Use of Mobile Apps in Increasing Adolescents′ Compliance With Physical Rehabilitation Programs

In a world that relies more on mobile apps, especially with the emergence of COVID-19, which accelerates this process, we considered using mobile apps in special education, especially medical rehabilitation and physiotherapy in adolescents. The research aimed to check if adolescent compliance may increase and if they became more interested in the rehabilitation process because, in most cases, adolescent rehabilitation is the long run. The research consisted of mobile apps Google Sheets and WhatsApp for 19 days. Adolescents were separated into experimental (6 participants) and control groups (6 participants). They had been performance athletes, leisure athletes, and sedentary. They had to complete in Google Sheets every day after they were doing their exercises. The experimental group received a message from the physiotherapist they were working with through WhatsApp every day to remind them about the exercises. At the end of the research, we found out that the adolescents that are receiving text messages are more likely to do their exercises at home than the adolescent that do not receive text messages. Because the research aimed to see if the compliance with the treatment is increasing by using mobile apps, we can confirm that mobile apps can increase adolescent compliance. Our research considers that using mobile apps can increase compliance with the treatment, and it might bring long-term benefits to the rehabilitation process.