MyDESMOND Receives QISMET Accreditation

MyDESMOND has undergone a review and received accreditation by QISMET using the QIS 2020: universal Quality Standard

The key requirements are that the intervention, in this case MyDESMOND, must involve structured education and have clearly defined outcomes. It contains the fundamentals of good practice that apply for any type of self-management education interventions.

The Auditors from QISMET were very complimentary about the MyDESMOND platform and its current three programmes (Type 2 management, Let’s Prevent Diabetes and Babysteps). The following is an extract from the final report:

The following aspects were identified as particular strengths with regard to the provision of the programmes:

·      The app programmes were easy to use with a useful home page and side bar for navigation

·      The Decision Maker Tool within the app which helps in the setting of SMART goals is very structured and gives excellent options regarding goals and change strategies and is easy to use and once goals are set with a timeline there are email nudges regarding the completion of the goal and setting new goals

·      The Chat Forum provides the opportunity for users to discuss their experience and concerns with other users. After posting in the forum users are notified via email about further posts in the discussion thread which encourages engagement.

·      The Educators within the National Team are on a rota to check the content of the Forum and Ask the Expert on at least a daily occurrence and respond appropriately or signpost users to the relevant sections of the app which gives more information.

·      The Educators can pick up ‘hot’ topics from the Forum or Ask the Expert and have in the past developed appropriate FAQ’s e.g., fruit; blood glucose monitoring and more recently information about low carb diets

·      A user group is in the process of being set up from members of the forum who can comment on future developments and especially the multi-cultural elements of the programmes

·      The apps have newly developed ‘How to’ videos following feedback that users needed more guidance on how to use the health and activity trackers, the chat forum, and the decision maker tool on the app.

·      Users can now input historical data as well as current data into the trackers

·      Weekly booster sessions help to keep users engaged over a period of time

·      Six of the key videos have been translated into Hindi and Bengali

·      Sophisticated anonymised reports can be produced by the local centres on the usage of the apps by their users

·      The administrators of local teams are taught how to use My DESMOND with the aid of excellent training screencast-o-matic videos and full support is given centrally by Alison and her team

·      The weekly meetings of the MyDESMOND team and the sophisticated change log