolanda Alvarez-Perez^#¹, Lilisbeth Perestelo-Perez^{2

3

4}, Amado Rivero-Santana^{1

3}, Ana M Wagner^{5

6}, Alezandra Torres-Castaño¹, Ana Toledo-Chávarri^{1

3}, Andrea Duarte-Díaz¹, Dácil Alvarado-Martel^{5

6}, Barbara Piccini⁷, Stephan Van den Broucke⁸, Jessica Vandenbosch⁸, Carina González-González⁹, Michelle Perello¹⁰, Pedro Serrano-Aguilar^{2

3

4}; IC-Health Project Consortium¹¹

Affiliations

¹ Canary Islands Health Research Institute Foundation (FIISC), Tenerife, Spain.
² Evaluation Unit (SESCS), Canary Islands Health Service (SCS), Tenerife, Spain.
³ Health Services Research on Chronic Patients Network (REDISSEC), Tenerife, Spain.
⁴ Center for Biomedical Research of the Canary Islands (CIBICAN), Tenerife, Spain.
⁵ Department of Endocrinology and Nutrition, University Hospital Insular Materno-Infantil, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain.
⁶ Research Institute of Biomedical and Health Sciences, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain.
⁷ Diabetology Unit, Meyer University Children's Hospital, Florence, Italy.
⁸ Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain, Belgium.
⁹ Interaction, Technology, and Education Research Group, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of La Laguna, La Laguna, Spain.
¹⁰ Consulta Europa Projects and Innovation, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain.
¹¹ See Acknowledgements, .

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 34898453
PMCID: PMC8713090
DOI: 10.2196/30603

Abstract

Background: Self-management education is a fundamental aspect in the health care of people with diabetes to develop the necessary skills for the improvement of health outcomes. Patients are required to have the competencies to manage electronic information resources-that is, an appropriate level of digital health literacy. The European project IC-Health aimed to improve digital health literacy among people with diabetes through the cocreation of massive open online courses (MOOCs).

Objective: We report the preliminary results obtained in 3 participating countries in the IC-Health project (Italy, Spain, and Sweden) regarding (1) experience of the participants during the cocreation process of MOOCs, (2) perceived changes in their digital health literacy level after using MOOCs, and (3) a preliminary assessment of the acceptability of MOOCs.

Methods: The cocreation of the MOOCs included focus groups with adults and adolescents with diabetes and the creation of independent communities of practice for type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes participants aimed to co-design the MOOCs. Quantitative measures of the acceptability of MOOCs, experience in the cocreation process, and increase in digital health literacy (dimensions of finding, understanding, and appraisal) were assessed.

Results: A total of 28 participants with diabetes participated in focus groups. Adults and adolescents agreed that the internet is a secondary source of health-related information. A total of 149 participants comprised the diabetes communities of practice. A total of 9 MOOCs were developed. Acceptability of the MOOCs and the cocreation experience were positively valued. There was a significant improvement in digital health literacy in both adults and adolescents after using MOOCs (P<.001).

Conclusions: Although the results presented on self-perceived digital health literacy are preliminary and exploratory, this pilot study suggests that IC-Health MOOCs represent a promising tool for the medical care of diabetes, being able to help reduce the limitations associated with low digital health literacy and other communication barriers in the diabetes population.

Keywords: MOOC; diabetes; digital health literacy; health education.

©Yolanda Alvarez-Perez, Lilisbeth Perestelo-Perez, Amado Rivero-Santana, Ana M Wagner, Alezandra Torres-Castaño, Ana Toledo-Chávarri, Andrea Duarte-Díaz, Dácil Alvarado-Martel, Barbara Piccini, Stephan Van den Broucke, Jessica Vandenbosch, Carina González-González, Michelle Perello, Pedro Serrano-Aguilar, IC-Health Project Consortium. Originally published in JMIR Diabetes (https://diabetes.jmir.org), 13.12.2021.