Wearable technology in the management of complex chronic illness: preliminary survey results on self-reported outcomes

Home-monitoring based mobile applications are feasible and acceptable for a motivated subgroup of people with energy-limiting complex chronic illnesses, and are associated with self-reported benefits in energy management and participation in daily activities. The findings of this study should be interpreted as descriptive and hypothesis-generating and do not represent clinically significant effects, underscoring the need for randomized controlled trials to formally evaluate efficacy. Future studies should incorporate a comparison group to better differentiate intervention effects from improvements gained through lived experience.