“The biggest attraction of the app is it gives us something that attracts people in the street. They see the kiosk, they’re curious about the tablet, and they want to talk to us,” Ms Harburg says.
“The app is really convenient to use. It only takes a minute to enter someone’s details, and then we can show them their risk of developing type 2 diabetes on a scale of 1-35.”
There’s also the issue of connecting to people who are off the grid. Queensland has many small and remote communities where health education and diabetes prevention is a constant struggle. Creating a user-friendly app eliminated this barrier.
“With an app running on a tablet, our health education staff can deliver an interactive questionnaire even when they don’t have WiFi or access to the Internet. It means we’re reaching people we’ve never reached before.”
